Summary
Class discussion began with the question, "What is science fiction?" Science fiction is not probable, but it is possible. Most science fiction novels can be classified by their book covers. The class discussion shifted to the differences between hard and soft science fiction. Unlike soft sf, hard sf empahsizes scientific or technical detail, with Halting State serving as an example. It makes the future plausible, because science fiction is very speculative. It constantly focuses on the future. We talked about Charles Stross and his background before discussion moved onto different formats of books (i.e. trade paperbacks, mass market paperbacks, or e-books). All the other books we've read this semester have been trade paper backs, but Halting State was marketed for entertainment not education. We then talked about Mcluhan and his thoughts on the internal reading voices. According to Mcluhan, you can't read faster than you can talk. When something is read to you, it creates a passive experience. The class had differing preferences. Some students like reading online because of the no cost aspect and the utility of the “find” tool. Others prefer having a physical copy of the text to annotate. Furthermore, reading in print ensures that the reader can go at any pace, without having to worry about eyestrain from a computer screen.
The physical characteristics of our text of Halting State came next. It is compact, has small margins and small font, and an embossed cover depicting an image of a strange woman. The thin paper rips easily and makes annotation problematic. Someone pointed out how that this is the common textual format for popular fiction. Why do publishers use this template? It is cheap and not used for books marketed as literature since there is no space to write notes on the text. If the medium really is the message, we can consider Halting State a mass market paperback. As Tim pointed out, “It looks like any old book you could buy in Bi-Lo.” The expectations of genre end up influencing the physical aspects of the text. Dr Croxall noted his own preference for the trade paperback format (and discomfort at being seen with a mass market paperback in public).
Finally came the question: “Why did Stross write this book in second person?” Some found reading the second person narrative frustrating. After brainstorming, several explanations for this choice were made: 1, Stross used it to separate himself from other writers; 2, second person keeps the reader in the present; 3, the novel is about a game, where an avatar is part of the experience. Option three seemed the most plausible; writing from second person gives the reader more immersion in the story, much like a “Choose Your Own Adventure” novels. However, everyone agreed that the "you" made the reader feel uncomfortable.
Word Count: 465
Passages
Key Terms
hard science fiction - type of writing that attempts to explain events using scientific principles; emphasis on technical detail. This type of fiction helps make the future look plausible.
Comments (2)
Anna DuBose said
at 9:19 pm on Mar 1, 2010
Hey guys, I did some work on this so we'd have something to work with before tomorrow. It's not complete and I'm sure I've left out important points, so fee free to add or subtract as you see fit. If nobody stops me, I'll ramble on and on about minor points and leave out important things! Also, I didn't do any passages at this point because I'm in the library without my book -- but I think that we could use the passages we discussed at the end of class of chapter 2 and 3 that start out like "You are sitting..." and "You are standing..." Can we tie that in to Stross' use of second person? Like how he kind of did it as an homage to the "Choose Your Own Adventure" stuff and to create a sort of avatar for readers?
Brian Croxall said
at 5:01 pm on Mar 23, 2010
Your summary of the class discussion is very complete...but it's 50% longer than it should be. You have a word limit that is strictly enforced. Please remember that the goal of the notes is not to capture everything that happens in class, but rather a summary of the most important points, as determined by your group. You cover what I see as these points--the physical nature of Halting State and the second-person point of view. I think you could have condensed what you have and still discussed these two things adequately within the word limit.
We did not spend much time on passages from the text in this class, but we still *did* look at some that would have been useful to include in the notes, as Anna suggests in the comments. Using those passages to connect to Adventure and to explore the use of a second-person/avatar point of view would have been ideal.
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