Hi all,
I'm right now teaching an introductory course in fiction focusing
on science fiction, fantasy, and horror. I organized the course in such a
way that we would be reading at least one woman writer for each genre (and
one male writer for fantasy and horror). The women writers I taught were
Poppy Z. Brite (_Drawing Blood_), Elizabeth Moon (_Sheepfarmer's Daughter_)
and Joan D. Vinge (_Snow Queen_).
Although the course didn't focus explicitly on gender,we did have
discussions on how the women writers' approaches to these genres were
different from the male writers. Interestingly enough, except for one of
the women writers, the response has been mostly positive.
The only one who I got a mixed response on was Poppy Z. Brite. And
that had more to do with the students having problems with some very
explicit gay love scenes. My response was to take that to another level
and ask them if the vividness of Brite's language in describing the
love-making scenes was what really disturbed them. Or did it have to do
with the fact that this was gay sex that was being so vividly represented.
Most of them denied that the latter was the problem. But I had a feeling
that this was what really bothered them.
Have any of you has taught science fiction, fantasy or horror
fiction of a "transgressive" nature before? What was the response you got
from your students? I look forward to reading your responses.
Sincerely,
Erik Tsao
Graduate Student
Department of English
Wayne State University
Detroit, MI
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