From Back to School for Everyone: Speculative Women with Lina Maria Ferreira Cabeza-Vanegas

"The primary purpose of this class is to explore the relationship between women writers and the speculative genre. We will read widely, investigate the origins of the western speculative tradition, consider its influence on the contemporary literary world, and contemplate the immense creative potential of this lesser studied subgenre.  The secondary purpose of this class is to dabble in speculation, appreciation, and irritation. Few works in western literature have been adapted so widely, successfully, and across so many different types of media as Mary Shelley’s 1818 masterpiece. It was, however, calculatedly published initially as an anonymous novel, in order to attract a male (i.e. “literary”) readership. Even after the 1822 reprint which named Mary Shelley as the work’s author, it was still widely believed that this had been a generous gesture by her husband, Percy. Hardly a vindication on the rights of any woman, let alone Mary Wollstonecraft’s daughter.

Here we will ask not only, “Why are readers drawn to the speculative genre?” but also “Why have so many women found refuge in it?”

From Margaret Cavendish to Carmen Maria Machado, from Mary Shelley to Octavia Butler, this course will be a brief introduction to the many genre permutations of the speculative tradition, and the extraordinary women who have dug the trenches and manned the towers for so long."