Ian Burke Senior Seminar Blog

    LeGuin presents an epic philosophical and sociological tale through The Left Hand of Darkness, a story about a human male diplomats' mission to a world of androgynous humanoids. The diplomat is named Genly Ai, and journeys to the planet of Gethen in order to convince them to join the planetary collective of humans called the Ekumen. He firsts journeys to the kingdom of Karhide to seek an audience with the King. This meeting is brokered by the prime minister, Estraven, who later renounces his support of Genly's mission and disappears. Nevertheless the meeting goes as planned however the disconnect between the two in regards to their cultures, specifically the unspoken rules and courtesy rites called shifgrethor, causes the King to see sinister layers in Genly's proposal that are not really there. The king refuses, but not before declaring Estraven a traitor for supporting the Ekumen diplomats' mission. Instead of staying in Karhide's capitol, Genly opts instead t...

 Moore, Jackson, and Oates     The literary canon owes much to Mary Shelley for her seminal work on Frankenstein, possibly the first real science fiction story to come into the Western Literary canon. Shelley's work represented an elevation in complexity related to the literature of the day, blurring the line between man and monster. The stories of Moore, Jackson, and Oates all bear this complexity of ideas and willingness to explore ideas within a genre to their furthest extent. Moore presents in her story, Black God's Kiss,  the warrior-woman Jirel of Joiry; one of the few female protagonists within the sword-and-sorcery genre. After a vicious warlord overtakes her kingdom Jirel vows to journey into a hellish underworld to gain her revenge, risking the loss of her soul for vengeance against the tyrant. Shirley Jackson of Haunting of Hill House  fame, masterfully brings readers a social horror story about an annual ritual of mob sacrifice. One of several famili...

 Frankenstein     Frankenstein is Mary Shelley's seminal work that inspired horror and science fiction novels to come. Opening with letters from Walton, a ship captain searching for a northwest passage who discovers first traces of a large creature, and then an emaciated man adrift on the ice. Walton was curious and questioned the stranger after he settled on the ship, and he told Walton that his name was Victor Frankenstein. After becoming acquainted with each other, Victor tells Walton about his life and why he came so far north. Victor lost his mother at an early age, but as he grew older he became more and more enamored by the natural sciences. Eventually going to college to become a natural philosopher, he began to study what was considered to be "forbidden knowledge", including what he claims to be some essential truth or property of life. A property which gave him the ability to reanimate dead flesh and create new life; he completed his creature after months of iso...