Yesterday in class, after you wrote your individual observations about the paperbacks from the Asimov Collection, you developed talking points for our discussions of “Runaround” and “Supertoys Last All Summer Long.”
Today’s blog post includes the talking points you generated, along with pictures of your observation work.
If you would like to revisit the cover art that you examined yesterday, remember that all the paperbacks are included in the images in yesterday’s blog post. Because there is a glare on the cover of I, Robot: The Illustrated Screenplay, that book figures prominently in the photo above. Notice that my copy has a slightly different cover from the one in the Asimov Collection. My edition has the same cover art by Mark Zug, but the image is framed by a black border with words of the Three Laws of Robotics in gray.
Talking Points
- “A common theme of forced space exploration. Why do authors use this topic?”
- “All very technologically centered, and show humans’ relationships with technology.”
- “We discussed that the covers all convey a sense of danger.”
- “The covers all also represent exploration, adventures, and discovering the unknown.”
- “The covers convey a negative effect on humanity through artwork.”
- “These books relate to the excerpts [sic] by showing the long-lasting detrimental affect [sic] technology has on humans.”
- “One talking point is why do you think these authors/illustrators depict a sense of eerie loneliness when taling [sic] about the future?”
- “How technology affects how society (high and lower class people) interact/ daily life/ and beliefs.”
- “How sci-fi books influence technological development and our view of technology today.”
- “Very future orientated with robots and space.”
- “The one group of books focused more on aging and time rather than space and technology.”
- “Space/other worlds or planets.”
- “Robots and spaceships.”
- “Lack of human growth.”
- “The covers from the books we looked at today connect with ‘Runaround’ and ‘Supertoys Last All Summer Long’ by projecting and predicting visions of space and the possible future.”
- “The covers of the books also connect to the short stories by visualizing adventure & possible danger.”
- “How do humans view their relationships with technology in these novels?”
- “Why do authors depict AI taking over society?”
- “Most covers displayed a very optimistic view of the future through technology that allowed them to accomplish feats, even in space.”
- “Some covers conveyed that the relationship between AI and humans was not good and might have caused conflict.”
“Supertoys Last All Summer Long”
Because our class time yesterday focused on the science fiction book covers in the Asimov Collection, we didn’t discuss Brian Aldiss’s short story. We will, however, examine it on Monday, along with his other two Supertoys stories: “Supertoys When Winter Comes” and “Supertoys in Other Seasons.”
As you prepare for Monday’s discussion of “Supertoys Last All Summer Long,” consider these questions:
- Unlike Isaac Asimov’s method of presentation in “Runaround,” which maintains the focus on Mike Donovan and Gregory Powell, Aldiss employs cross-cutting: the technique of shifting back and forth between two locations: the Swintons’ apartment and the banquet hall where Henry Swinton, Managing Director of Synthank, delivers his speech. Why might Aldiss have chosen that technique? What does it achieve?
- Near the end of the story, Aldiss reveals that Teddy is not the only robot in the Swinton household. What words reveal that fact?
- What details foreshadow the story’s revelation?
Next Up
Wordplay Day! To prepare for class, revisit the Merriam-Webster Scrabble Word Finder page, and review your journal notes and the blog posts with Scrabble tips.
Coming Soon
For Monday’s class, you will read and annotate Brian Aldiss’s short stories “Supertoys When Winter Comes” and “Supertoys in Other Seasons,” which I distributed in class yesterday. If you were absent or misplaced your copies, print ones from Blackboard.
Jane Lucas 