Herbert George Wells

Howard Phillips Lovecraft

Isaac Asimov

a cura di M. Barbero e C. Gelli
 
 Five stories written by some of the most famous science-fiction authors: H.G. Wells - the English father of this genre - with a story of a crystal egg which enables the owner of a curiosity shop to see the Martians; H.P. Lovecraft with the Cthulhu literary mythology; A. Porges who writes a story in which humanity is freed from space invaders by man's traditional enemy: the devil; A.C. Clarke with Sentinel of Eternity, from which S. Kubrick's film "2001: A Space Odyssey" drew inspiration; I. Asimov with a tale in which a space war is won by means of a not very orthodox strategy…
 A presentation on the history and themes of science-fiction introduces the book; stimulating inserts enrich each story. 
 
 Teacher's Resources available online: Answer Key - Audioscripts - Summing-up Activities.
 
 Cinque racconti di alcuni dei più famosi autori di fantascienza: il capostipite H. G. Wells con un racconto su un uovo di cristallo da cui si vedono i marziani; H. P. Lovecraft con la mitologia letteraria Cthulhu; A. E. Van Vogt si inserisce nel filone dell'alieno mostruoso e ostile; A. Porges racconta dell'umanità che viene liberata dagli invasori grazie al diavolo; A. C. Clarke con The Sentinel, da cui fu tratto il film di S. Kubrick "2001: Odissea nello spazio"; I. Asimov con una guerra stellare vinta con una strategia non proprio ortodossa…

Introduction:

What is Science Fiction?

History of Science Fiction?

Main Themes and Characters

Popularity of Sci-Fi in Films or TV Series

H.G. Wells

Story 1 – The Crystal Egg

Extension: Is there life on Mars?

H.P. Lovecraft

Story 2 – The Call of Cthulhu

Extension: Excuse me, Cthulhu who?

A. Porges

Story 3 – The Liberator

Extension: A deal with the Devil

A.C. Clarke

Story 4 – Sentinel of Eternity

Extension: 2001: A Space Odyssey

I. Asimov

Story 5 – The Machine That Won the War

Extension: Technology at risk or the risks of technology?

Summing-up activities

Glossary

E X T E N S I O N 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY Production: MGM 1968. Written by: Stanley Kubrick, Arthur C. Clarke. Director: Stanley Kubrick. Starring: Keir Dullea, Gary Lockwood, William Sylvester, Daniel Richter, Leonard Rossiter. Arthur C. Clarke was an ardent promoter of the idea that humanity s destiny lay beyond the confines of the Earth. It was a vision vividly shown by 2001: A Space Odyssey (the classic sci-fi film he created with the famous director Stanley Kubrick in 1968) and by the novel of the same title based on the screenplay, which he wrote as part of a project consisting of three more novels: 2010: Odyssey Two, 2061: Odyssey Three, 3001: The Final Odyssey. 2001:A Space Odyssey drew inspiration from the short story Sentinel of Eternity, written in 1950. 2001: A Space Odyssey deals with the themes of human evolution, technology, artificial intelligence and extraterrestrial life; it is famous for its scientific realism, special effects, surreal imagery, sound in place of traditional narrative techniques and minimal use of dialogue. The film is divided into four parts. The title sequence begins with an image of the Earth rising over the Moon, while the Sun rises over the Earth. Episode 1   The Dawn1 of Man. It begins at sunrise in prehistoric Africa 4 million years ago. A powerful force enters our solar system near Jupiter. Destination: Earth. Overnight, a visitor from outer space has planted a monolith near a tribe of ape2-men living in East Africa between 4-2.9 million B.C., whose characteristics are: fear, curiosity and courage. These qualities and not the monolith itself lead to the ape s revolutionary invention: the tool3, which transforms this creature into a Homo Sapiens. The monolith represents a challenge. Episode 2   From Earth to the Moon. Under the lunar surface humans discover an alien object buried4 on the Moon four million years earlier. It is a giant, black monolith identical to that found by the ape-men. The scientists join around it for a group photo, but are interrupted 1. dawn: sunrise. 2. ape: a large animal like a monkey with no tail. 3. tool: instrument. 4. buried: put in the ground and covered with earth. 82 

when a continuous high tone coming from the monolith is picked up by their radio receivers. In 2001 Man is at the peak5 of his evolution; he is civilized, rational, scientific, but in space he loses control of his tools; without gravity he must learn to walk again, eats baby-food and needs toilet training; so in space he is just a child. Facing the monolith on the Moon, Man shows none of the ape s wonder and fear, instead he makes a video. But mankind has still a lot to learn. The sentinel was left to see how far Man would come. Episode 3   Jupiter Mission. The Earth sends some astronauts in the direction indicated by the moon monolith. The crew of the spaceship  Discovery One , travelling to Jupiter, consists of 5 people: two mission pilots, astronauts Dave Bowman and Frank Poole, and three scientists in a state of hibernation in order to conserve life support resources for the voyage. Here Kubrick presents a sinister6 creature: HAL 9000, a supercomputer, the most successful artificial intelligence with an errorfree performance record. HAL 9000 is designed to communicate and interact like a human and can reproduce human emotions; in fact the astronauts have learned to treat it like another crewman, calling it  Hal . He/It is the  sixth member  of the crew. HAL stands for  Heuristically programmed ALgorithmic computer     heuristics7  and  algorithm  are the two primary processes of learning. HAL realizes that men are imperfect creatures at the end of their evolution, so the computer decides to eliminate the astronauts to take control of the spaceship. He/It deliberately makes a mistake (something which had never happened before) and predicts the total failure of the spaceship antenna, so the battle between Man and the computer begins and four members of the crew lose their lives. Finally Dave, the only surviving member, kills HAL with the simplest of all tools: the screwdriver8. At the end of the episode we learn that the true nature of the mission was to investigate the signal sent to Jupiter from the monolith on the Moon. The secret mission had been known only to HAL until the ship s arrival in Jupiter s space. Episode 4   Jupiter and Beyond the Infinite. In the final part, a third monolith is seen in orbit around Jupiter. This monolith leads Dave on 5. peak: the highest point. 6. sinister: seeming evil or dangerous. 7. heuristics: education that encourages you to learn by discovering things for yourself. 8. screwdriver: 83 

Narrativa inglese, livello B1 pre-intermedio. Cinque racconti di alcuni dei più famosi autori di fantascienza.

Tales from Outer Space - Collana RAINBOWS

Level B1 • Pre-Intermediate - Collana RAINBOWS

Tales from Outer Space

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