Masterpieces of the Imaginative Mind: Literature's Most Fantastic Works

Learn what fairy tales and science fiction stories can reveal about the psyches of individuals and nations in this illuminating journey through the world's most fantastic and imaginative literature.

Syllabus

01: The Brothers Grimm & Fairy Tale Psychology
02: Propp, Structure, and Cultural Identity
03: Hoffmann and the Theory of the Fantastic
04: Poe—Genres and Degrees of the Fantastic
05: Lewis Carroll: Puzzles, Language, & Audience
06: H. G. Wells: We Are All Talking Animals
07: Franz Kafka—Dashed Fantasies
08: Woolf—Fantastic Feminism & Periods of Art
09: Robbe-Grillet, Experimental Fiction & Myth
10: Tolkien & Mass Production of the Fantastic
11: Children’s Literature and the Fantastic
12: Postmodernism and the Fantastic
13: Defining Science Fiction
14: Mary Shelley—Grandmother of Science Fiction
15: Hawthorne, Poe, and the Eden Complex
16: Jules Verne and the Robinsonade
17: Wells—Industrialization of the Fantastic
18: The History of Utopia
19: Science Fiction and Religion
20: Pulp Fiction, Bradbury, & the American Myth
21: Robert A. Heinlein—He Mapped the Future
22: Asimov and Clarke—Cousins in Utopia
23: Ursula K. Le Guin: Transhuman Anthropologist
24: Cyberpunk, Postmodernism, and Beyond
By This Professor

Taught by

Eric S. Rabkin

Reviews

3.5 rating at The Great Courses Plus based on 84 ratings

Start your review of Masterpieces of the Imaginative Mind: Literature's Most Fantastic Works

You’re only 3 weeks away from a new language

All Coursera Certificates 40% Off

Taught by

Our career paths help you become job ready faster

Science Fiction Studies

AI Engineer - Learn how to integrate AI into software applications Ad

I Graduated from the University of Central Florida as a Single Mom Without Stepping on Campus

Never Stop Learning.