In This Edition

Language and Literature

Part 1: Literature and Writing

Part 2: The Medium of Language

Part 3: Language Sciences and Science Languages

Questions & Answers

Prof. Isabelle de Courtivron Head of Foreign Languages and Literatures

Prof. Steven Pinker Author of The Language Instinct and Words and Rules

Prof. Anita Desai Award-winning novelist and writing instructor

Geoffrey A. Landis '80 NASA scientist and science fiction writer

Jade Wang '01 President of the MIT Science Fiction Society

Kelly Clancy '03 Prize winning short story author

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Jade Wang

Jade Wang '01, president of the MIT Science Fiction Society, is completing a Master of Engineering thesis in electrical engineering.

What are the main pursuits of MIT's Science Fiction Society?

We are mainly devoted to running and maintaining our extensive library. We do our best to get a copy of every new science-fiction and fantasy book as it comes out, if not before. We also try to maintain a reasonable library for scholarship and research. This aspect is part of our motivation to acquire hard-to-find materials, materials that will be hard to find in the future such as small-print-run items, and references such as indices.

Though maintaining the library is our primary goal, we don't neglect the social aspects of the Society. We serve (somewhat informally) as a gathering place for people with an interest in SF and SF-related issues to talk.

We also publish the Twilight Zine (Zine, as in "magazine") on an irregular basis, with such stories, reviews and artwork as we've received. The TZ is both the MITSFS journal and an almost-fanzine.

Who can join the SFS and use the library, the "world's largest open-shelf collection of science fiction"?

Everyone is welcome to drop by and browse or read while we're open (fifty to sixty scheduled hours per week). Memberships are also available and allow you to check out books from our circulating stacks. Anyone can become a member by paying dues, which go into our budget for buying more books.

Do you think of science fiction an escape from or expansion of your academic interests?

Both! There is a great variety in science fiction, so I can pick up an entertaining book to escape from the stresses in my life, or I can pick up a thought-provoking book to spark ideas and interest in different aspects of technology and science.

Prof. Isabelle de Courtivron "Learning a language is learning about a culture, about how people live, function, think; it is learning about their history, their values." more...

Prof. Steven Pinker "The rate of vocabulary growth in one-year-olds seems to depend more on how much language they hear, whereas the point at which they start combining words into microsentences like "sweater chair" and "allgone outside" depends more on their genes." more...

Prof. Anita Desai "To be a writer, one must spend one's life at one's desk by one's self." more...

Geoffrey A. Landis '80 "A lot of the fascination with Mars that went into writing Mars Crossing came from the enthusiasm about geology that I picked up from other scientists on the Mars Pathfinder mission." more...

Jade Wang '01 "[The MIT Science Fiction Society] does its best to get a copy of every new science-fiction and fantasy book as it comes out, if not before. We also try to maintain a reasonable library for scholarship and research." more...

Kelly Clancy '03 "I write to tell the secrets I couldn't speak aloud. Paper is brave like I could never be." more...