Science Fiction: A Very Short Introduction

ISBN-13: 9780199557455 / Angielski / Miękka / 2011 / 160 str.

David Seed

Opis

Frankenstein, The Time Machine, Star Trek, Dune, 1984, Blade Runner--science fiction has been explained as a combination of romance, science, and prophecy; as a genre based on an imagined alternative to the reader's environment; and as a form of fantastic fiction and historical literature. It has also been argued that science fiction narratives are the most engaged, socially relevant, and responsive to the modern technological environment. In this Very Short Introduction, David Seed doesn't offer a history of science fiction, but instead attempts to tie examples of science fiction to different historical moments, in order to demonstrate how science fiction has evolved over time, especially the emergence of science fiction as a popular genre in the 20th century. Seed looks not only at literature, but also at drama and poetry, as well as film. Examining recurrent themes in science fiction, he looks at voyages into space, the concept of the alien and alternative social identities, the role of technology in science fiction, and its relation to time--in the past, present, and future.
About the Series: Combining authority with wit, accessibility, and style, Very Short Introductions offer an introduction to some of life's most interesting topics. Written by experts for the newcomer, they demonstrate the finest contemporary thinking about the central problems and issues in hundreds of key topics, from philosophy to Freud, quantum theory to Islam.

Recenzje

brief yet thorough The Guardian

Spis treści

From the contents:

Introduction;
1: Voyages into space;
2: Alien encounters;
3: Science fiction and technology;
4: Utopias and dystopias;
5: Fictions of time;
6: The field of science fiction

O autorze

David Seed is Professor in the School of English at Liverpool University. His many publications include American Science Fiction and the Cold War (Edinburgh University Press) and A Companion to Science Fiction (Blackwell, Oxford). He is on the editorial board of the Journal of American Studies (CUP), has contributed to many edited volumes, and has published several articles in academic journals. He is currently editing Blackwell's Companion to Twentieth Century U.S. Fiction.