Level 7 is the diary of Officer X-127, who is assigned to stand guard at the "Push Buttons," a machine devised to activate the atomic destruction of the enemy, in the country's deepest bomb shelter. Four thousand feet underground, Level 7 has been built to withstand the most devastating attack and to be self-sufficient for five hundred years. Selected according to a psychological profile that assures their willingness to destroy all life on Earth, those who are sent down may never return. Originally published in 1959, and with over 400,000 copies sold, this powerful dystopian...
Level 7 is the diary of Officer X-127, who is assigned to stand guard at the "Push Buttons," a machine devised to activate the atomic destru...
This volume brings together essays by specialists in different disciplines on the cultural expression of apocalypse, in particular in anglophone science fiction of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Approaching these works from historical, philosophical, linguistic and literary perspectives, the contributors examine the relationship between secular and spiritual apocalypse, connecting the fiction and films to their historical moment. Not surprisingly, war recurs throughout this material, as a critical turning-point, fulfilment of prophecy, or prelude to a new age. In particular the...
This volume brings together essays by specialists in different disciplines on the cultural expression of apocalypse, in particular in anglophone scien...
An examination of the literary and cinematic representations of brainwashing during the Cold War era
"Brainwashing: A method for systematically changing attitudes or altering beliefs, originated in totalitarian countries, especially through the use of torture, drugs, or psychological-stress techniques" --Random House Dictionary
The term "brainwashing," coined during the Korean War, was popularized by a CIA operative who was a tireless campaigner against communism. It took hold quickly and became a means to articulate fears of totalitarian tendencies in American life....
An examination of the literary and cinematic representations of brainwashing during the Cold War era
Seed, a reader in the department of English at the University of Liverpool, investigates political inflections in American science fiction during the Cold War. Nuclear holocaust, Russian invasion, and the perceived rise of totalitarianism in American society are explored in such science fiction narr
Seed, a reader in the department of English at the University of Liverpool, investigates political inflections in American science fiction during the ...
Fiction and film interrelate closely to each other, and the specially commissioned essays in this volume all consider different aspects of this relationship. Beginning with discussions of Dickens and Victorian literature, the contributors, all leading scholars in this field, demonstrate how visual devices like the magic lantern caught the interest of writers and affected their choice of subject and method. The impact of the cinema on the British modernists is then discussed, and the remaining essays provide detailed case studies on such subjects as Hemingway, Updike, and the depiction of...
Fiction and film interrelate closely to each other, and the specially commissioned essays in this volume all consider different aspects of this relati...
American science fiction - in both literature and film - has played a key role in the portrayal of the fears inherent in the Cold War. Working through a series of key texts, this work investigates the political inflexions put on American narratives in the post-war decades by Cold War cultural circumstances. American society is a key element in the author's exploration of science fiction narratives which include Fahrenheit 451, Invasion of the Body Snatchers and Dr Strangelove.
American science fiction - in both literature and film - has played a key role in the portrayal of the fears inherent in the Cold War. Working through...
A Companion to Science Fiction assembles essays by an international range of scholars which discuss the contexts, themes and methods used by science fiction writers.
This Companion conveys the scale and variety of science fiction.
Shows how science fiction has been used as a means of debating cultural issues.
Essays by an international range of scholars discuss the contexts, themes and methods used by science fiction writers.
Addresses general topics, such as the history and origins of the genre, its...
A Companion to Science Fiction assembles essays by an international range of scholars which discuss the contexts, themes and methods used by sc...
David (Professor in the School of English, University of Liverpool) Seed
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...
Frankenstein, The Time Machine, Star Trek, Dune, 1984, Blade Runner--science fiction has been explained as a combination of romance, science, and prop...
As much as any individual, Ray Bradbury brought science fiction's ideas into the mainstream. Yet he transcended the genre in both form and popularity, using its trappings to explore timely social concerns and the kaleidoscope of human experience while in the process becoming one of America's most beloved authors. David Seed follows Bradbury's long career from the early short story masterpieces through his work in a wide variety of broadcast and film genres to the influential cultural commentary he spread via essays, speeches, and interviews. Mining Bradbury's classics and hard-to-find...
As much as any individual, Ray Bradbury brought science fiction's ideas into the mainstream. Yet he transcended the genre in both form and popularity,...
As much as any individual, Ray Bradbury brought science fiction's ideas into the mainstream. Yet he transcended the genre in both form and popularity, using its trappings to explore timely social concerns and the kaleidoscope of human experience while in the process becoming one of America's most beloved authors. David Seed follows Bradbury's long career from the early short story masterpieces through his work in a wide variety of broadcast and film genres to the influential cultural commentary he spread via essays, speeches, and interviews. Mining Bradbury's classics and hard-to-find...
As much as any individual, Ray Bradbury brought science fiction's ideas into the mainstream. Yet he transcended the genre in both form and popularity,...
