This book of essays looks at the multitude of texts and influences which converge in Ridley Scott s film Blade Runner, especially the film s relationship to its source novel, Philip K. Dick s Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? Essays consider political, moral and technological issues raised by the film, as well as literary, filmic, technical and aesthetic questions. Contributors discuss the film s psychological and mythic patterns, importance political issues and the roots of the film in Paradise Lost, Frankenstein, detective fiction, and previous science fiction...

When the real is so fantastic, what literary effects will succeed in making it credible and help readers to comprehend its human meaning? As recent world developments fully show us, several lessons of the Nazi Holocaust still remain to be learned. To respond meaningfully and ethically to the Holocaust, writers need to incorporate moral and emotional complexity, and one way they have done this is through using the techniques of the fantastic. The authors in this anthology of essays examine the usefulness of fantastic story-telling for exploring relevant philosophical and moral issues about the...