Kategoria BISAC: Literary Criticism >> Science Fiction & Fantasy

Although better known today for such classic and influential science fiction novels as "Last and First Men," "Odd John," "Star Maker" and "Sirius," Olaf Stapledon also wrote eight other science fiction books, seven volumes of philosophy and social criticism, and hundreds of reviews, lectures, and articles. Common to all his works is a moral vision that is characterized by ecstatic joy and revolutionary zeal, though tempered by detachment and skepticism. This is the first book collection of original essays devoted entirely to Stapledon. Where previous critical interpretation has...

During the first part of the nineteenth century, the Lost Worlds Romance, a new literary form, appeared in which an explorer, most often a scientist, made a voyage to what was then considered to be a remote part of the earth where he discovered a fantastic lost world. This book surveys the Lost Worlds Romance from its beginnings as it evolved from travel literature and utopian fiction to its eclipse when there were no more unexplored corners of the earth and it took to the stars, evolving into modern Science Fiction.

Interestingly, these romances reflect the developing natural and...

One of the most prolific, honored, and widely read science fiction writers, Robert Silverberg has forged a professional career that began in the 1950s and has flourished in succeeding decades. From the very beginning, he was perceived as a promising and potentially brilliant author, and he has persisted long enough to win more Hugo and Nebula Awards than any other writer. After first gaining fame for his magazine fiction, he embraced the ideals and methods of literary science fiction in the late 1960s and crafted a number of novels marked by symbolism and irony. After a period of silence...

One of the most popular, prolific, and important science fiction writers, Robert Silverberg is given penetrating analyses by major scholars and critics of the genre. Extending beyond the conventions of popular culture and pulp science fiction, the seven essayists assess Silverberg's body of work as being manifest of the modernist literary tradition, exploring techniques, such as irony, and themes, such as the fragility of identity, utopia and dystopia, and spirituality and transcendence.

Noted Silverberg scholar Thomas Clareson contributes an overview of Silverberg's literary career...

For many readers, the Irish and the fantastic are synonymous. From the ancient texts and medieval illuminated manuscripts to 20th century poetry, painting, drama, stories, and novels, Irish writers and artists have found the fantastic not only congenial but necessary to their art. In his introduction to this collection of fifteen essays that focus on the fantastic in Irish literature and the arts, Donald E. Morse contends that the use of the fantastic mode has allowed Irish writers and artists to express ideas, emotions, and insights not available through the direct imitation of everyday...

This book provides a detailed study of the relationship between science fiction and other genres. After discussing the problems inherent in classifying works according to genre, Pierce notes how science fiction sometimes incorporates plots from other literary forms. He then explores the relationship between science fiction and related genres, such as fantastic romances and techno-thrillers. The book next examines those science fiction writers who have successfully written in other literary forms, as well as authors active in other genres who have turned to science fiction to treat...

A bibliography of all Frank Herbert's work up until early 1987, including foreign language publications, fiction and non-fiction works, verse, film and sound recordings, newspaper articles and collaborations. Also included are illustrations of various citations, and lengthy analytical introductions.

"The Celebration of the Fantastic" reaffirms the wide range and validity of the subject, treatment, and approach that the fantastic demands. Twenty-five essays, selected from among the more than 230 presented at the Tenth Anniversary Conference of the IAFA, consider writers as diverse as Stephen King, Doris Lessing, Rudyard Kipling, Loren Eiseley, Mary Stewart, Bernard Malamud, Orson Scott Card, Toni Morrison, Henry James, and Ray Bradbury as well as television personalities, film directors, and German and Hungarian visual artists. Also included are essays on science fiction writers Robert...

An unusual grouping of mainly British writers, this insightful study includes some, like Henry James, who are indisputably leaders of the canon regardless of genre, and others, like Algernon Blackwood, who wrote almost exclusively in the supernatural; all, however, were clearly masters of this genre. The author, Edward Wagenknecht, writes from a long lifetime of scholarly study and publishing, thoroughly internalized familiarity with all of the exemplary works chosen for examination, and personal friendship fostered by extensive epistolary intercourse with two of the subjects, Walter de la...

With more than 500 reviews by subject specialists, this volume is the only comprehensive record of the output of new works in science fiction, fantasy, and horror fiction. The volume begins with a survey of the year for fiction in the three areas. Each survey section concludes with a recommended reading list. In addition there is a survey of fantasy literature and film scholarship, a survey of the year in young adult fiction in the three main areas. Following sections devoted to award winners in 1989 and 1990, the volume provides alphabetically arranged reviews for fiction, young adult...

This is the fourth volume in a series offering comprehensive critical overviews of the genres of science fiction, fantasy, and horror for a calendar year, here 1990. In addition to the features provided in earlier volumes, this annual adds a survey article reviewing children's science fiction and fantasy. This, with the surveys of science fiction, horror, young adult literature, and related nonfiction, makes this annual series the most complete source for critical commentary on these genres currently available.

In addition to the surveys, the volume offers review articles on the state...

This collection is the first of its kind: it brings to North America essays that are organized around the theme of the fantastic in Alain Robbe-Grillet's writings. The essays are by leading critics in the field of Robbe-Grillet studies. The contributors' essays emphasize the style and content of Robbe-Grillet's work, tying them to the theme of the fantastic as a vehicle for subversion. This book is for students, scholars, and critics with an interest in French literature, modern French and European literature, those interested in the fantastic and modern literature, and all readers and...

Willingham presents a historical survey of science fiction drama and focusses particularly on the history of attempts to stage science fiction. Little attention has been given to science fiction drama, though numerous science fiction plays exist. This volume gives special attention to works intended for adult audiences, with emphasis on the nature of science fiction drama, its origins and history, the staging of science fiction plays, and works by representative playwrights. The appendix offers an annotated list of 328 science fiction plays, with entries grouped in five categories:...

The essays in this volume examine elements of the fantastic in a variety of media. From the fiction of Toni Morrison, Stephen King, and Chinua Achebe, to the rock songs of David Bowie, the fantastic is seen as adaptable to any art form. In an accessible manner, the contributors present fresh approaches to examining the elements of the fantastic in literature, film, music, and popular culture. The collection features an essay by Ursula K. Le Guin.

This exciting collection of essays explores the fantastic in world literature, art, theater, film, and popular culture. Highlights include artwork by Edward Carlos and the essay Staging the Phantasmagorical: The Theatrical Challenges and Rewards of William Butler Yeats by internationally acclaimed Yeats scholar James W. Flannery. Readers will be delighted by the wit of British author Brian Aldiss in his essay If Hamlet's Uncle Had Been a Nicer Guy. From new insights into the connections between Dracula and Frankenstein to a discussion of the Internet, the lively volume offers...