Colonialism and the Emergence of Science Fiction

Colonialism and the Emergence of Science Fiction PDF Author: John Rieder
Publisher: Wesleyan University Press
ISBN: 0819573809
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 201

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Book Description
This groundbreaking study explores science fiction's complex relationship with colonialism and imperialism. In the first full-length study of the subject, John Rieder argues that the history and ideology of colonialism are crucial components of science fiction's displaced references to history and its engagement in ideological production. With original scholarship and theoretical sophistication, he offers new and innovative readings of both acknowledged classics and rediscovered gems. Rider proposes that the basic texture of much science fiction—in particular its vacillation between fantasies of discovery and visions of disaster—is established by the profound ambivalence that pervades colonial accounts of the exotic “other.” Includes discussion of works by Edwin A. Abbott, Edward Bellamy, Edgar Rice Burroughs, John W. Campbell, George Tomkyns Chesney, Arthur Conan Doyle, H. Rider Haggard, Edmond Hamilton, W. H. Hudson, Richard Jefferies, Henry Kuttner, Alun Llewellyn, Jack London, A. Merritt, Catherine L. Moore, William Morris, Garrett P. Serviss, Mary Shelley, Olaf Stapledon, and H. G. Wells.

Colonialism and the Emergence of Science Fiction

Colonialism and the Emergence of Science Fiction PDF Author: John Rieder
Publisher: Wesleyan University Press
ISBN: 0819573809
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 201

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Book Description
This groundbreaking study explores science fiction's complex relationship with colonialism and imperialism. In the first full-length study of the subject, John Rieder argues that the history and ideology of colonialism are crucial components of science fiction's displaced references to history and its engagement in ideological production. With original scholarship and theoretical sophistication, he offers new and innovative readings of both acknowledged classics and rediscovered gems. Rider proposes that the basic texture of much science fiction—in particular its vacillation between fantasies of discovery and visions of disaster—is established by the profound ambivalence that pervades colonial accounts of the exotic “other.” Includes discussion of works by Edwin A. Abbott, Edward Bellamy, Edgar Rice Burroughs, John W. Campbell, George Tomkyns Chesney, Arthur Conan Doyle, H. Rider Haggard, Edmond Hamilton, W. H. Hudson, Richard Jefferies, Henry Kuttner, Alun Llewellyn, Jack London, A. Merritt, Catherine L. Moore, William Morris, Garrett P. Serviss, Mary Shelley, Olaf Stapledon, and H. G. Wells.

Postcolonialism and Science Fiction

Postcolonialism and Science Fiction PDF Author: J. Langer
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 0230356052
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 198

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Book Description
Using close readings and thematic studies of contemporary science fiction and postcolonial theory, ranging from discussions of Japanese and Canadian science fiction to a deconstruction of race and (post)colonialism in World of Warcraft, This book is the first comprehensive study of the complex and developing relationship between the two areas.

Reverse Colonization

Reverse Colonization PDF Author: David M. Higgins
Publisher: University of Iowa Press
ISBN: 1609387848
Category : Literary Collections
Languages : en
Pages : 249

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Book Description
"Reverse colonization narratives are stories like H. G. Wells's War of the Worlds (where technologically superior Martians invade and colonize England) that ask Western audiences to imagine what it's like to be the colonized rather than the colonizers. In this book, David M. Higgins argues that although some reverse colonization stories are thoughtful and provocative (because they ask us to think critically about what empire feels like from the receiving end), reverse colonization fantasy has also led to the prevalence of a very dangerous kind of science fictional thinking in our current political culture. Everyone, now (including anti-feminists, white supremacists, and far-right reactionaries) likes to imagine themselves as the Rebel Alliance fighting against the Empire (or Neo trying to escape the Matrix, or Katniss Everdeen waging war against the Capitol). Reverse colonization fantasy, in other words, has a dangerous tendency to enable white men (and other subjects of privilege) to appropriate a sense of victimhood for their own social and political advantage"--

Science Fiction in Colonial India, 18351905

Science Fiction in Colonial India, 18351905 PDF Author: Mary Ellis Gibson
Publisher: Anthem Press
ISBN: 1783088656
Category : Literary Collections
Languages : en
Pages : 220

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Book Description
"Science Fiction in Colonial India, 1835–1905" shows, for the first time, how science fiction writing developed in India years before the writings of Jules Verne and H. G. Wells. The five stories presented in this collection, in their cultural and political contexts, help form a new picture of English language writing in India and a new understanding of the connections among science fiction, modernity and empire. [NP] Speculative fiction developed early in India in part because the intrinsic dysfunction and violence of colonialism encouraged writers there to project alternative futures, whether utopian or dystopic. The stories in "Science Fiction in Colonial India, 1835–1905," created by Indian and British writers, responded to the intellectual ferment and political instabilities of colonial India. They add an important dimension to our understanding of Victorian empire, science fiction and speculative fictional narratives. They provide new examples of the imperial and the anti-imperial imaginations at work.

So Long Been Dreaming

So Long Been Dreaming PDF Author: Nalo Hopkinson
Publisher: arsenal pulp press
ISBN: 1551523167
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 303

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Book Description
So Long Been Dreaming: Postcolonial Science Fiction & Fantasy is an anthology of original new stories by leading African, Asian, South Asian and Aboriginal authors, as well as North American and British writers of color. Stories of imagined futures abound in Western writing. Writer and editor Nalo Hopkinson notes that the science fiction/fantasy genre “speaks so much about the experience of being alienated but contains so little writing by alienated people themselves.” It’s an oversight that Hopkinson and Mehan aim to correct with this anthology. The book depicts imagined futures from the perspectives of writers associated with what might loosely be termed the “third world.” It includes stories that are bold, imaginative, edgy; stories that are centered in the worlds of the “developing” nations; stories that dare to dream what we might develop into. The wealth of postcolonial literature has included many who have written insightfully about their pasts and presents. With So Long Been Dreaming they creatively address their futures. Contributors include: Opal Palmer Adisa, Tobias Buckell, Wayde Compton, Hiromi Goto, Andrea Hairston, Tamai Kobayashi, Karin Lowachee, devorah major, Carole McDonnell, Nnedi Okorafor-Mbachu, Eden Robinson, Nisi Shawl, Vandana Singh, Sheree Renee Thomas and Greg Van Eekhout. Nalo Hopkinson is the internationally-acclaimed author of Brown Girl in the Ring, Skin Folk, and Salt Roads. Her books have been nominated for the Hugo, Nebula, Tiptree, and Philip K. Dick Awards; Skin Folk won a World Fantasy Award and the Sunburst Award. Born in Jamaica, Nalo moved to Canada when she was sixteen. She lives in Toronto. Uppinder Mehan is a scholar of science fiction and postcolonial literature. A South Asian Canadian, he currently lives in Boston and teaches at Emerson College.

Science Fiction, Imperialism and the Third World

Science Fiction, Imperialism and the Third World PDF Author: Ericka Hoagland
Publisher: McFarland
ISBN: 0786457821
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 233

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Book Description
Though science fiction is often thought of as a Western phenomenon, the genre has long had a foothold in countries as diverse as India and Mexico. These fourteen critical essays examine both the role of science fiction in the third world and the role of the third world in science fiction. Topics covered include science fiction in Bengal, the genre's portrayal of Native Americans, Mexican cyberpunk fiction, and the undercurrents of colonialism and Empire in traditional science fiction. The intersections of science fiction theory and postcolonial theory are explored, as well as science fiction's contesting of imperialism and how the third world uses the genre to recreate itself. Instructors considering this book for use in a course may request an examination copy here.

New Suns 2: Original Speculative Fiction by People of Color

New Suns 2: Original Speculative Fiction by People of Color PDF Author: Tananarive Due
Publisher: Rebellion Publishing Ltd
ISBN: 1786188570
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 348

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Book Description
Octavia E. Butler said, “There’s nothing new under the sun, but there are new suns.” New Suns 2 brings you fresh visions of the strange, the unexpected, the shocking—breakthrough stories, stories shining with emerging truths, stories that pierce stale preconceptions with their beauty and bravery. Like the first New Suns anthology (winner of the World Fantasy, Locus, IGNYTE, and British Fantasy awards), this book liberates writers of many races to tell us tales no one has ever told. Many things come in twos: dualities, binaries, halves, and alternates. Twos are found throughout New Suns 2, in eighteen science fiction, fantasy, and horror stories revealing daring futures, hidden pasts, and present-day worlds filled with unmapped wonders. Including stories by Daniel H. Wilson, K. Tempest Bradford, Darcie Little Badger, Geetanjali Vandemark, John Chu, Nghi Vo, Tananarive Due, Alex Jennings, Karin Lowachee, Saad Hossain, Hiromi Goto, Minsoo Kang, Tlotlo Tsamaase, Rochita Loenen-Ruiz, Malka Older, Kathleen Alcalá, Christopher Caldwell and Jaymee Goh with a foreword by Walter Mosley and an afterword by Dr. Grace Dillon.

Celestial Empire

Celestial Empire PDF Author: Nathaniel Isaacson
Publisher: Wesleyan University Press
ISBN: 0819576697
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 273

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Book Description
How colonialism profoundly influenced the emergence of Chinese science fiction Challenging assumptions about science fiction's Western origins, Nathaniel Isaacson traces the development of the genre in China, from the late Qing Dynasty through the New Culture Movement. Through careful examination of a wide range of visual and print media—including historical accounts of the institutionalization of science, pictorial representations of technological innovations, and a number of novels and short stories—Isaacson makes a case for understanding Chinese science fiction as a product of colonial modernity. By situating the genre's emergence in the transnational traffic of ideas and material culture engendered by the presence of colonial powers in China's economic and political centers, Celestial Empires explores the relationship between science fiction and Orientalist discourse. In doing so it offers an innovative approach to the study of both vernacular writing in twentieth-century China and science fiction in a global context.

Culture and Imperialism

Culture and Imperialism PDF Author: Edward W. Said
Publisher: Vintage
ISBN: 0307829650
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 416

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Book Description
A landmark work from the author of Orientalism that explores the long-overlooked connections between the Western imperial endeavor and the culture that both reflected and reinforced it. In the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, as the Western powers built empires that stretched from Australia to the West Indies, Western artists created masterpieces ranging from Mansfield Park to Heart of Darkness and Aida. Yet most cultural critics continue to see these phenomena as separate. Edward Said looks at these works alongside those of such writers as W. B. Yeats, Chinua Achebe, and Salman Rushdie to show how subject peoples produced their own vigorous cultures of opposition and resistance. Vast in scope and stunning in its erudition, Culture and Imperialism reopens the dialogue between literature and the life of its time.

Science Fiction and the Mass Cultural Genre System

Science Fiction and the Mass Cultural Genre System PDF Author: John Rieder
Publisher: Wesleyan University Press
ISBN: 0819577170
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 219

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Book Description
A fresh approach to the history and shape of science fiction In Science Fiction and the Mass Cultural Genre System, John Rieder asks literary scholars to consider what shape literary history takes when based on a historical, rather than formalist, genre theory. Rieder starts from the premise that science fiction and the other genres usually associated with so-called genre fiction comprise a system of genres entirely distinct from the pre-existing classical and academic genre system that includes the epic, tragedy, comedy, satire, romance, the lyric, and so on. He proposes that the field of literary production and the project of literary studies cannot be adequately conceptualized without taking into account the tensions between these two genre systems that arise from their different modes of production, distribution, and reception. Although the careful reading of individual texts forms an important part of this study, the systemic approach offered by Science Fiction and the Mass Cultural Genre System provides a fundamental challenge to literary methodologies that foreground individual innovation.