Utopian Fantasy

Utopian Fantasy PDF Author: Richard Gerber
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1000734722
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 211

Get Book Here

Book Description
This book, originally published in 1955 and reissued in 1973, is a study of the flourishing of an ancient literary form which had only recently been recognized and systematically studied as a proper genre – utopian fiction. Beginning with the imaginary journeys of writers like H. G. Wells at the end of the nineteenth century, Professor Gerber traces the evolving themes and forms of the genre through their culmination in the sophisticated nightmares of Aldous Huxley and George Orwell. It is a two-fold transformation: On the one hand, the optimism of social reformers whose visions of the future were nurtured by the theories of Darwin and the triumph of science and industry gradually gives way to the pessimism of moral philosophers alarmed at the power science and technology have put at the disposal of totalitarian rulers. On the other hand, the earlier writers’ dependence on framing and distancing devices for their stories and heavy emphasis on technical details give way to the subtlety of complex psychological novels whose artistry makes the reader a citizen of the tragic worlds depicted.

Utopian Fantasy

Utopian Fantasy PDF Author: Richard Gerber
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1000734722
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 211

Get Book Here

Book Description
This book, originally published in 1955 and reissued in 1973, is a study of the flourishing of an ancient literary form which had only recently been recognized and systematically studied as a proper genre – utopian fiction. Beginning with the imaginary journeys of writers like H. G. Wells at the end of the nineteenth century, Professor Gerber traces the evolving themes and forms of the genre through their culmination in the sophisticated nightmares of Aldous Huxley and George Orwell. It is a two-fold transformation: On the one hand, the optimism of social reformers whose visions of the future were nurtured by the theories of Darwin and the triumph of science and industry gradually gives way to the pessimism of moral philosophers alarmed at the power science and technology have put at the disposal of totalitarian rulers. On the other hand, the earlier writers’ dependence on framing and distancing devices for their stories and heavy emphasis on technical details give way to the subtlety of complex psychological novels whose artistry makes the reader a citizen of the tragic worlds depicted.

Coleridge To 'catch-22'

Coleridge To 'catch-22' PDF Author: John Colmer
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 1349158852
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 247

Get Book Here

Book Description


The Anatomy of National Fantasy

The Anatomy of National Fantasy PDF Author: Lauren Berlant
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
ISBN: 0226043770
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 277

Get Book Here

Book Description
Examining the complex relationships between the political, popular, sexual, and textual interests of Nathaniel Hawthorne's work, Lauren Berlant argues that Hawthorne mounted a sophisticated challenge to America's collective fantasy of national unity. She shows how Hawthorne's idea of citizenship emerged from an attempt to adjudicate among the official and the popular, the national and the local, the collective and the individual, utopia and history. At the core of Berlant's work is a three-part study of The Scarlet Letter, analyzing the modes and effects of national identity that characterize the narrator's representation of Puritan culture and his construction of the novel's political present tense. This analysis emerges from an introductory chapter on American citizenship in the 1850s and a following chapter on national fantasy, ranging from Hawthorne's early work "Alice Doane's Appeal" to the Statue of Liberty. In her conclusion, Berlant suggests that Hawthorne views everyday life and local political identities as alternate routes to the revitalization of the political and utopian promises of modern national life.

The Philosopher Kings

The Philosopher Kings PDF Author: Jo Walton
Publisher: Macmillan + ORM
ISBN: 1466800836
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 325

Get Book Here

Book Description
From acclaimed, award-winning author Jo Walton: Philosopher Kings, a tale of gods and humans, and the surprising things they have to learn from one another. Twenty years have elapsed since the events of The Just City. The City, founded by the time-traveling goddess Pallas Athene, organized on the principles espoused in Plato's Republic and populated by people from all eras of human history, has now split into five cities, and low-level armed conflict between them is not unheard-of. The god Apollo, living (by his own choice) a human life as "Pythias" in the City, his true identity known only to a few, is now married and the father of several children. But a tragic loss causes him to become consumed with the desire for revenge. Being Apollo, he goes handling it in a seemingly rational and systematic way, but it's evident, particularly to his precocious daughter Arete, that he is unhinged with grief. Along with Arete and several of his sons, plus a boatload of other volunteers--including the now fantastically aged Marsilio Ficino, the great humanist of Renaissance Florence--Pythias/Apollo goes sailing into the mysterious Eastern Mediterranean of pre-antiquity to see what they can find—possibly the man who may have caused his great grief, possibly communities of the earliest people to call themselves "Greek." What Apollo, his daughter, and the rest of the expedition will discover...will change everything. At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

The Architecture of Fantasy

The Architecture of Fantasy PDF Author: Ulrich Conrads
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 0

Get Book Here

Book Description


Seventh Shrine

Seventh Shrine PDF Author:
Publisher: Marvel
ISBN: 9780785126607
Category : Comics & Graphic Novels
Languages : en
Pages : 116

Get Book Here

Book Description
A grisly murder has taken place in the ruins of an ancient city on the peaceful world of Majipoor and the Pontifex Valentine has arrived to investigate the crime. But as Valentine and his companions delve deeper into the mystery, they discover that these ruins contain secrets much deeper than anyone ever knew. And that the indigenous Metamorphs are holding back information related to their own dark history. Can Valentine and his friends locate the murderer or did the violent act have something to do with a ritual sacrifice related to the fabled Seventh Shrine?

Habitation of the Blessed

Habitation of the Blessed PDF Author: Catherynne M. Valente
Publisher: Night Shade
ISBN: 9781597801997
Category : Books and reading
Languages : en
Pages : 0

Get Book Here

Book Description
Brother Hiob, on missionary work in the Himalayan wilderness, discovers a village guarding a miraculous tree whose branches sprout books instead of fruit. These books chronicle the history of the kingdom of Prestor John, and Hiob becomes obsessed with the tales they tell.

Political Theory, Science Fiction, and Utopian Literature

Political Theory, Science Fiction, and Utopian Literature PDF Author: Tony Burns
Publisher: Lexington Books
ISBN: 0739144871
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 332

Get Book Here

Book Description
Ursula K. Le Guin's The Dispossessed is of interest to political theorists partly because of its association with anarchism and partly because it is thought to represent a turning point in the history of utopian/dystopian political thought and literature and of science fiction. Published in 1974, it marked a revival of utopianism after decades of dystopian writing. According to this widely accepted view The Dispossessed represents a new kind of literary utopia, which Tom Moylan calls a 'critical utopia.' The present work challenges this reading of The Dispossessed and its place in the histories of utopian/dystopian literature and science fiction. It explores the difference between traditional literary utopia and novels and suggests that The Dispossessed is not a literary utopia but a novel about utopianism in politics. Le Guin's concerns have more to do with those of the novelists of the 19th century writing in the tradition of European Realism than they do with the science fiction or utopian literature. It also claims that her theory of the novel has an affinity with the ancient Greek tragedy. This implies that there is a conservatism in Le Guin's work as a creative writer, or as a novelist, which fits uneasily with her personal commitment to anarchism.

Expressionist Utopias

Expressionist Utopias PDF Author: Timothy O. Benson
Publisher: Univ of California Press
ISBN: 9780520230033
Category : Art
Languages : en
Pages : 339

Get Book Here

Book Description
Conveys the dreams and disappointments of German artists, architects, and intellectuals from World War I through the social and economic chaos of the Weimar Republic.

The Seep

The Seep PDF Author: Chana Porter
Publisher: Soho Press
ISBN: 1641290870
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 217

Get Book Here

Book Description
A 2021 Lambda Literary Award Finalist “A unique alien invasion story that focuses on the human and the myriad ways we see and don’t see our own world. Mesmerizing.” —Jeff VanderMeer A blend of searing social commentary and speculative fiction, Chana Porter’s fresh, pointed debut explores a strange new world in the wake of a benign alien invasion. Trina FastHorse Goldberg-Oneka is a fifty-year-old trans woman whose life is irreversibly altered in the wake of a gentle—but nonetheless world-changing—invasion by an alien entity called The Seep. Through The Seep, everything is connected. Capitalism falls, hierarchies and barriers are broken down; if something can be imagined, it is possible. Trina and her wife, Deeba, live blissfully under The Seep’s utopian influence—until Deeba begins to imagine what it might be like to be reborn as a baby, which will give her the chance at an even better life. Using Seeptech to make this dream a reality, Deeba moves on to a new existence, leaving Trina devastated. Heartbroken and deep into an alcoholic binge, Trina follows a lost boy she encounters, embarking on an unexpected quest. In her attempt to save him from The Seep, she will confront not only one of its most avid devotees, but the terrifying void that Deeba has left behind. A strange new elegy of love and loss, The Seep explores grief, alienation, and the ache of moving on.