Anatomy of Science Fiction
Editor: Donald E. Morse
Date Of Publication: Jul 2006
Isbn13: 9781847180186
Isbn: 1-84718-018-3
"This wide-ranging collection of essays re-opens the connection between science fiction and the increasingly science-fictional world.

Kevin Alexander Boon reminds us of the degree to which the epistemology of science fiction infects modern political discourse. Károly Pintér explores the narrative structures of utopian estrangement, and Tamás Bényei and Brian Attebery take us deeper into the cultural exchanges between science fiction and the literary and political worlds. In the second half, Donald Morse, Nicholas Ruddick and Éva Federmayer look at the way in which science fiction has tackled major ethical issues, while Amy Novak and Kálmán Matolcsy consider memory and evolution as cultural batteries. The book ends with important discussions of East German and Hungarian science fiction by Usch Kiausch and Donald Morse respectively.

I envisage that the book will find a market both among academics and as a recommended text to undergraduates as it offers interesting essays on important readers. The tendency for science fiction to be offered as a literature class to science majors is not usually considered, but this book would be particularly appropriate for such a market."

Dr. Farah Mendelsohn,

Middlesex University

Donald E. Morse’s numerous published essays and reviews on science fiction, Kurt Vonnegut, and William Gibson in scholarly journals in the United States and Europe have established him in science fiction scholarship and in the forefront of Vonnegut scholarship. Also a recognized international authority on the literature of the fantastic, he has served as the Chair of the International Conference on the Fantastic in the Arts since 1984. The University of Debrecen, Hungary awarded him an Honorary Doctorate in recognition of his international scholarship and his service to Hungarian higher education. He enjoys a high reputation as an international lecturer and is much in demand as keynote speaker at European scholarly conferences. Anatomy of Science Fiction is his twelfth published book. Presently he is University Professor of American, Irish, and English Literature at the University of Debrecen and Emeritus Professor of English and Rhetoric at Oakland University in Michigan, USA.

Collectively speaking, the authors featured in this anthology do a fine job of peeling the skin off the body of storytelling we call sf to examine specific texts and traditions under the bright light of crtitcal and cultural theory.

All of the essays in this volume are outstanding examples of sf scholarship that use theory to illuminate sf while also using sf to complicate readers' understanding of theory. In my experience, that is something that happens too seldom in sf studies, and that alone makes Anatomy of Science Fiction worth reading. Lisa Yaszek in Science Fiction Studies

Along with its international flavor, the strength of this collection comes from its breadth, yet it is also bound by the focus on the cultural and critical context in which each of the contributors sites and cites his or her analyses. Anatomy of Science Fiction is a thought-provoking and welcome addition to science fiction scholarship.

W. A. SENIOR; JOURNAL OF THE FANTASTIC IN THE ARTS Vol. 19.2

Price Uk Gbp: 29.99
Price Us Usd: 44.99

Sample pdf (including Table of Contents)