Critical Theory and Science Fiction |
| Author: Carl Freedman
Publisher: Wesleyan
Category: Book
List Price: $21.95
Buy New: $21.62
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Avg. Customer Rating:  1 reviews
Sales Rank: 807202
Media: Paperback
Edition: 1st
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 228
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.8
Dimensions (in): 9 x 6 x 0.7
ISBN: 0819563994
Dewey Decimal Number: 809.38762
EAN: 9780819563996
ASIN: 0819563994
Publication Date: February 1, 2000
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Condition: BRAND NEW and IN STOCK - dispatched within 48 hours from the US
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Product Description
This innovative cultural critique offers valuable insights into science fiction, thus enlarging our understanding of critical theory.
Carl Freedman traces the fundamental and mostly unexamined relationships between the discourses of science fiction and critical theory, arguing that science fiction is (or ought to be) a privileged genre for critical theory. He asserts that it is no accident that the upsurge of academic interest in science fiction since the 1970s coincides with the heyday of literary theory, and that likewise science fiction is one of the most theoretically informed areas of the literary profession. Extended readings of novels by five of the most important modern science fiction authors illustrate the affinity between science fiction and critical theory, in each case concentrating on one major novel that resonates with concerns proper to critical theory.
Freedman's five readings are: Solaris: Stanislaw Lem and the Structure of Cognition; The Dispossessed: Ursula LeGuin and the Ambiguities of Utopia; The Two of Them: Joanna Russ and the Violence of Gender; Stars in My Pocket Like Grains of Sand: Samuel Delany and the Dialectics of Difference; The Man in the High Castle: Philip K. Dick and the Construction of Realities.
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Customer Reviews:
Critical Theory needs critical response April 30, 2002
25 out of 33 found this review helpful
It's amazing that people can judge a book by reading excerpts on the net. Critical Theory and Science Fiction is not an easy read but CT never was or will be. You don't have to agree with the Marxist theories of Bloch and Adorno, Carl Freedman uses to make his various points, to appreciate his insights and the challenges he throws at the reader. That is what academics are supposed to do and not to wallow in old cliche's and easy answers. The "excursuses" (his term) into classic SF novels such as Stanislaw Lem's SOLARIS, Ursula Le Guin's THE DISPOSSESSED, Joanna Russ' THE TWO OF THEM, Samuel Delany's STARS IN MY POCKET LIKE GRAINS OF SANDS and the greatest SF writer, Philip K Dick's THE MAN IN THE HIGH CASTLE are lessons every SF reader and writer should make their own. At least Freedman is raising the level of SF discourse beyond Star Trek Convensions or Star Wars hype.
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