Learning from Other Worlds provides both a portrait of the development of science fiction criticism as an intellectual field and a definitive look at the state of science fiction studies today. Its title refers to the essence of “cognitive estrangement” in relation to science fiction and utopian fiction—the assertion that by imagining strange worlds we learn to see our own world in a new perspective. Acknowledging an indebtedness to the groundbreaking work of Darko Suvin and his belief that the double movement of estrangement and cognition reflects deep structures of human storytelling, the contributors assert that learning-from-otherness is as natural and inevitable a process as the instinct for imitation and representation that Aristotle described in his Poetics.
In exploring the relationship between imaginative invention and that of allegory or fable, the essays in Learning from Other Worlds comment on the field’s most abiding concerns and employ a variety of critical approaches—from intellectual history and genre studies to biographical criticism, feminist cultural studies, and political textual analysis. Among the topics discussed are the works of John Wyndham, Kim Stanley Robinson, Stanislau Lem, H.G. Wells, and Ursula Le Guin, as well as the media’s reactions to the 1997 cloning of Dolly the Sheep. Darko Suvin’s characteristically outspoken and penetrating afterword responds to the essays in the volume and offers intimations of a further stage in his long and distinguished career.
This useful compendium and companion offers a coherent view of science fiction studies as it has evolved while paying tribute to the debt it owes Suvin, one of its first champions. As such, it will appeal to critics and students of science fiction, utopia, and fantasy writing.
Contributors. Marc Angenot, Marleen S. Barr, Peter Fitting, Carl Freedman, Edward James, Fredric Jameson, David Ketterer, Gerard Klein, Tom Moylan, Rafail Nudelman, Darko Suvin
A definite look at the state of science fiction studies today that surveys the field from Hugo Gernsbach to the present.
Acknowledgements vi Contributors vii Introduction: Learning from Other Worlds 1(18) Patrick Parrinder Part I: Science Fiction and Utopia: Theory and Politics Before the Novum: The Prehistory of Science Fiction Criticism 19(17) Edward James Revisiting Suvins Poetics of Science Fiction 36(15) Patrick Parrinder `Look into the dark: On Dystopia and the Novum 51(21) Tom Moylan Science Fiction and Utopia: A Historico-Philosophical Overview 72(26) Carl Freedman Society After the Revolution: The Blueprints for the Forthcoming Socialist Society published by the Leaders of the Second International 98(21) Marc Angenot Part II: Science Fiction in its Social, Cultural and Philosophical Contexts From the Images of Science to Science Fiction 119(8) Gerard Klein Estranged Invaders: The War of the Worlds 127(19) Peter Fitting `A part of the ... family (?): John Wyndhams The Midwich Cuckoos as Estranged Autobiography 146(32) David Ketterer Labyrinth, Double and Mask in the Science Fiction of Stanislaw Lem 178(15) Rafail Nudelman `Were at the start of a new ball game and thats why were all real nervous: Or, Cloning--Technological Cognition Reflects Estrangement from Women 193(15) Marleen S. Barr `If I find one good city I will spare the man: Realism and Utopia in Kim Stanley Robinsons Mars Trilogy 208(25) Fredric Jameson Afterword: With Sober, Estranged Eyes 233(39) Darko Suvin Darko Suvin: Checklist of Printed Items that Concern Science Fiction 272(19) Bibliography 291(16) Index 307
Patrick Parrinder is Professor of English at the University of Reading, England. His previous books include Authors and Authority: English and American Criticism, 17501990 and Shadows of the Future: H. G. Wells, Science Fiction, and Prophecy.
