Download or read book Mindscapes the Geographies of Imagined Worlds written by George Edgar Slusser and published by SIU Press. This book was released on 1989 with total page 326 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Eighteen essays plus four examples from the ninth annual J. Lloyd Eaton Conference on Science Fiction and Fantasy Literature at the University of California, Riverside. The concept of mindscape, Slusser and Rabkin explain, allows critics to focus on a single fundamental problem: "The constant need for a relation between mind and some being external to mind." The essayists are Poul Anderson, Wendy Doniger O'Flaherty, Ronald J. Heckelman, David Brin, Frank McConnell, George E. Slusser, James Romm, Jack G. Voller, Peter Fitting, Michael R. Collings, Pascal J. Thomas, Reinhart Lutz, Joseph D. Miller, Gary Westfahl, Bill Lee, Max P. Belin, William Lomax, and Donald M. Hassler. The book concludes with four authors discussing examples of mindscape. The participants are Jean-Pierre Barricelli, Gregory Benford, Gary Kern, and David N. Samuelson.
Download or read book Mental Health Atmospheres Video Games written by Jimena Aguilar Rodríguez and published by transcript Verlag. This book was released on 2022-10-31 with total page 263 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Gaming has never been disconnected from reality. When we engage with ever more lavish virtual worlds, something happens to us. The game imposes itself on us and influences how we feel about it, the world, and ourselves. How do games accomplish this and to what end? The contributors explore the video game as an atmospheric medium of hitherto unimagined potential. Is the medium too powerful, too influential? A danger to our mental health or an ally through even the darkest of times? This volume compiles papers from the Young Academics Workshop at the Clash of Realities conferences of 2019 and 2020 to provide answers to these questions.
Download or read book Mindscapes of Montreal written by Ceri Morgan and published by University of Wales Press. This book was released on 2012-10-15 with total page 238 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This innovative study of the Montreal novel in French looks at how imaginary and material landscapes come together to produce a city of neighbourhoods.
Download or read book Gregory Benford written by George Slusser and published by University of Illinois Press. This book was released on 2014-02-28 with total page 217 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Gregory Benford is perhaps best known as the author of Benford's law of controversy: "Passion is inversely proportional to the amount of real information available." That maxim is a quotation from Timescape, Benford's Nebula and Campbell Award-winning 1980 novel, which established his work as an exemplar of "hard science fiction," dedicated to working out the consequences of modern science rather than substituting pseudoscience for fantasy. Like many other current science fiction writers, Benford has tackled the major genres: space travel, time travel, technology running amok, prolonged longevity, searing apocalyptic cosmic events, and alien life, which he theorizes to be more likely viral than intelligent. An astrophysicist by training and profession, Benford has published more than twenty novels, over one hundred short stories, some fifty essays, and myriad articles that display both his scientific rigor as well as a recognition of literary traditions. In this study, George Slusser explores the extraordinary, seemingly inexhaustible display of creative energy in Gregory Benford's life and work. Presenting Benford's ideas on science and the writing of science fiction, the volume addresses the writer's literary production and his place in contemporary science fiction. By identifying direct sources and making parallels with other works and writers, Slusser reveals the vast scope of Benford's knowledge, both of literature and of the major scientific and philosophical issues of our time. Slusser also discusses Benford's numerous scientific articles and nonfiction books and includes a new interview with Benford.
Download or read book Fantasy and Myth in the Anthropocene written by Marek Oziewicz and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2022-02-24 with total page 272 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The first study to look at the intersection of the discourse of the Anthropocene within the two highly influential storytelling modes of fantasy and myth, this book shows the need for stories that articulate visions of a biocentric, ecological civilization. Fantasy and myth have long been humanity's most advanced technologies for collective dreaming. Today they are helping us adopt a biocentric lens, re-kin us with other forms of life, and assist us in the transition to an ecological civilization. Deliberately moving away from dystopian narratives toward anticipatory imaginations of sustainable futures, this volume blends chapters by top scholars in the fields of fantasy, myth, and Young Adult literature with personal reflections by award-winning authors and illustrators of books for young audiences, including Shaun Tan, Jane Yolen, Katherine Applegate and Joseph Bruchac. Chapters cover the works of major fantasy authors such as J. R. R. Tolkien, Terry Prachett, J. K. Rowling, China Miéville, Barbara Henderson, Jeanette Winterson, John Crowley, Richard Powers, George R. R. Martin and Kim Stanley Robinson. They range through narratives set in the UK, USA, Nigeria, Ghana, Pacific Islands, New Zealand and Australia. Across the chapters, fantasy and myth are framed as spaces where visions of sustainable futures can be designed with most detail and nuance. Rather than merely criticizing the ecocidal status quo, the book asks how mythic narratives and fantastic stories can mobilize resistance around ideas necessary for the emergence of an ecological civilization.
Download or read book From Francis Bacon to William Golding written by Minodora Barbul and published by Cambridge Scholars Publishing. This book was released on 2012-04-25 with total page 260 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume is dedicated to Francis Bacon, to William Golding and to the tradition of writing utopias and dystopias. Although some of the articles contained herein were presented at the conference from which this book originated, there are also other contributions which join these to complete a 21st century vision on utopia, from the point of view of specialists in philology, philosophy, anthropology, etc. The novelty of such an undertaking comes from the fact that the editors enabled researchers from different fields to come together and create an interdisciplinary volume which contains very rigorous academic work alongside more relaxed essays.
Download or read book Wonder and Science written by Mary Baine Campbell and published by Cornell University Press. This book was released on 2016-05-02 with total page 383 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: During the early modern period, western Europe was transformed by the proliferation of new worlds—geographic worlds found in the voyages of discovery and conceptual and celestial worlds opened by natural philosophy, or science. The response to incredible overseas encounters and to the profound technological, religious, economic, and intellectual changes occurring in Europe was one of nearly overwhelming wonder, expressed in a rich variety of texts. In the need to manage this wonder, to harness this imaginative overabundance, Mary Baine Campbell finds both the sensational beauty of early scientific works and the beginnings of the divergence of the sciences—particularly geography, astronomy, and anthropology—from the writing of fiction. Campbell's learned and brilliantly perceptive new book analyzes a cross section of texts in which worlds were made and unmade; these texts include cosmographies, colonial reports, works of natural philosophy and natural history, fantastic voyages, exotic fictions, and confessions. Among the authors she discusses are André Thevet, Thomas Hariot, Francis Bacon, Galileo, Margaret Cavendish, and Aphra Behn. Campbell's emphasis is on developments in England and France, but she considers works in languages other than English or French which were well known in the polyglot book culture of the time. With over thirty well-chosen illustrations, Wonder and Science enhances our understanding of the culture of early modern Europe, the history of science, and the development of literary forms, including the novel and ethnography.
Download or read book Science Fiction Literature through History 2 volumes written by Gary Westfahl and published by Bloomsbury Publishing USA. This book was released on 2021-07-19 with total page 814 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book provides students and other interested readers with a comprehensive survey of science fiction history and numerous essays addressing major science fiction topics, authors, works, and subgenres written by a distinguished scholar. This encyclopedia deals with written science fiction in all of its forms, not only novels and short stories but also mediums often ignored in other reference books, such as plays, poems, comic books, and graphic novels. Some science fiction films, television programs, and video games are also mentioned, particularly when they are relevant to written texts. Its focus is on science fiction in the English language, though due attention is given to international authors whose works have been frequently translated into English. Since science fiction became a recognized genre and greatly expanded in the 20th century, works published in the 20th and 21st centuries are most frequently discussed, though important earlier works are not neglected. The texts are designed to be helpful to numerous readers, ranging from students first encountering science fiction to experienced scholars in the field.
Download or read book Film and Place in an Intercultural Perspective written by Krzysztof Stachowiak and published by Taylor & Francis. This book was released on 2023-09-26 with total page 274 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The book offers an interdisciplinary overview of the film and place relationship from an intercultural perspective. It explores the complex domain of place and space in cinema and the film industry's role in establishing cultural connections and economic cooperation between India and Europe. With contributions from leading international scholars, various case studies scrutinise European and Indian contexts, exploring both the established and emerging locations. The book extends the dominantly Britain-oriented focus on India’s cinema presence in Europe to European countries such as Italy, Switzerland, Poland, Slovenia, Finland, and Sweden, where the Indian film industry progressively expands its presence. The chapters of this book look at Indian film production in Europe as a cultural bridge between India and Europe, fostering mutual understanding of the culture and society of the two regions. This interdisciplinary book will be of interest to researchers in film studies, cultural anthropology, cultural geography, tourism, economics, sociology, and cultural studies. It will also be interest to practitioners working in local authorities, destination management, tourism, and creative business, all of whom see the value of film production in attracting visitors, investment, and creating new networks with local economic actors. The book offers much-needed data and tools to translate their professional goals and potentials into effective regional strategies and activities.
Download or read book The Cross the Plow and the Skyline written by Ernest J. Yanarella and published by BrownWalker Press. This book was released on 2022-03-01 with total page 404 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The apocalyptic, pastoral, and urban traditions have fundamentally shaped Western history and influenced American religion, culture, and politics. This book argues that these traditions have not only been decisive in giving form and substance to classic and modern American literature, but have been appropriated by contemporary science fiction. As a loosely connected set of cultural narratives, the Cross, the Plow, and the Skyline have through the medium of science fiction and fantasy provided a bold vista on the future grounded in an emergent ecological imagination. In the expanded second edition of the original 2001 publication, the author argues that a significant shift has taken place in contemporary Anglo-American science fiction and fantasy (SF/F) from twentieth-century SF/F critically analyzed in the first edition’s critical inquiry. Avantgarde works in twenty-first century speculative fiction--extensively examined in representative works in interludes separating the slightly revised original chapters--have become: darker in their visions of the possible future; more focused on slowness over breakneck speed; more amenable to gender, racial, and global diversity in authorship, plot, and subgenre creation; less attached to anchor concepts like the city, wilderness, and the domesticated landscape in plot development; more prone to dystopian and critical dystopian tropes; simultaneously more open toward, but critical of, Young Adult fiction; and more supportive of the breakdown of borders and antagonisms between science fiction and fantasy and SF/F and literary fiction. Ensconced in the cultural, social, and political zeitgeist of the New Millennium’s first two decades, these features of twenty-first century science fiction and fantasy may yet settle into and inform emergent and pluralistic varieties of ecological politics spreading across the globe and confronting the Earth’s social and environmental crises of our times and coming decades.
Download or read book The Science of Fiction and the Fiction of Science written by Frank McConnell and published by McFarland. This book was released on 2009-02-12 with total page 237 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A member of the Pulitzer Prize jury, the late Frank McConnell helped science fiction gain standing as serious literature. His 16 essays herein were first presented as papers at the prestigious Eaton Conferences. Initially believing that science fiction is primarily one of many forms of storytelling, McConnell gradually recognized science fiction as a modern expression of Gnosticism, rejecting bodily concerns for an emphasis on spirituality.
Download or read book Science Fiction written by George Slusser and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2022-01-04 with total page 367 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In what N. Katherine Hayles describes as "this enormously ambitious posthumous volume," renowned scholar George Slusser offers a definitive version of the argument about the history of science fiction that he developed throughout his career: that several important ideas and texts, routinely overlooked in other critical studies, made significant contributions to the creation of modern science fiction as it developed into a truly global literature. He explores how key thinkers like René Descartes, Benjamin Constant, Thomas DeQuincey, Guy du Maupassant, J.D. Bernal, and Ralph Waldo Emerson influenced and are reflected in twentieth-century science fiction stories from the United States, Great Britain, France, Germany, Poland, and Russia. The conclusion begins with Slusser’s overview of global science fiction in the twenty-first century and discusses recent developments in countries like China, Romania, and Israel. Hayles’s foreword provides a useful summation of the book’s contents, while science fiction writer Gregory Benford contributes an afterword providing a personal perspective on the life and thoughts of his longtime friend. The book was edited by Slusser’s former colleague Gary Westfahl, a distinguished scholar in his own right.
Download or read book Knowledge Desire and Power in Global Politics written by Chengxin Pan and published by Edward Elgar Publishing. This book was released on 2012-01-01 with total page 259 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: ÔChina threat or China opportunity, like beauty, is in the eyes of the beholder. Western imaginations of China come under close scrutiny in this book, in a new, philosophical depth seldom attempted before. Dr Pan displays in full force his analytical skills and his mastery of knowledge, both East and West. Contrary to conventional approaches, he takes a step back to exercise a powerful reflective process to watch the China watchers, with illuminating results. Dr PanÕs book deserves wide and careful reading.Õ Ð Professor Gerald Chan, University of Auckland, New Zealand ÔThe rise of China is largely seen as either a threat or an opportunity. Chengxin Pan exposes both of these representations as expressions of Western fears and desires for certainty and predictability. His call for a more reflective and culturally sensitive understanding of China offers an important contribution to one of the big political debates of our time.Õ Ð Professor Roland Bleiker, University of Queensland, Australia ÔThis is a brilliant and insightful treatment of Western representations of China, with a theoretical framework suggesting they come not only from China itself, but also the West. Although it is not the first treatment of this topic, it is innovative in considering the ÒChina threatÓ and ÒChina opportunityÓ: both aspects of the rise of China are of crucial importance for our times. With provocative conclusions, it is a truly path-breaking contribution to the literature. I recommend it highly!Õ Ð Emeritus Professor Colin Mackerras, Griffith University, Australia ÔPan has produced a book which not only challenges some basic assumptions about the nature of ChinaÕs ÒriseÓ, but more importantly forces us to rethink the very basic starting points of how we know what we know about China.Õ Ð Professor Shaun Breslin, University of Warwick, UK How is the rise of China perceived in the West? Why is it often labelled as ÔthreatÕ and/or ÔopportunityÕ? What are the implications of these China imageries for global politics? Taking up these important questions, this groundbreaking book argues that the dominant Western perceptions of ChinaÕs rise tell us less about China and more about Western self-imagination and its desire for certainty. Chengxin Pan expertly illustrates how this desire, masked as China ÔknowledgeÕ, is bound up with the political economy of fears and fantasies, thereby both informing and complicating foreign policy practice in Sino-Western relations. Insofar as this vital relationship is shaped not only by ChinaÕs rise, but also by the way we conceptualise its rise, this book makes a compelling case for critical reflection on China watching. Knowledge, Desire and Power in Global Politics is the first systematic and deconstructive analysis of contemporary Western representation of ChinaÕs rise. Setting itself apart from the mainstream empiricist literature, its critical interpretative approach and unconventional and innovative perspective will not only strongly appeal to academics, students and the broader reading public, but also likely spark debate in the field of Chinese international relations.
Download or read book The Routledge Introduction to Canadian Fantastic Literature written by Allan Weiss and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2020-12-29 with total page 198 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This study introduces the history, themes, and critical responses to Canadian fantastic literature. Taking a chronological approach, this volume covers the main periods of Canadian science fiction and fantasy from the early nineteenth century to the first decades of the twenty-first century. The book examines both the texts and the contexts of Canadian writing in the fantastic, analyzing themes and techniques in novels and short stories, and looking at both national and international contexts of the literature’s history. This introduction will offer a coherent narrative of Canadian fantastic literature through analysis of the major texts and authors in the field and through relating the authors’ work to the world around them.
Download or read book Science Fiction and Empire written by Patricia Kerslake and published by Liverpool University Press. This book was released on 2007-01-01 with total page 226 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From its beginnings, science fiction has experimented with imperialistic scenarios of alien invasion, extraterrestrial exploitation, xenophobia, and colonial conquest. In Science Fiction and Empire, Patricia Kerslake brings contemporary thinking about postcolonialism and imperialism to bear on a variety of classic sci-fi novels and films, including The War of the Worlds, Stanislaw Lem’s Solaris, and Star Wars. The first book to identify the consequences of empire in science fiction, Kerslake’s study is a compelling investigation of the political ramifications of how we imagine our future. “Science Fiction and Empire is thought-provoking and insightful, . . . the kind of large-scale postcolonial work that science fiction has needed for quite some time.”—Science Fiction Studies
Download or read book The Ashgate Research Companion to Monsters and the Monstrous written by Asa Simon Mittman and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2017-02-24 with total page 626 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The field of monster studies has grown significantly over the past few years and this companion provides a comprehensive guide to the study of monsters and the monstrous from historical, regional and thematic perspectives. The collection reflects the truly multi-disciplinary nature of monster studies, bringing in scholars from literature, art history, religious studies, history, classics, and cultural and media studies. The companion will offer scholars and graduate students the first comprehensive and authoritative review of this emergent field.
Download or read book Worlds Apart written by Dunja M. Mohr and published by McFarland. This book was released on 2005-06-15 with total page 325 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Literary critics and scholars have written extensively on the demise of the "utopian spirit" in the modern novel. What has often been overlooked is the emergence of a new hybrid subgenre, particularly in science fiction and fantasy, which incorporates utopian strategies within the dystopian narrative, particularly in the feminist dystopias of the 1980s and 1990s. The author names this new subgenre "transgressive utopian dystopias." Suzette Haden Elgin's Native Tongue trilogy, Suzy McKee Charna's Holdfast series, and Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale are thoroughly analyzed within the context of this this new subgenre of "transgressive utopian dystopias." Analysis focuses particularly on how these works cover the interrelated categories of gender, race and class, along with their relationship to classic literary dualism and the dystopian narrative. Without completely dissolving the dualistic order, the feminist dystopias studied here contest the notions of unambiguity and authenticity that are generally part of the canon.
