Science Fiction, New Space Opera, and Neoliberal Globalism
Title | Science Fiction, New Space Opera, and Neoliberal Globalism PDF eBook |
Author | Jerome Winter |
Publisher | University of Wales Press |
Pages | 219 |
Release | 2016-11-15 |
Genre | Literary Criticism |
ISBN | 178316946X |
One of the few points critics and readers can agree upon when discussing the fiction popularly known as New Space Opera – a recent subgenre movement of science fiction – is its canny engagement with contemporary cultural politics in the age of globalisation. This book avers that the complex political allegories of New Space Opera respond to the recent cultural phenomenon known as neoliberalism, which entails the championing of the deregulation and privatisation of social services and programmes in the service of global free-market expansion. Providing close readings of the evolving New Space Opera canon and cultural histories and theoretical contexts of neoliberalism as a regnant ideology of our times, this book conceptualises a means to appreciate this thriving movement of popular literature.
Science Fiction, New Space Opera, and Neoliberal Globalism
Title | Science Fiction, New Space Opera, and Neoliberal Globalism PDF eBook |
Author | Jerome Winter |
Publisher | University of Wales Press |
Pages | 236 |
Release | 2016-11-15 |
Genre | Literary Criticism |
ISBN | 1783169451 |
One of the few points critics and readers can agree upon when discussing the fiction popularly known as New Space Opera – a recent subgenre movement of science fiction – is its canny engagement with contemporary cultural politics in the age of globalisation. This book avers that the complex political allegories of New Space Opera respond to the recent cultural phenomenon known as neoliberalism, which entails the championing of the deregulation and privatisation of social services and programmes in the service of global free-market expansion. Providing close readings of the evolving New Space Opera canon and cultural histories and theoretical contexts of neoliberalism as a regnant ideology of our times, this book conceptualises a means to appreciate this thriving movement of popular literature.
BioWare's Mass Effect
Title | BioWare's Mass Effect PDF eBook |
Author | Jerome Winter |
Publisher | Springer Nature |
Pages | 99 |
Release | 2022-11-24 |
Genre | Social Science |
ISBN | 3031188764 |
The videogame series Mass Effect is a remarkable rarity not only for being an original science-fictional franchise of recent vintage that has risen to such prominent commercial and critical success in popular culture but also for pushing the canonical boundaries of how science fiction as a genre will be experienced and understood in the future. This book analyzes the significance of the game for an understanding of the evolving SF genre and articulates an explanatory framework to limn its landmark reception in videogame history. This book both synthesizes the burgeoning body of scholarship on Mass Effect for a readership unfamiliar with either the game or the critical conversation on its salient importance, while simultaneously, for readers already invested in the science-fiction and videogame scholarship, mounting an extended inquiry as to why Mass Effect has served as such a representative milestone in videogame and genre history. The book should appeal to veteran science-fiction and videogame scholars and students as well as a wide variety of fans, consumers, gamers, and general readers.
The Culture of 'the Culture'
Title | The Culture of 'the Culture' PDF eBook |
Author | Joseph S. Norman |
Publisher | |
Pages | 296 |
Release | 2021-01-05 |
Genre | Literary Criticism |
ISBN | 1789621747 |
In a career that spanned over thirty years, Iain M. Banks became one of the best-loved and most prolific writers in Britain, with his space opera series concerned with the pan-galactic utopian civilisation known as 'the Culture' widely regarded as his most significant contribution to science fiction. The Culture of 'The Culture' is the first critical monograph to focus solely on this series, providing a comprehensive, thematic analysis of Banks's Culture stories from Consider Phlebas to The Hydrogen Sonata. It explores the development of Banks's political, philosophical and literary thought, arguing that the Culture offers both an image of a harmonious civilisation modelled on an alternative socialist form of globalisation and a critique of our neo-liberal present. As Joseph S. Norman explains, the Culture is the result of an ongoing utopian process, attempting through the application of technoscience to move beyond obstacles to progress such as imperialism, capitalism, the human condition, religious dogma, patriarchy and crises in artistic representation. The Culture of 'The Culture' defines Banks's creation as culture: a utopian way of doing, of being, of seeing: an approach, an attitude and a lifestyle that has enabled, and is evolving alongside, utopia, rather than an image of a static end-state.
The New Routledge Companion to Science Fiction
Title | The New Routledge Companion to Science Fiction PDF eBook |
Author | Mark Bould |
Publisher | Taylor & Francis |
Pages | 537 |
Release | 2024-06-13 |
Genre | Literary Criticism |
ISBN | 1040042953 |
The New Routledge Companion to Science Fiction provides an overview of the study of science fiction across multiple academic fields. It offers a new conceptualisation of the field today, marking the significant changes that have taken place in sf studies over the past 15 years. Building on the pioneering research in the first edition, the collection reorganises historical coverage of the genre to emphasise new geographical areas of cultural production and the growing importance of media beyond print. It also updates and expands the range of frameworks that are relevant to the study of science fiction. The periodisation has been reframed to include new chapters focusing on science fiction produced outside the Anglophone context, including South Asian, Latin American, Chinese and African diasporic science fiction. The contributors use both well- established critical and theoretical approaches and embrace a range of new ones, including biopolitics, climate crisis, critical ethnic studies, disability studies, energy humanities, game studies, medical humanities, new materialisms and sonic studies. This book is an invaluable resource for students and established scholars seeking to understand the vast range of engagements with science fiction in scholarship today.
Science Fiction Literature through History [2 volumes]
Title | Science Fiction Literature through History [2 volumes] PDF eBook |
Author | Gary Westfahl |
Publisher | Bloomsbury Publishing USA |
Pages | 814 |
Release | 2021-07-19 |
Genre | Literary Criticism |
ISBN | 1440866171 |
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.
The Rise and Fall of American Science Fiction, from the 1920s to the 1960s
Title | The Rise and Fall of American Science Fiction, from the 1920s to the 1960s PDF eBook |
Author | Gary Westfahl |
Publisher | McFarland |
Pages | 312 |
Release | 2019-10-04 |
Genre | Literary Criticism |
ISBN | 1476638519 |
By examining important aspects of science fiction in the twentieth century, this book explains how the genre evolved to its current state. Close critical attention is given to topics including the art that has accompanied science fiction, the subgenres of space opera and hard science fiction, the rise of SF anthologies, and the burgeoning impact of the marketplace on authors. Included are in-depth studies of key texts that contributed to science fiction's growth, including Philip Francis Nowlan's first Buck Rogers story, the first published stories of A. E. van Vogt, and the early juveniles of Isaac Asimov, Arthur C. Clarke and Robert Heinlein.