Do Metaphors Dream of Literal Sleep?: A Science-Fictional Theory of Representation A Science-Fictional Theory of Representation

In culture and scholarship, science-fictional worlds are perceived as unrealistic and altogether imaginary. Seo-Young Chu offers a bold challenge to this perception of the genre, arguing instead that science fiction is a form of “high-intensity realism” capable of representing non-imaginary objects that elude more traditional, “realist” modes of representation. Powered by lyric forces that allow it to transcend the dichotomy between the literal and the figurative, science fiction has the capacity to accommodate objects of representation that are themselves neither entirely figurative nor entirely literal in nature. Chu explores the globalized world, cyberspace, war trauma, the Korean concept of han, and the rights of robots, all as referents for which she locates science-fictional representations in poems, novels, music, films, visual pieces, and other works ranging within and without previous demarcations of the science fiction genre. In showing the divide between realism and science fiction to be illusory, Do Metaphors Dream of Literal Sleep? sheds new light on the value of science fiction as an aesthetic and philosophical resource—one that matters more and more as our everyday realities grow increasingly resistant to straightforward representation. In showing the divide between realism and science fiction to be illusory, this title sheds light on the value of science fiction as an aesthetic and philosophical resource. It explores the globalized world, cyberspace, and the rights of robots, all as referents for which it locates science-fictional representations in poems, novels, and films. In culture and scholarship, science-fictional worlds are perceived as unrealistic and altogether imaginary. This title offers a perception to this genre, arguing instead that science fiction is a form of "high-intensity realism" capable of representing non-imaginary objects that elude more traditional, "realist" modes of representation. In culture and scholarship, science-fictional worlds are perceived as unrealistic and imaginary. Seo-Young Chu challenges this perception of the genre, arguing instead that science fiction is a form of 'high-intensity realism' capable of representing non-imaginary objects that elude more traditional modes of representation Chu argues that science fiction’s dual status as both narrative and lyric art form permits the representation of objects that are otherwise difficult or impossible to describe-- e.g., those that are neither purely literal nor purely figurative.