Histories of the Future : Studies in Fact, Fantasy and Science Fiction

This collection of interdisciplinary essays examines some of the ways in which writers, artists, film-makers, strategists and political thinkers have imagined the future over the last two centuries. Although a number of contributions discuss 'mainstream' science fiction, the collection's emphasis is not on any single genre, but rather on the ways in which different histories - technological, cultural, military, ideological - generate and inform different modes of speculation about things to come. These histories also disclose that our patterns of expectation are much influenced by our relationship to the past. Front Matter....Pages i-xviii Introducing the Future: the Dawn of Science-Fiction Criticism....Pages 1-7 History in SF: What (Hasn’t Yet) Happened in History....Pages 8-14 The Ruins of the Future: Macaulay’s New Zealander and the Spirit of the Age....Pages 15-33 Celluloid Scientists: Futures Visualised....Pages 34-50 Losing the Sense of Space: Forster’s ‘The Machine Stops’ and Jameson’s «Third Machine Age»....Pages 51-71 Boys, Battleships, Books: the Cult of the Navy in US Juvenile Fiction, 1898–1919....Pages 72-90 American Dreams and Edwardian Aspirations: Technological Innovation and Temporal Uncertainty in Narratives of Expectation....Pages 91-111 Filing the Future: Reporting on World War Three....Pages 112-123 The Map of Apocalypse: Nuclear War and the Space of Dystopia in American Science Fiction....Pages 124-136 A New World Made to Order: Making Sense of the Future in a Global Era....Pages 137-151 Sign, Symbol, Power: the New Martian Novel....Pages 152-167 Starship Troopers, Galactic Heroes, Mercenary Princes: the Military and its Discontents in Science Fiction....Pages 168-183 Terrible Angels: Science Fiction and the Singularity....Pages 184-196 Back Matter....Pages 197-202 Examines some of the ways in which writers, artists, film-makers, strategists, and political thinkers have imagined the future over the last two centuries. Although a number of contributions discuss mainstream science fiction, the collection's emphasis is not on any single genre, but rather on the ways in which different histories generate and inform different modes of speculation. Following the premise of I.F. Clarke that history is fundamental in writing about the future, 13 scholars of English, writers, and critics explore such topics as Macaulay's New Zealander and the spirit of the age, celluloid scientists, reporting on World War Three, a new world made to order, the new Martial novel, the military and its discontents in science fiction, and science fiction and the singularity Science Fiction in Context: Histories of the Future examines some of the ways in which writers, artists, film-makers, strategists, and political thinkers have imagined the future over the last two centuries. Although a number of contributions discuss "mainstream" science fiction, the collection's emphasis is not on any single genre, but rather on the ways in which different histories generate and inform different modes of speculation.
"This collection of interdisciplinary essays examines some of the ways in which writers, artists, film-makers, strategists and political thinkers have imagined the future over the last two centuries."--BOOK JACKET. Hard as it to believed now, there was in the very recent past a time when not only did science-fiction criticism not exist, but there was also no academic interest whatsoever in this field of literacy endeavor.