Visions of Mars : Essays on the Red Planet in Fiction and Science

Seventeen wide-ranging essays explore the evolving scientific understanding of Mars, and the relationship between that understanding and the role of Mars in literature, the arts and popular culture. Essays in the first section examine different approaches to Mars by scientists and writers Jules Verne and J.H. Rosny. Section Two covers the uses of Mars in early Bolshevik literature, Wells, Brackett, Burroughs, Bradbury, Heinlein, Dick and Robinson, among others. The third section looks at Mars as a cultural mirror in science fiction. Essayists include prominent writers (e.g., Kim Stanley Robinson), scientists and literary critics from many nations. Approaching Mars. Mars of science, Mars of dreams / Joseph D. Miller Where is Verne's Mars? / Terry Harpold Rosny's Mars / George Slusser The uses of Mars. Dibs on the Red Star: the Bolsheviks and Mars in the Russian literature of the early twentieth century / Ekaterina Yudina The Martians among us: Wells and the Strugatskys / George Slusser Savagery on Mars: representations of the primitive in Brackett and Burroughs / Dianne Newell and Victoria Lamont The (in)significance of Mars in the 1930s / John W. Huntington Spawn of "Micromégas": views of Mars in 1950s France / Bradford Lyau Is Mars heaven? The Martian chronicles, Fahrenheit 451 and Ray Bradbury's landscape of longing / Eric S. Rabkin Re-presenting Mars: Bradbury's Martian stories in media adaptation / Phil Nichols Robert A. Heinlein and the Red Planet / David Clayton Business as usual: Philip K. Dick's Mars / Jorge Martins Rosa Kim Stanley Robinson: Icehenge to Blue Mars / Christopher Palmer Martian musings and the miraculous conjunction / Kim Stanley Robinson Chronicling Martians / Sha LaBare Science and fictional Mars. Mars as cultural mirror: Martian fictions in the early space age / Robert Crossley Beyond Goldilocks and Matthew Arnold: interplanetary triage, extremophilia, and the outer limits of life in the inner solar system / Howard V. Hendrix. Table of Contents 6 Preface 8 Introduction 16 One. Approaching Mars 22 Mars of Science, Mars of Dreams 24 Where Is Verne's Mars? 36 Rosny's Mars 43 Two. The Uses of Mars 56 Dibs on the Red Star 58 The Martians Among Us 63 Savagery on Mars 80 The (In)Significance of Mars in the 1930s 87 Spawn of "Micromegas" 93 Is Mars Heaven? 102 Re-Presenting Mars 112 Robert A. Heinlein and the Red Planet 125 Business as Usual 137 Kim Stanley Robinson 146 Martian Musings and the Miraculous Conjunction 153 Chronicling Martians 159 Three. Science and Fictional Mars 170 Mars as Cultural Mirror 172 Beyond Goldilocks and Matthew Arnold 182 Appendix 1 192 Appendix 2 197 About the Contributors 214 Index 218 "These 17 essays explore the study of Mars. Topics covered include the role of scientific discovery in the development of science fiction as a genre and the ways in which science fiction and popular discourse have influenced science; the extent of life in the solar system; and the presence of Mars in the work of popular writers" --Provided by publisher.