Parabolas of science fiction / edited by Brian Attebery and Veronica Hollinger.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Attebery, Brian, 1951- editor.

Hollinger, Veronica, editor.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Science fiction--History and criticism.

Science fiction.

Physical Description:

xv, 312 pages ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

Middletown, CT : Wesleyan University Press, [2013]

Summary:

As a geometric term, parabola suggests a narrative trajectory or story arc. In science fiction, parabolas take us from the known to the unknown. More concrete than themes, more complex than motifs, parabolas are combinations of meaningful setting, character, and action that lend themselves to endless redefinition and jazzlike improvisation. The fourteen original essays in this collection explore how the field of science fiction has developed as a complex of repetitions, influences, arguments, and broad conversations. This particular feature of the genre has been the source of much critical commentary, most notably through growing interest in the "sf megatext," a continually expanding archive of shared images, situations, plots, characters, settings, and themes found in science fiction across media. Book jacket.

Contents:

Part I Introducing Parabolas

1 Science Fictional Parabolas: Jazz, Geometry, and Generation Starships / Brian Attebery Attebery, Brian 3

2 Dancing with Scheherazade: Some Reflections in the Djinni's Glass / Terry Dowling Dowling, Terry 24

3 Breaking the Frame / Graham Sleight Sleight, Graham 36

Part II Parables of Politics and Power

4 Katherine MacLean's Short Science Fiction and Cytology: Science as Parabola / Jane Donawerth Donawerth, Jane 53

5 Second Contact: The First Contact Story in Latin American Science Fiction / Rachel Haywood Ferreira Ferreira, Rachel Haywood 70

6 Parabolas of SFQ: Canadian Science Fiction in French and the Making of a "National" Subgenre / Amy J. Ransom Ransom, Amy J. 89

7 The Domestic SF Parabola / Lisa Yaszek Yaszek, Lisa 106

Part III Parables of Remediation

8 Mad Scientists, Chimps, and Mice with Human Brains: Collapsing Boundaries in Science Fiction / L. Timmel Duchamp Duchamp, L. Timmel 125

9 Coded Transmissions: Gender and Genre Reception in The Matrix / David M. Higgins Higgins, David M. 143

10 The Mad Scientist, the Failed Experiment, and the Queer Family of Man: Sinus, Frankenstein, and the SF Stockroom / John Rieder Rieder, John 161

11 Back to the Filthy Workshop: "Faithful" Film Adaptations of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein / Nicholas Ruddick Ruddick, Nicholas 180

Part IV Parabolic Futures

12 The Future of the Past: Science Fiction, Retro, and Retrofuturism / Pawel Frelik Frelik, Pawel 205

13 Babylon Revisited: Alternate Cosmologies from Farmer to Chiang / Gary K. Wolfe Wolfe, Gary K. 225

14 Science Fiction as Archive Fever / Veronica Hollinger Hollinger, Veronica 242.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9780819573667

0819573663

9780819573674

0819573671

OCLC:

810111355