Science fiction and posthumanism in the Anthropocene / Jonathan Hay.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Hay, Jonathan, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Robinson, Kim Stanley,.

Robinson, Kim Stanley.

American literature--20th century--History and criticism.

American literature.

Humanism.

Science fiction, American--History and criticism.

Science fiction, American.

Physical Description:

1 online resource : illustrations (chiefly color)

Edition:

1st ed.

Distribution:

London : Bloomsbury Publishing (UK), 2024.

Place of Publication:

London : Bloomsbury Academic, 2024.

System Details:

Mode of access: World Wide Web.

text file HTML

Summary:

With science fiction stories imagining futures and worlds vastly different from our own, and posthuman philosophies radically reconceptualising our species' place within our own world, this book is a deep dive into the similarities between science fiction studies and critical posthumanism and how they can be read together. Both fields fantasise about future technologies, envisage alienness through conversation with everyday life and both anticipate the Anthropocene as a dire source of rupture from the present. Drawing inspiration from these and other consonances, this book establishes a common theoretical ground between the two fields, upon which the two currents of future-oriented thought can meet and begin to share a common language. An investigation that draws critical currency from the everyday condition of our species in relation to technology and our perilous situation in the Anthropocene, the book observes posthumanism not just as a theoretical framework that may be applied to science fictional ideas, but also as an integral part of how it is that science fiction is generated. Featuring case studies of the work of prominent authors Isaac Asimov, Ursula K. Le Guin and Kim Stanley Robinson, alongside the BBC television series Doctor Who and the cult videogame Outer Wilds, Science Fiction and Posthumanism in the Anthropocene formulates a new critical paradigm which recognises the value of such works to posthumanist thought. Addressing those with an interest in either academic discipline, it demonstrates that urgent discourses around our shared future are more imperative now than ever before.

Contents:

Introduction

Isaac Asimov's Foundation Universe

Ursula K. Le Guin's Hainish Cycle

Kim Stanley Robinson's oeuvre

Science fiction and new media

Conclusion.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references.

ISBN:

9781350465985

1350465984

9781350465978

1350465976

9781350465961

1350465968

OCLC:

1460467267