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The Routledge Companion to Science Fiction

Edited by Mark Bould, Andrew M. Butler, Adam Roberts, Sherryl Vint

Published January 30th 2009 by Routledge – 554 pages

Series: Routledge Companions

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Description

The Routledge Companion to Science Fiction is a comprehensive overview of the history and study of science fiction. It outlines major writers, movements, and texts in the genre, established critical approaches and areas for future study. Fifty-six entries by a team of renowned international contributors are divided into four parts which look, in turn, at:

  • history – an integrated chronological narrative of the genre’s development
  • theory – detailed accounts of major theoretical approaches including feminism, Marxism, psychoanalysis, cultural studies, postcolonialism, posthumanism and utopian studies
  • issues and challenges – anticipates future directions for study in areas as diverse as science studies, music, design, environmentalism, ethics and alterity
  • subgenres – a prismatic view of the genre, tracing themes and developments within specific subgenres.

Bringing into dialogue the many perspectives on the genre The Routledge Companion to Science Fiction is essential reading for anyone interested in the history and the future of science fiction and the way it is taught and studied.

Reviews

‘Well designed for reference, for serendipitous browsing, or for systematic study, The Routledge Companion to Science Fiction will be welcomed by novice and veteran scholars alike.’– Carl Freedman, Louisiana State University, USA

'This title should serve as a base for future updates that will continue to enrich knowledge and appreciation of science fiction…Highly recommended.' – Choice

'The Routledge Companion to Science Fiction will, one day soon, become an indispensable guide to sf's history, breadth, and depth for the genre's scholars, authors, and aficionados… The Routledge Companion to Science Fiction to a crucial addition to sf scholarship. The book most directly appeals to the genre's academic surveyors, but non-scholars will find it fascinating, intelligent, and debatable information in its pages. This publication's comprehensive, incisive, and useful entries make me wish the Companion a long and prosperous (shelf) life.' – Journal of the Fantastic in the Arts

Contents

1. History 2. Theory 3. Issues and Challenges 4. Subgenres

Author Bio

Mark Bould is Reader in Film and Literature at the University of the West of England. Co-editor of Science Fiction Film and Television, his books include Film Noir (2005), Parietal Games (2005) and The Cinema of John Sayles (2008), Neo-noir (2009) and Red Planets (2009).

Andrew M. Butler is Senior Lecturer in Media and Cultural Studies at Canterbury Christ Church University. The editor of An Unofficial Companion to the Novels of Terry Pratchett (2007) and Christopher Priest: The Interaction (2005), he has also written Pocket Essentials on Philip K. Dick (2000, 2007), Cyberpunk (2000), Terry Pratchett (2001), Film Studies (2002, 2005, 2008), and Postmodernism (2003). He co-edits Extrapolation.

Adam Roberts is Professor of Nineteenth-Century Literature at Royal Holloway, University of London, and the author of Science Fiction (2000) and The History of Science Fiction (2006). His most recent sf novels are Gradisil (2006), Land of the Headless (2007), Splinter (2007) and Swiftly (2008).

Sherryl Vint is Assistant Professor of English at Brock University. She is the author of Bodies of Tomorrow (2007) and is currently completing Animal Alterity: Science Fiction and the Question of the Animal. She co-edits Extrapolation, Science Fiction Film and Television, and Humanimalia.