Science Fiction and the Prediction of the Future: Essays on Foresight and Fallacy

by Gary Westfahl (Editor), Wong Kin Yuen (Editor), Amy Kit-sze Chan (Editor)

Overview

Science fiction has always challenged readers with depictions of the future. Can the genre actually provide glimpses of the world of tomorrow? This collection of fifteen international and interdisciplinary essays examines the genre's predictions and breaks new ground by considering the prophetic functions of science fiction films as well as SF literature. Among the texts and topics examined are classic stories by Murray Leinster, C. L. Moore, and Cordwainer Smith; 2001: A Space Odyssey and its sequels, Japanese anime and Hong Kong cinema; and electronic fiction.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780786458417
Publisher:	McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers
Publication date:	02/22/2011
Series:	Critical Explorations in Science Fiction and Fantasy , #27
Pages:	271
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.90(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Gary Westfahl, a professor emeritus at the University of La Verne, California, has authored, edited, or co-edited 31 books about science fiction and fantasy, and hundreds of articles and reviews. In 2003, he received the Science Fiction Research Association’s Pilgrim Award for his lifetime contributions to science fiction and fantasy scholarship. Wong Kin Yuen is the chair of the English department at Hong Kong Shue Yen University and has published broadly on science fiction. Amy Kit-sze Chan teaches English at Hong Shue Yen University and has published numerous articles on women’s issues and cultural studies.

Table of Contents

Introduction: Of Futures Imagined, and Futures Inhabited Gary Westfahl 1

I Cosmic Visions

1 Pitfalls of Prophecy: Why Science Fiction So Often Fails to Predict the Future Gary Westfahl 9

2 Emotional Dimensions of Transmimetic Fiction: Emotion, Aesthetics, Ethics, and Rhetoric in Tales of Tomorrow's Science, Technology, and Technoscience Richard L. McKinney 23

3 The Internet and the Anagogical Myths of Science Fiction Kirk Hampton Carol MacKay 41

4 Technobodies and the Anxieties of Performance Veronica Hollinger 52

5 Places of Alterity in Science Fiction Richard L. McKinney 64

II The Practice of Prophecy

6 Future City Toyko: 1909 and 2009 Sharalyn Orbaugh 84

7 Rebooting "A Logic Named Joe": Exploring the Multiple Influences of a Strangely Predictive Mid-1940s Short Story David L. Ferro Eric G. Swedin 104

8 Victims of a Globalized, Radicalized, Technologized World, or, Why the Beatles Needed Help! Lynne Lundquist 120

9 "A Journey Beyond the Stars": 2001: A Space Odyssey and the Psychedelic Revolution in 1960s Science Fiction Rob Latham 128

10 The Endless Odyssey: The 2001 Saga and Its Inability to Predict Humanity's Future Gary Westfahl 135

11 Intercultural and Interface: Kung Fu as Abstract Machine Wong Kin Yuen 171

12 Post-Genre Cinemas and Post-Colonial Attitude: Hong Kong Meets Paris Véronique Flambard-Weisbart 189

13 Writing, Weaving, and Technology Amy Kit-Sze Chan 198

14 The Technological Contours of Contemporary Science Fiction, or, The Science Fiction That Science Fiction Doesn't See Brooks Landon 213

15 Thinking About the Smart Wireless World Gregory Benford 220

Bibliography of Works Related to Science Fiction and the Prediction of the Future 229

Bibliography of Other Works Cited in the Text 241

About the Contributors 253

Index 255

Editorial Reviews

excellent”—Science Fiction Studies.

From the Publisher

excellent

Science Fiction Studies