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The Cambridge Companion to American Science Fiction
This Companion explores the relationship between the ideas and themes of American science fiction and their roots in the American cultural experience.
The Cambridge Companion to American Science Fiction explores the relationship between the ideas and themes of American science fiction and their roots in the American cultural experience. Science fiction in America has long served to reflect the country's hopes, desires, ambitions, and fears. The ideas and conventions associated with science fiction are pervasive throughout American film and television, comics and visual arts, games and gaming, and fandom, as well as across the culture writ large. Through essays that address not only the history of science fiction in America but also the influence and significance of American science fiction throughout media and fan culture, this companion serves as a key resource for scholars, teachers, students, and fans of science fiction.
The Cambridge Companion to American Science Fiction explores the relationship between the ideas and themes of American science fiction and their roots in the American cultural experience. Science fiction in America has long served to reflect the country's hopes, desires, ambitions, and fears. The ideas and conventions associated with science fiction are pervasive throughout American film and television, comics and visual arts, games and gaming, and fandom, as well as across the culture writ large. Through essays that address not only the history of science fiction in America but also the influence and significance of American science fiction throughout media and fan culture, this companion serves as a key resource for scholars, teachers, students, and fans of science fiction.
258 pages, Paperback
First published January 26, 2015
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
September 1, 2017
Video review: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xzVBI...
The Cambridge Companions tend to be quite random, but this one approaches its topic (and its history, and declinations in different medias and currents) in a pretty thorough way through a plethora of great scholars.
The Cambridge Companions tend to be quite random, but this one approaches its topic (and its history, and declinations in different medias and currents) in a pretty thorough way through a plethora of great scholars.
May 12, 2017
15 essais sur la science-fiction américaine: son histoire, ses formes, ses thèmes et perspectives.
Malgré quelques essais moins bien structurés et à l'argumentaire mal défini, la collection d'essais est ici exemplaire.
La section sur l'histoire est complétée par des articles sur le contexte, entre autres la question de la race et du genre.
La section sur les formes a le mérite d'ouvrir notre perception de la SF à une plus large palette de média, et non juste la littérature ou la télévision. D'ailleurs, plusieurs essais au cours de ce livre font l'effort de décloisonner les médias.
La section des thèmes et perspectives est, selon moi, la moins bien développée (seulement quatre textes) avec les textes les moins solides, globalement, ce que je trouve dommage.
Je l'ai lu petit à petit (on parle quand même d'un livre très spécialisé), mais toujours avec grand intérêt. Cette lecture m'apporte de nouvelles façons de lire/voir et même écrire la science-fiction.
Malgré quelques essais moins bien structurés et à l'argumentaire mal défini, la collection d'essais est ici exemplaire.
La section sur l'histoire est complétée par des articles sur le contexte, entre autres la question de la race et du genre.
La section sur les formes a le mérite d'ouvrir notre perception de la SF à une plus large palette de média, et non juste la littérature ou la télévision. D'ailleurs, plusieurs essais au cours de ce livre font l'effort de décloisonner les médias.
La section des thèmes et perspectives est, selon moi, la moins bien développée (seulement quatre textes) avec les textes les moins solides, globalement, ce que je trouve dommage.
Je l'ai lu petit à petit (on parle quand même d'un livre très spécialisé), mais toujours avec grand intérêt. Cette lecture m'apporte de nouvelles façons de lire/voir et même écrire la science-fiction.
August 5, 2019
Link, Eric Carl, and Gerry Canavan, eds. The Cambridge Companion to American Science Fiction. Cambridge UP, 2015.
One should note first that this is not really useful as a reference book. It is not a comprehensive history or guide to authors. Rather, it is a collection of readable essays on topics shaping current trends in American science fiction. There are essays on such topics as Afrofuturism, the impact of the attacks on the World Trade Center in 2011, gender issues, and other aspects of our current cultural scene. It is worth reading as commentary on cultural discourses in science fiction, and it does help one identify some authors one may have missed.
One should note first that this is not really useful as a reference book. It is not a comprehensive history or guide to authors. Rather, it is a collection of readable essays on topics shaping current trends in American science fiction. There are essays on such topics as Afrofuturism, the impact of the attacks on the World Trade Center in 2011, gender issues, and other aspects of our current cultural scene. It is worth reading as commentary on cultural discourses in science fiction, and it does help one identify some authors one may have missed.
January 4, 2016
I'm reviewing this for Foundation, and in that review I'll basically lay out two views on this:
1) It was an excellent scholarly work, that addresses its audience well, and which has been very well put together. This made me extremely well-disposed towards it, and taught me a great deal I didn't know about American sf.
2) It was an unusual choice as the next sf Cambridge Companion - a very significant overlap with the Companion edited by James and Mendelsohn, a burgeoning time in world sf and the study of world sf, and the difficulty of ever quite pinning the collection down to solely American sf.
1) It was an excellent scholarly work, that addresses its audience well, and which has been very well put together. This made me extremely well-disposed towards it, and taught me a great deal I didn't know about American sf.
2) It was an unusual choice as the next sf Cambridge Companion - a very significant overlap with the Companion edited by James and Mendelsohn, a burgeoning time in world sf and the study of world sf, and the difficulty of ever quite pinning the collection down to solely American sf.
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June 24, 2016813.08762 C1782 2015
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews