The Cambridge History of Science Fiction

by Gerry Canavan (Editor), Eric Carl Link (Editor)

The first science fiction course in the American academy was held in the early 1950s. In the sixty years since, science fiction has become a recognized and established literary genre with a significant and growing body of scholarship. The Cambridge History of Science Fiction is a landmark volume as the first authoritative history of the genre. Over forty contributors with diverse and complementary specialties present a history of science fiction across national and genre boundaries, and trace its intellectual and creative roots in the philosophical and fantastic narratives of the ancient past. Science fiction as a literary genre is the central focus of the volume, but fundamental to its story is its non-literary cultural manifestations and influence. Coverage thus includes transmedia manifestations as an integral part of the genre's history, including not only short stories and novels, but also film, art, architecture, music, comics, and interactive media.

Genres: Nonfiction, Essays

836 pages, Hardcover

Published January 24, 2019

About the author

Gerry Canavan is an associate professor in the English Department at Marquette University, specializing in 20th- and 21st-century literature. An editor at Extrapolation and Science Fiction Film and Television, he has also coedited Green Planets: Ecology and Science Fiction (2014), The Cambridge Companion to American Science Fiction (2015), and The Cambridge History of Science Fiction (2019). His first monograph, Octavia E. Butler, appeared in 2016 in the Modern Masters of Science Fiction series at University of Illinois Press.

Reviews

[Gerhard · Rating 5 out of 5]

Do not be daunted by the length of this book. It is one of the best collections of critical and historic essays on the SF genre ever compiled.

Specifically read:

Rieder, John. ‘Theorizing SF: Science Fiction Studies since 2000’.

Vu, Ryan. 2019, ‘Science Fiction before Science Fiction: Ancient, Medieval, and Early Modern SF’.

O’Connell, Hugh Charles. 2019. ‘Science Fiction and the Global South’.

Lavender, Isiah III. ‘Contemporary Science Fiction and AfroFuturism’.

Hassler-Forest, Dan. ‘Science Fiction and the Return of Empire: Global Capitalism, Tom Cruise, and the War on Terror from the 2000s to the 2010s’.

Otto, Eric C. ‘Science Fiction and the Revenge of Nature: Environmentalism from the 1990s to the 2010s’.

[Diana Ramos · Rating 4 out of 5]

Although some information can appear more than once in various chapters, I do think this book gives a very good perspective into SF's background, various perspectives and influences.