Theory for the World to Come: Speculative Fiction and Apocalyptic Anthropology

Forerunners: Ideas First

by Matthew J. Wolf-Meyer

Can social theories forge new paths into an uncertain future?

The future has become increasingly difficult to imagine. We might be able to predict a few events, but imagining how looming disasters will coincide is simultaneously necessary and impossible. Drawing on speculative fiction and social theory, Theory for the World to Come is the beginning of a conversation about theories that move beyond nihilistic conceptions of the capitalism-caused Anthropocene and toward generative bodies of thought that provoke creative ways of thinking about the world ahead. Matthew J. Wolf-Meyer draws on such authors as Kim Stanley Robinson and Octavia Butler, and engages with afrofuturism, indigenous speculative fiction, and films from the 1970s and ’80s to help think differently about the future and its possibilities.
Ideas First
Short books of thought-in-process scholarship, where intense analysis, questioning, and speculation take the lead

Genres: Speculative Fiction, Research, Anthropology, Nonfiction

116 pages, Paperback

Published April 15, 2019

Reviews

[Nicolas Lontel · Rating 3 out of 5]

Un essai assez intéressant qui touche à un large éventail de sujet, tellement large parfois qu'on se demande parfois où l'essayiste se dirige et les chapitres semblent être radicalement différents les uns des autres. On parle autant des livres de Dougal Dixon, de l'afrofuturisme (surtout George Clinton et la série Parable d'Octavia Butler), de néolibéralisme, de la ville de Détroit, d'une série de Kim Stanley Robinson, de Robocop, d'urbanisme, de blanchité, de The Day of the Triffids, etc.

Le tout est cohérent, propose des analyses intéressantes (bien qu'à plusieurs reprises, je n'étais pas vraiment d'accord avec ce qui était avancé), c'était aussi très divertissant et l'auteur défend bien ses thèses et connaît définitivement bien ses corpus apocalyptiques, il n'y a aucun doute. Je ne suis juste pas sorti de la lecture avec de nouvelles idées sur le corpus apocalyptique en général, mais vraiment avec des analyses concrètes et ciblées ce qui n'est pas mauvais non plus.

[nathan · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book is, quite frankly, really disappointing. The concept - that speculative fiction & social theory are both ways of imagining worlds - is strong, but the book fails to deliver, making a lot of claims that are unsupported by citation.
For one, the author constantly contradicts himself. One moment he’s critiquing a film or text for not offering a utopian, liberatory conception of the future (“Robocop”), while the next he’s justifying a text’s depiction of a such a future (Octavia Butler’s “Parable” series). Wolf-Meyer’s readings of films & novels are simplistic and he seems to think that depicting a dystopia is an endorsement of that social reality. Wolf-Meyer’s thinking on race & racialization is also lacking. His arguments about whiteness depend on a monolithic whiteness, one that isn’t bifurcated by class & geography. This ends up reifying Black-white antagonisms, while leaving capitalism, neoliberalism, & financialization largely to the side. (All of this is ironic, seeing as a sizable part of the book features the white author talking about his experiences of property ownership!) I think there are important ideas here, but everything feels rushed, preliminary, and half-baked.

[David T · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cool little book. Could have done a more comprehensive take on how far speculative fiction writers have been able to stretch their imaginations, and really dug into speculative fiction as a social phenomenon and theoretical tool. This was more like a rough sketch. Otoh, delightful antecdotal and personal morsel at 100 pages.

[Oliver Brackenbury · Rating 4 out of 5]

A book, it feels, for authors (and anthropoligists) looking to create a story about where we're headed that isn't dystopia but also isn't a saccharine utopia or the like. Well, that's where I was coming from when I picked this up.

I'll say this, it helped order a lot of my thoughts and while it doesn't necessarily provide The Answer, it certainly points you in a good direction to explore. Glad I got it.

[Aaron Schuschu · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thought it was going to be about speculative fiction and its relation to apocalypticism, but what I got was harping on the benevolent side of white guilt.

[t · Rating 3 out of 5]

some cool and useful ideas about sci-fi and utopian thought, with analysis (of things I've never read) - the in fusion of geographic diaries was interesting. fun little theory book!

[Jonathon Jones · Rating 4 out of 5]

There’s a lot which is interesting here. Largely it is the viewing of various speculative fiction works through the lens of social theory. I found the last chapters particularly effective - thinking about time as progressive and inevitable or more malleable. Some works became much more interesting in his analysis: for example, I want to rewatch robocop while thinking about automation and the future of work.

[James Townsend · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting enough and doesn't overstay its welcome, though I do feel like the analysis in certain sections lingers a while on points that don't ultimately matter or that are directly countered by the author in the last paragraph. Relatedly, some sections seem way better organized/more cogent than others.

[Feral Academic · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a helpfully small example of future-oriented work. I can imagine doing something like this, looking at stuff like this and asking questions like this, which is a comforting feeling as I work on my PhD applications.

[Drgnkingdom · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Forerunners series has been a mixed bag for me so far, and this book was similar. A little uneven but very interesting look at speculative fiction of the past 40-50 years predicting the social and global climate were in now. There must be a way out but how?

[Iggy · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting rough sketch of speculative fiction and contemporary apocalyptic visions in literature. I would have liked to see a more organized, fleshed out version of these ideas, but I enjoyed this and added a lot of the works discussed to my reading list!

[Maya Rice]

read for class => anthropology of crises and futures (fall 2022)