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New Maps of Hell: A Survey of Science Fiction
Based on Amis' series of six lectures on science fiction in 1959, New Maps of Hell, discussion emphasizes the satirical and dystopian elements in science fiction rather than being primarily about technology.
161 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1960
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613 people want to read
About the author
Kingsley Amis
217 books561 followersBest known novels of British writer Sir Kingsley William Amis include
Lucky Jim
(1954) and
The Old Devils
(1986).
This English poet, critic, and teacher composed more than twenty-three collections, short stories, radio and television scripts, and books of social and literary criticism. He fathered Martin Amis.
William Robert Amis, a clerk of a mustard manufacturer, fathered him. He began his education at the city of London school, and went up to college of Saint John, Oxford, in April 1941 to read English; he met Philip Larkin and formed the most important friendship of his life. After only a year, the Army called him for service in July 1942. After serving as a lieutenant in the royal corps of signals in the Second World War, Amis returned to Oxford in October 1945 to complete his degree. He worked hard and got a first in English in 1947, and then decided to devote much of his time.
Pen names: [authorRobert Markham|553548] and William Bill Tanner
This English poet, critic, and teacher composed more than twenty-three collections, short stories, radio and television scripts, and books of social and literary criticism. He fathered Martin Amis.
William Robert Amis, a clerk of a mustard manufacturer, fathered him. He began his education at the city of London school, and went up to college of Saint John, Oxford, in April 1941 to read English; he met Philip Larkin and formed the most important friendship of his life. After only a year, the Army called him for service in July 1942. After serving as a lieutenant in the royal corps of signals in the Second World War, Amis returned to Oxford in October 1945 to complete his degree. He worked hard and got a first in English in 1947, and then decided to devote much of his time.
Pen names: [authorRobert Markham|553548] and William Bill Tanner
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 53 reviews
June 26, 2016
I could barely put down this wonderful essay by the late Kingsley Amis, who turns out to have had exactly the same prejudices about science-fiction as I do. From the identity of the first known SF story (Plato's Critias, what else?), glancing at The Tempest with its astonishingly durable mad-scientist-and-beautiful-daughter combo, through the inexplicably addictive quality of Jules Verne's horrible prose, past the weirdness of 30s pulps and up to the delights of what was then the cutting edge - New Maps came out in 1960 - there's hardly a sentence I'd want to disagree with. I've read a good three-quarters of his favorites and have the same high opinion of them. Brave New World, check! Fahrenheit 451, check! Wyndham's Consider Her Ways, check! Clifford Simak folksiness, check! The Pohl and Kornbluth advertising stories, check! And OMG, he's even a fan of Robert Sheckley's Pilgrimage to Earth!
If, like me, you love both Golden Age SF and mainstream literature, you simply have to get this. It only takes a couple of hours to read and will charm your socks off.
If, like me, you love both Golden Age SF and mainstream literature, you simply have to get this. It only takes a couple of hours to read and will charm your socks off.
January 28, 2018
This has been possibly one of the hardest books to categorise that I have read in recent times. Let me explain.
The book is based around a series of lectures Amis gave in the early 60s. He himself a fan of science fiction, although openly admitting he is neither an expert not a professional in this field chose to give his views on the subject.
Now on first glance you would assume this would the source of major consternation - after all someone who does not know the subject putting it under scrutiny. This is not the case. Many of his opinions are well explained and justified and it is quickly demonstrated that he does know the subject just he is not claiming all knowledge is his.
Then there is the rather antiquated and at times extreme views - often dismissing certain sub-genres and even certain authors as at best not really science fiction authors and at worst - those who are simply retelling old stories but simply substituting people and places for more exotic sounding versions (for example his explanation of Space Operas).
Now all of this should have got me ranting but no, after all this was written in 1961 where science fiction like much of popular fiction was coming out of the pulp era and learning to join the mains stream. Yes there were many who looked (and for many years after as well) down their noses at science fiction relegating it to pubescent youths (mainly boys) or pipe smoking intellectuals who used to to express ideas they were incapable of expressing in any other way. As Amis explains this is not the way just for some reason we try and dismiss it as such.
Then there is also the fact that through out the book - for all its criticisms it is a positive tone he takes, this is a genres that is here to stay and not only that has growth and potential. Unlike many other styles and stories who really only try and find new ways of retelling the same story, science fiction is limited only by us, as new discoveries and ideas come to the front so this genre will be there to explore them.
So I will admit if I could have my rating rise and fall like a pendulum I think I would do, at one moment wanting to max it out and then another to dismiss it. This is a classic bit of science fiction history although at the time I am sure these were explosive words.
One aspect I did enjoy was the determination that Amis tried to link Science fiction to jazz I will say no more but I will give him full marks for his determination and creativity.
The book is based around a series of lectures Amis gave in the early 60s. He himself a fan of science fiction, although openly admitting he is neither an expert not a professional in this field chose to give his views on the subject.
Now on first glance you would assume this would the source of major consternation - after all someone who does not know the subject putting it under scrutiny. This is not the case. Many of his opinions are well explained and justified and it is quickly demonstrated that he does know the subject just he is not claiming all knowledge is his.
Then there is the rather antiquated and at times extreme views - often dismissing certain sub-genres and even certain authors as at best not really science fiction authors and at worst - those who are simply retelling old stories but simply substituting people and places for more exotic sounding versions (for example his explanation of Space Operas).
Now all of this should have got me ranting but no, after all this was written in 1961 where science fiction like much of popular fiction was coming out of the pulp era and learning to join the mains stream. Yes there were many who looked (and for many years after as well) down their noses at science fiction relegating it to pubescent youths (mainly boys) or pipe smoking intellectuals who used to to express ideas they were incapable of expressing in any other way. As Amis explains this is not the way just for some reason we try and dismiss it as such.
Then there is also the fact that through out the book - for all its criticisms it is a positive tone he takes, this is a genres that is here to stay and not only that has growth and potential. Unlike many other styles and stories who really only try and find new ways of retelling the same story, science fiction is limited only by us, as new discoveries and ideas come to the front so this genre will be there to explore them.
So I will admit if I could have my rating rise and fall like a pendulum I think I would do, at one moment wanting to max it out and then another to dismiss it. This is a classic bit of science fiction history although at the time I am sure these were explosive words.
One aspect I did enjoy was the determination that Amis tried to link Science fiction to jazz I will say no more but I will give him full marks for his determination and creativity.
Read
June 29, 2007anybody that likes Lit Crit (and that's everybody, right?) hs got to read this. Then read the books he touches on, then read his own novels....
Read
August 28, 2008The first truly critical analysis of science fiction by an author better known for his work outside the science fiction field. Amis begins with a brief history of science fiction and its origins in the pulp magazines and brings the reader up to date (for the time). Along the way he gives synopsis of science fiction stories he approves of, and more often than not ones he does not approve of. He then differentiates the types of science fiction stories, one of which is the "universal" (my term) science fiction story that deals with a science fiction phenomenon primarily rather than with the people it might affect (the danger of such stories, as Amis points out, is that the synopsis is more often better than the actual stories themselves). He shows his disapproval of the BEM (bug-eyed monster) story, that is the story most non-science-fiction readers commonly associate with science fiction, in which some Jocks In Space do battle with an ugly intergalactic army of cephalopods bent on universal domination.
Amis' argument isn't so much that science fiction can be better than most other types of fiction, but that in most cases it can be just as good, that just as there is bad literature and good literature, there is good science fiction and bad science fiction (much of the same argument is being made nowadays about comic books and graphic novels). He comes off as a bit of an apologist in that way, but he knows his stuff and never appears to be a literary figure slumming in pop culture (like just about every literary or cinema figure seems to be doing nowadays). He never makes any qualms that science fiction is the best sort of fiction (even though it can be the most entertaining) and he stresses that is has a long way to go before it can be respected by outside audiences. He values the fan-base of science fiction, which is probably the strongest fan-base of anything outside of sports, and shows how the fan-base's interaction and criticisms of the genre is integral to the flourish and growth of the genre. He pays little attention to science fiction novels, believing science fiction is better fitted for the short story form.
Often (as I have just been above) Amis can dwell too much on summary and synopsis of different stories and histories, and not offer enough of his own analysis. This book is very dated, but it is an excellent primer for those not yet associated with the merits of science fiction.
Amis' argument isn't so much that science fiction can be better than most other types of fiction, but that in most cases it can be just as good, that just as there is bad literature and good literature, there is good science fiction and bad science fiction (much of the same argument is being made nowadays about comic books and graphic novels). He comes off as a bit of an apologist in that way, but he knows his stuff and never appears to be a literary figure slumming in pop culture (like just about every literary or cinema figure seems to be doing nowadays). He never makes any qualms that science fiction is the best sort of fiction (even though it can be the most entertaining) and he stresses that is has a long way to go before it can be respected by outside audiences. He values the fan-base of science fiction, which is probably the strongest fan-base of anything outside of sports, and shows how the fan-base's interaction and criticisms of the genre is integral to the flourish and growth of the genre. He pays little attention to science fiction novels, believing science fiction is better fitted for the short story form.
Often (as I have just been above) Amis can dwell too much on summary and synopsis of different stories and histories, and not offer enough of his own analysis. This book is very dated, but it is an excellent primer for those not yet associated with the merits of science fiction.
September 4, 2015
Dated? Yes. Is it a brave subject to tackle and defend at the close of the 1950s --unlike a certain, albeit wonderful author who in 2015 still shuffles behind the spec word--absolutely. And once again, this supposedly awful misogynist I've been reading about flays my expectations by citing two feminist rants in pulp SF magazines as proof of the genre's value (OK, not because they're feminist exactly, but because a reader of westerns wouldn't take to the same amount of digression on frontier ethics, but still!). I find myself liking Mr. Amis more and more.
December 28, 2015
This was hard to rate. On the one hand, it is very dated; ironically, perhaps, a 50+-year-old critique of SF suffers from some of the same stale-dating that 50+-year-old SF itself suffers from. Furthermore,despite its overall pro-SF agenda, it is perhaps just a shade too eager to adopt a semi-apologetic tone for treating such generally puerile and stylistically sterile work seriously. On the other hand, it is probably the first serious book-length critique of SF, certainly the first such by someone from outside the genre (IIRC, the first academic journal devoted to SF studies began only the year before this book came out), when there was virtually no audience for such a study--as its publication by Ballantine, one of the better SF houses in the 1960s (complete with a typical Ballantine SF cover) perhaps attests. As such, it is a trail-blazing work. And it does show insight and critical discrimination, albeit not always in ways I quite agree with. Amis doesn't seem to see much room in SF for more than satire or didacticism. To be sure, SF can be both satiric and didactic (often at the same time), but I would have thought that even by 1960 the potential, at least, for more would have been more evident to an avid and discrminating reader. He does make clear, however, that the best SF writers are at least comparable to decent non-SF writers, and he is at some pains to point out that the specifics of the genre ight mean it does not do certain things, but that neither ought it try to do them. his conclusion that there areperhaps a dozen or so SF authors that could reasonably be viewed as minor writers of some merit is on the face of it perhaps insulting, but it is perhaps also not as far from the truth as one might hope. Anyway, perhaps unsurprisingly given the absence of a critical tradition and of anything like a clearly-identifiable audience (other than SF fans), the book tends towards the general and the summative, but Amis writes with verve and (dry) wit, and he generally selects excellent examples to demonstrate his points. He also, especially early on, provides fascinating information about the development of fan communities, the sales figures of various SF magazines, the relative status of different magazines, etc.--valuable information easily lost in time. Anyone interested in the genesis of SF criticism should read this book, but any SF fan, generally, should find this an illuminating time capsule.
January 9, 2016
Kingsley Amis (1922-1995) wrote in 1960 i think is the first serious essay on the world of science fiction,ovously it is outdated but yet it contains some gems.
The book beguins with the primitive history with the names between others more anciet of Jules Verne,H.G. Wells and Edgar Rice Haggard and more, then follows with the less serious writes in pulp magazines and finally when the sf became a mature and serious genre of mass diffusion ,the autor focusses more on the sociological and political aspects and sees the genre in its distopic novels and tales as a critic ,satire or warning for the human society,here appears names as James Blish,Ray Bradbury,Arthur Clarke,Robert Sheckley,Frederick Pohl,Van Vogt,Clifford Simak,L.Sprague de Camps,Kornbluth ,Brian Aldiss and others.
Then makes a length discussion on the works THe Space Merchants,The Midas Plague and Farenheith 451 but makes alusión to other many Works as: Silent Brother by Algis Budris,World Withut Men by Charles Eric Maine,Consider Her Ways by John Wynham,,Unhuman Sacrifice by Katherine MacLean,The Helping Hand by Poul Anderson,Drop Dead by Clifford Simak,The Demolished Man BY Alfred Bester,Nineteen Eighty Four by George Orwell,The Academy by Robert Sheckley,What to do till the Analist comes by Pohl where satirices the use of tranquilicers,Pictures Dont Lie by Katherine MacLean,The Tunel Under the World by Pohl,the classic Looking Backward by Edward Bellamy,the utopics Works by Bulwer Lytton,Samuel Buttler,W.H. Hudson,Willian Morris,Dean Howells and many others
I would rate it 4.5
The book beguins with the primitive history with the names between others more anciet of Jules Verne,H.G. Wells and Edgar Rice Haggard and more, then follows with the less serious writes in pulp magazines and finally when the sf became a mature and serious genre of mass diffusion ,the autor focusses more on the sociological and political aspects and sees the genre in its distopic novels and tales as a critic ,satire or warning for the human society,here appears names as James Blish,Ray Bradbury,Arthur Clarke,Robert Sheckley,Frederick Pohl,Van Vogt,Clifford Simak,L.Sprague de Camps,Kornbluth ,Brian Aldiss and others.
Then makes a length discussion on the works THe Space Merchants,The Midas Plague and Farenheith 451 but makes alusión to other many Works as: Silent Brother by Algis Budris,World Withut Men by Charles Eric Maine,Consider Her Ways by John Wynham,,Unhuman Sacrifice by Katherine MacLean,The Helping Hand by Poul Anderson,Drop Dead by Clifford Simak,The Demolished Man BY Alfred Bester,Nineteen Eighty Four by George Orwell,The Academy by Robert Sheckley,What to do till the Analist comes by Pohl where satirices the use of tranquilicers,Pictures Dont Lie by Katherine MacLean,The Tunel Under the World by Pohl,the classic Looking Backward by Edward Bellamy,the utopics Works by Bulwer Lytton,Samuel Buttler,W.H. Hudson,Willian Morris,Dean Howells and many others
I would rate it 4.5
August 20, 2024
Quite a bold and intuitive insight on science fiction (at that time) by a non science fiction writer (and a non American to boot). I still can't make heads nor tails of the title, though (tee-hee).
November 23, 2015
It has taken me 30 years to get round to taking this out of my to be read plies but it still holds up as pretty much the definitive starting point for anyone wanting to analyse SF as a literary phenomenon. There are some places where it is dated. For instance a tendency to seek to require a clear technology element to separate SF from fantasy, or where he welcomes a move away from aliens being stereotypical bad guy BEMS to being often more sympathetically portrayed whereas since that time many authors have moved a step beyond that to try and show the alien as being truly alien in outlook.
However in much of the rest Amis remains spot on. For instance SF used as a mechanism for current issues or which simply reflects the culture in which it was created, the use of What If? as a core story element, the tendency of some SF to turn characters into mere cyphers, the difficulty and rareness of humour in SF (remember Amis would count Pratchett as fantasy not SF), and its similarity to other genre forms.
Even if you disagree with his analysis the wide selection of SF books name checked in this text would make an ideal recommended reading list for any fan of the genre.
However in much of the rest Amis remains spot on. For instance SF used as a mechanism for current issues or which simply reflects the culture in which it was created, the use of What If? as a core story element, the tendency of some SF to turn characters into mere cyphers, the difficulty and rareness of humour in SF (remember Amis would count Pratchett as fantasy not SF), and its similarity to other genre forms.
Even if you disagree with his analysis the wide selection of SF books name checked in this text would make an ideal recommended reading list for any fan of the genre.
April 14, 2020
"rather than take the trouble of devising reasons for my dislike, though I think I could do so if pressed."
Kingsley, buddy, the one thing in this universe I have complete confidence in is your ability to devise reasons for your dislike.
P.S. I will say that I was somewhat tickled to see that Amis enjoyed Usher II, a story I've always had a lot of affection for.
Kingsley, buddy, the one thing in this universe I have complete confidence in is your ability to devise reasons for your dislike.
P.S. I will say that I was somewhat tickled to see that Amis enjoyed Usher II, a story I've always had a lot of affection for.
July 27, 2018
I read this many, many years ago. I had the 1961 mmpb edition -- and might even still have it?
Anyway, for a real review, I refer you to Manny's, which fits my golden memories better:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
-- and to Manuel Antão's more critical review, https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
I should look to see if I still have it. Love that period cover art! http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I...
Anyway, for a real review, I refer you to Manny's, which fits my golden memories better:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
-- and to Manuel Antão's more critical review, https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
I should look to see if I still have it. Love that period cover art! http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I...
April 8, 2013
This 1960 book is an interesting and engaging work in the history of science fiction studies. Kingsley Amis (1922 - 1995) was a noted English novelist, poet, critic, and teacher; he was the author of Lucky Jim , The Green Man, and much more. A life-long science fiction fan, he decided with this book to act as something of an emissary, attempting to bring a better understanding and appreciation of science fiction to mainstream readers. "Science fiction is not tomfool sensationalism," he says early in the book.
While praising its virtues, Amis never claims that SF is for all tastes, nor does he entirely reject all of the usual criticisms of the genre (which have remained largely unchanged since this book's writing). He notes an "incuriosity about human character" is common in SF, and states that this is something of a necessity in the genre: "treating character conservatively and limiting interest in it," he says, shows the reader "that the familiar categories of human behaviour persist in an unfamiliar environment." "Science fiction shows us human beings in their relations not with one another, but with a thing, a monster, an alien, a plague, or a form of society..."
Almost needless to say, there are many in the SF field who disagree that this limitation is inherent to SF, and who will happily site many counter-examples. Amis also states at one point that "any notion" of a science-fiction love story "will certainly not do"; another opinion that drew the ire of Damon Knight, for one. Knight also pointed out that Amis, a writer of satires himself, seems to over-value satires compared to other forms of SF, notably Pohl and Kornbluth's The Space Merchants, which he refers to often and to which he gives a place of honor in his book's opening chapter.
But none of this diminishes the value of Amis' book in the least. his opinions are always interesting and articulate, and it's quite fascinating to see this noted mainstream author -- writing in 1960 -- lamenting science fiction's lack of respect among educated readers. (A lament that of course continues to be voiced today, and no doubt will still be voiced into the distant, science-fictional future.)
Amis later went on to co-edit a series of SF anthologies: Spectrum 1 through Spectrum 5. I highly recommended these as a source for some of the best examples of short SF in the 1961- 1966 time period.
While praising its virtues, Amis never claims that SF is for all tastes, nor does he entirely reject all of the usual criticisms of the genre (which have remained largely unchanged since this book's writing). He notes an "incuriosity about human character" is common in SF, and states that this is something of a necessity in the genre: "treating character conservatively and limiting interest in it," he says, shows the reader "that the familiar categories of human behaviour persist in an unfamiliar environment." "Science fiction shows us human beings in their relations not with one another, but with a thing, a monster, an alien, a plague, or a form of society..."
Almost needless to say, there are many in the SF field who disagree that this limitation is inherent to SF, and who will happily site many counter-examples. Amis also states at one point that "any notion" of a science-fiction love story "will certainly not do"; another opinion that drew the ire of Damon Knight, for one. Knight also pointed out that Amis, a writer of satires himself, seems to over-value satires compared to other forms of SF, notably Pohl and Kornbluth's The Space Merchants, which he refers to often and to which he gives a place of honor in his book's opening chapter.
But none of this diminishes the value of Amis' book in the least. his opinions are always interesting and articulate, and it's quite fascinating to see this noted mainstream author -- writing in 1960 -- lamenting science fiction's lack of respect among educated readers. (A lament that of course continues to be voiced today, and no doubt will still be voiced into the distant, science-fictional future.)
Amis later went on to co-edit a series of SF anthologies: Spectrum 1 through Spectrum 5. I highly recommended these as a source for some of the best examples of short SF in the 1961- 1966 time period.
Want to read
November 3, 2010From Brilliant SF books that got away:
"Robert May, former UK chief scientific adviser: “This is the book that made science fiction grow up. It’s a scholarly review that takes science fiction seriously – which is how I think it should be.”
Though best-known for his mainstream novels, Kingsley Amis was an avid science fiction reader, and his literary criticism on the genre, New Maps of Hell, was published in 1960. Spanning the works of masters like Jules Verne and H. G. Wells, as well as topics such as bug-eyed monsters, revolutionary inventions and the exploration of outer space, the entire spectrum of science fiction comes under Amis’s critical eye. In this book Amis coined the phrase “comic inferno” to describe a type of humorous dystopia."
"Robert May, former UK chief scientific adviser: “This is the book that made science fiction grow up. It’s a scholarly review that takes science fiction seriously – which is how I think it should be.”
Though best-known for his mainstream novels, Kingsley Amis was an avid science fiction reader, and his literary criticism on the genre, New Maps of Hell, was published in 1960. Spanning the works of masters like Jules Verne and H. G. Wells, as well as topics such as bug-eyed monsters, revolutionary inventions and the exploration of outer space, the entire spectrum of science fiction comes under Amis’s critical eye. In this book Amis coined the phrase “comic inferno” to describe a type of humorous dystopia."
November 28, 2015
A really interesting study of science fiction before genre fiction was widely accepted into the literary canon. Amis' style is engaging and his enthusiasm is very evident throughout.
June 27, 2020
Para lá de um dos grandes nomes da literatura inglesa do século XX, Kingsley Amis também era fã de ficção científica. Chegou a escrever alguns romances assumidamente dentro do género, no campo da história alternativa. Russian Hide and Seek satiriza a guerra fria com os ocupantes soviéticos da Inglaterra a querer recuperar a cultura aristocrática dos colonizados, e The Alteration uma brilhante história alternativa onde o catolicismo romano não foi desafio pela Reforma, e com isso a Europa manteve-se um espaço de dogmatismo religioso.
Ao contrário de outros escritores do mainstream, Amis nunca escondeu ou desvalorizou a sua atração pela FC. Hoje é comum serem publicadas obras de escritores consagrados que lidam com a tecnologia e modernidade, até mesmo com aspetos oníricos, mas ai de quem lhes disser que estão a trabalhar com conceitos de ficção científica ou fantástico. Seguem grandes distâncias argumentativas para se afastarem o mais possível dessa coisa infeta que são os mundos da literatura especulativa fantástica.
New Maps of Hell é uma clássica análise crítica às vertentes literátias da ficção científica. Feita por um autor que sendo fã, traz o seu sentido literário afinado nas vertentes mais eruditas, e também um salutar sentido crítico. O livro tem um forte lado didático, um explicar aos que fugiam da FC por a considerarem simplista que o género de facto não o era. Que tinha os seus modos narrativos, temáticas, iconografias. Que era muito mais do que aventuas no espaço e bug-eyed monsters, ou mera tentativa de antevisão do que viria aí.
Ler, hoje, estas análises críticas é mergulhar numa visão transversal do que era a FC até aos anos 60. Amis traça as suas raízes, desmonta os seus temas, fala das suas valências e fraquezas. Muitas foram ultrapassadas. A FC hoje é estilisticamente mais complexa, e perdeu o medo de aprofundar temas. O imaginário futurista, especulativo ou fantasista já não se fica por iconografias superficiais, e abriu-se à diversidade cultural global, ao papel da mulher, à diversidade de género. Aceita o desafio de falar de temas incómodos, do aquecimento global às desigualdades económicas e sociais. E não deixou de ter também divertidas histórias de aventuras no espaço. Com mais nuance, mais profundidade que a FC clássica.
A FC sempre foi um campo rico em memória, em que os olhares contemporâneos conhecem o trabalho dos escritores que os precederam. Mesmo que os desmentem em atos de ativismo crítico. É por isto que vale a pena pegar em análises críticas que nos falam de como foi a FC. Não só ler as histórias clássicas, mas perceber como eram compreendidas à época.
Ao contrário de outros escritores do mainstream, Amis nunca escondeu ou desvalorizou a sua atração pela FC. Hoje é comum serem publicadas obras de escritores consagrados que lidam com a tecnologia e modernidade, até mesmo com aspetos oníricos, mas ai de quem lhes disser que estão a trabalhar com conceitos de ficção científica ou fantástico. Seguem grandes distâncias argumentativas para se afastarem o mais possível dessa coisa infeta que são os mundos da literatura especulativa fantástica.
New Maps of Hell é uma clássica análise crítica às vertentes literátias da ficção científica. Feita por um autor que sendo fã, traz o seu sentido literário afinado nas vertentes mais eruditas, e também um salutar sentido crítico. O livro tem um forte lado didático, um explicar aos que fugiam da FC por a considerarem simplista que o género de facto não o era. Que tinha os seus modos narrativos, temáticas, iconografias. Que era muito mais do que aventuas no espaço e bug-eyed monsters, ou mera tentativa de antevisão do que viria aí.
Ler, hoje, estas análises críticas é mergulhar numa visão transversal do que era a FC até aos anos 60. Amis traça as suas raízes, desmonta os seus temas, fala das suas valências e fraquezas. Muitas foram ultrapassadas. A FC hoje é estilisticamente mais complexa, e perdeu o medo de aprofundar temas. O imaginário futurista, especulativo ou fantasista já não se fica por iconografias superficiais, e abriu-se à diversidade cultural global, ao papel da mulher, à diversidade de género. Aceita o desafio de falar de temas incómodos, do aquecimento global às desigualdades económicas e sociais. E não deixou de ter também divertidas histórias de aventuras no espaço. Com mais nuance, mais profundidade que a FC clássica.
A FC sempre foi um campo rico em memória, em que os olhares contemporâneos conhecem o trabalho dos escritores que os precederam. Mesmo que os desmentem em atos de ativismo crítico. É por isto que vale a pena pegar em análises críticas que nos falam de como foi a FC. Não só ler as histórias clássicas, mas perceber como eram compreendidas à época.
July 15, 2018
Leitura para o mestrado. É interessante ver como a crítica da ficção-científica mudou desde quando Amis escreveu esse livro em 1960. Em muitos sentidos, a literatura sobre a qual ele está falando não é mais a que existe hoje, ou mesmo exatamente aquilo que entendemos por FC. Ainda assim, alguns dos seus pontos foram pontos de partida para o estudo do campo. Não é uma leitura que recomende para alguém que não tenha interesse em estudar o assunto e sua situação por volta daquela época, mas, se for esse o caso, pode fornecer uma visão aproximada do objeto de análise, possibilitando uma melhor compreensão naquele momento histórico, sem a visão retroativa que temos hoje.
December 4, 2021
This book was first published in 1960, and reissued in Penguin Modern Classics in 2012. By then, of course, it was extremely dated, but it's still useful for hints as to what early SF is most worth reading. Kingley Amis writes with humor, but doesn't see far into the future when he expresses the opinion that television and the cinema are unlikely to become important media for SF. A representative at Penguin Random House told me that since January 2015 they have no longer been distributing the book; I'm not surprised.
June 7, 2023
I… will just…
I’m going to need a minute to process this book before I can talk about it calmly.
I’m going to need a minute to process this book before I can talk about it calmly.
November 17, 2025
Amis was a talented writer and apparently a science fiction fan, but these essays (not a comprehensive history or overview) on the genre are, to say the least, a bit condescending and even his back-handed compliments are sheathed in his complicated, comma filled, double negative, aren’t I clever style.
July 7, 2025
New Maps of Hell – A Survey of Science Fiction by Sir Kingsley Amis – Magister Ludi, author of Lucky Jim http://realini.blogspot.com/2023/03/l... included on The All- TIME 100 Best Novels list, winner of The Booker Prize for The Old Devils – he joked that ‘he had previously thought of the Booker as a rather trivial, showbizzy sort of caper, but now considered it a very serious, reliable indication of literary merit’
10 out of 10
The King of Comedy, Kingsley Amis, could write about anything, and it will still be elating, hilarious, informative, enchanting, just as is the case here, or On Drink http://realini.blogspot.com/2023/03/o... this reader does not indulge, alas, thus missing on that splendid way out of the ordinary, and he is not a great fan of Science Fiction, therefore he should have been lukewarm when entering the subject, even as transformed by the Master of the Game…
As it is, Sir Kingsley Amis makes a wonderful case for the domain of Science Fiction, explaining the beginning, looking at the infinite (well, no, that was what I thought, or better said just had the impulse to put in writing, without really analyzing, and after the first ‘Thinking Fast’ realized that the author in fact exposes the limitations of the genre, when exploring the future, if I remember well, one cannot describe the protagonists, characters into too much detail, for it could affect the whole picture…this could be wrong – Thinking Fast and Slow http://realini.blogspot.com/2015/07/t... is the massively successful work of the only psychologist winner of the Nobel Prize, there is none for this science, he got it for Economy, Daniel Kahneman) choices that writers have…
There are shortcomings, one of which was that those who took on the subject were seen as creators in a lesser domain, science fiction seemed as a less than serious undertaking, and I wonder how much this has changed, on some level, it may appear that this is an area of immense success, just look at the box office for motion pictures, where the winners belong almost exclusively to the Marvel, universe, the likes of Avatar, new sequels, prequels, spin offs of Star Wars, Spider Men, Avengers, Transformers and so on
On the other hand, serious literature might be losing, even this marvelous opus of Sir Kingsley Amis has only a few hundred ratings on Goodreads, when it deserves much more than the comics, superheroes books that get so much more (undeserved) traction…Magister Ludi looks at what is impressive, laudable in the novels of anticipation, with his characteristic humor, he looks as some of the classics
Jules Verne is praised for some of his clever ideas, but ‘his work is, of course, of poor quality, a feature certainly reproduced with great fidelity by most of his successors…even the more active passages are full of comically bad writing’ and examples are provided, quotes form Jules Verne and others…
Another important benefit one gets from reading this magic book is to see that one shares with the King of Comedy the appreciation, delight with which he has read some of the novel praised by the master, such as The Space Merchants of http://realini.blogspot.com/2020/06/t... by Cyril Kornbluth and Frederik Pohl, the latter appears to be the best in the field, one that has some extraordinary and even mirthful notions about our future, examples are offered…
A future is envisioned wherein roles are reversed, luxuries are freely available, but basic necessities are absent or hard to get, another scenario looks ironically at consumerism and the future where there is a pressing need for everything to be used, to the point where they create a circle, robots to utilize the mass production that has to keep rolling (now that we look at apocalyptic versions of a future on a planet is getting ever hotter, the fact that humanity has produced so much that it risks destroying itself makes many of these stories so prophetic) Ray Bradbury is one of the most important creators in the domain, and his Fahrenheit 451 http://realini.blogspot.com/2018/05/f... is given ample room, with lines quoted form the story of Montag and his generation
Fahrenheit 451 is compared with Nineteen Eighty Four http://realini.blogspot.com/2017/05/n... by George Orwell, the former is inferior in power, but superior in conciseness and objectivity, as a personal choice, I think Nineteen Eighty Four much more powerful, but that is clearly influenced by the fact that we lived in 1984, meaning that we have had a communist regime here, with Big Brother, double speak and all that Orwell describes so accurately in his dystopia work, which is true about large parts of the world now, let me mention only China and North Korea.
Another spectacular Science Fiction opus that is mentioned in New Maps of Hell is Brave New World http://realini.blogspot.com/2018/12/c... which somehow anticipates the narcotic effect that is used on most of humanity, it is not the soma that was a drug for happiness, but there are plenty other generics, such as smart phones, the apps that keep populations hooked, from Tiktok to Instagram, attention spans are falling, reading is not a thing, and levels of intelligence are falling
One catastrophic outcome that is explored, if dismissed as less of a literary success is On the Beach http://realini.blogspot.com/2017/06/o... wherein there will have been an atomic war, and the much better Lord of the Flies by William Golding, one of my favorites, who said that ‘if there are no rules, then you have nothing, to explain what happens on the island where boys are stranded and mayhem ensues, cruelty and meanness are on display, in one of Modern Library’s Best 100 Novels
To end with, we have to mention Russian Hide and Seek http://realini.blogspot.com/2020/07/r... that had the Magister scolded by…Margaret Thatcher, when she has invited him for dinner, she did not like the idea of a future where the Russians win, and occupy Britain and so much more…
Now for a question, and invitation – maybe you have a good idea on how we could make more than a million dollars with this http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/02/u... – as it is, this is a unique technique, which we could promote, sell, open the Oscars show with or something and then make lots of money together, if you have the how, I have the product, I just do not know how to get the befits from it, other than the exercise per se
As for my role in the Revolution that killed Ceausescu, a smaller Mao, there it is http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/03/r...
10 out of 10
The King of Comedy, Kingsley Amis, could write about anything, and it will still be elating, hilarious, informative, enchanting, just as is the case here, or On Drink http://realini.blogspot.com/2023/03/o... this reader does not indulge, alas, thus missing on that splendid way out of the ordinary, and he is not a great fan of Science Fiction, therefore he should have been lukewarm when entering the subject, even as transformed by the Master of the Game…
As it is, Sir Kingsley Amis makes a wonderful case for the domain of Science Fiction, explaining the beginning, looking at the infinite (well, no, that was what I thought, or better said just had the impulse to put in writing, without really analyzing, and after the first ‘Thinking Fast’ realized that the author in fact exposes the limitations of the genre, when exploring the future, if I remember well, one cannot describe the protagonists, characters into too much detail, for it could affect the whole picture…this could be wrong – Thinking Fast and Slow http://realini.blogspot.com/2015/07/t... is the massively successful work of the only psychologist winner of the Nobel Prize, there is none for this science, he got it for Economy, Daniel Kahneman) choices that writers have…
There are shortcomings, one of which was that those who took on the subject were seen as creators in a lesser domain, science fiction seemed as a less than serious undertaking, and I wonder how much this has changed, on some level, it may appear that this is an area of immense success, just look at the box office for motion pictures, where the winners belong almost exclusively to the Marvel, universe, the likes of Avatar, new sequels, prequels, spin offs of Star Wars, Spider Men, Avengers, Transformers and so on
On the other hand, serious literature might be losing, even this marvelous opus of Sir Kingsley Amis has only a few hundred ratings on Goodreads, when it deserves much more than the comics, superheroes books that get so much more (undeserved) traction…Magister Ludi looks at what is impressive, laudable in the novels of anticipation, with his characteristic humor, he looks as some of the classics
Jules Verne is praised for some of his clever ideas, but ‘his work is, of course, of poor quality, a feature certainly reproduced with great fidelity by most of his successors…even the more active passages are full of comically bad writing’ and examples are provided, quotes form Jules Verne and others…
Another important benefit one gets from reading this magic book is to see that one shares with the King of Comedy the appreciation, delight with which he has read some of the novel praised by the master, such as The Space Merchants of http://realini.blogspot.com/2020/06/t... by Cyril Kornbluth and Frederik Pohl, the latter appears to be the best in the field, one that has some extraordinary and even mirthful notions about our future, examples are offered…
A future is envisioned wherein roles are reversed, luxuries are freely available, but basic necessities are absent or hard to get, another scenario looks ironically at consumerism and the future where there is a pressing need for everything to be used, to the point where they create a circle, robots to utilize the mass production that has to keep rolling (now that we look at apocalyptic versions of a future on a planet is getting ever hotter, the fact that humanity has produced so much that it risks destroying itself makes many of these stories so prophetic) Ray Bradbury is one of the most important creators in the domain, and his Fahrenheit 451 http://realini.blogspot.com/2018/05/f... is given ample room, with lines quoted form the story of Montag and his generation
Fahrenheit 451 is compared with Nineteen Eighty Four http://realini.blogspot.com/2017/05/n... by George Orwell, the former is inferior in power, but superior in conciseness and objectivity, as a personal choice, I think Nineteen Eighty Four much more powerful, but that is clearly influenced by the fact that we lived in 1984, meaning that we have had a communist regime here, with Big Brother, double speak and all that Orwell describes so accurately in his dystopia work, which is true about large parts of the world now, let me mention only China and North Korea.
Another spectacular Science Fiction opus that is mentioned in New Maps of Hell is Brave New World http://realini.blogspot.com/2018/12/c... which somehow anticipates the narcotic effect that is used on most of humanity, it is not the soma that was a drug for happiness, but there are plenty other generics, such as smart phones, the apps that keep populations hooked, from Tiktok to Instagram, attention spans are falling, reading is not a thing, and levels of intelligence are falling
One catastrophic outcome that is explored, if dismissed as less of a literary success is On the Beach http://realini.blogspot.com/2017/06/o... wherein there will have been an atomic war, and the much better Lord of the Flies by William Golding, one of my favorites, who said that ‘if there are no rules, then you have nothing, to explain what happens on the island where boys are stranded and mayhem ensues, cruelty and meanness are on display, in one of Modern Library’s Best 100 Novels
To end with, we have to mention Russian Hide and Seek http://realini.blogspot.com/2020/07/r... that had the Magister scolded by…Margaret Thatcher, when she has invited him for dinner, she did not like the idea of a future where the Russians win, and occupy Britain and so much more…
Now for a question, and invitation – maybe you have a good idea on how we could make more than a million dollars with this http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/02/u... – as it is, this is a unique technique, which we could promote, sell, open the Oscars show with or something and then make lots of money together, if you have the how, I have the product, I just do not know how to get the befits from it, other than the exercise per se
As for my role in the Revolution that killed Ceausescu, a smaller Mao, there it is http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/03/r...
October 20, 2014
This book about science fiction is probably aimed more at people who are interested in SF but have never really read any of it, rather than at true SF aficionados. But I think the author has interesting things to say on the subject for all audiences. I was particularly intrigued by the way Amis compares SF to jazz, as a medium or genre with an underground appeal that the mainstream and establishment were a bit sniffy about.
The book is very early so it is somewhat limited in what it looks at, but it is an attractive view into the form at a point when it was still establishing itself. Reading it makes me both want to read more early SF generally but also to try and track down the anthology of SF that Amis edited to illustrate his views of what is best in the genre.
The book is very early so it is somewhat limited in what it looks at, but it is an attractive view into the form at a point when it was still establishing itself. Reading it makes me both want to read more early SF generally but also to try and track down the anthology of SF that Amis edited to illustrate his views of what is best in the genre.
August 13, 2019
In some ways, this is very dated because Sci-Fi has moved on so much, and yet it still reads true because the spirit and attitude of the genre remains what it always was, and a lot of what I read seemed to describe exactly how the subculture has developed into the 21st century.
February 9, 2016
It was a book of it's time, and yet continues to tell the trials and tribulation of science fiction authors. If you are a serious student of speculative fiction, this remains a must-read (if you can find a copy that's not falling apart).
May 28, 2018
An Intelligent Man’s Guide to Science Fiction. Very nice to see how SF was viewed by an intellectual in the year 1960. Great title.
December 31, 2019
Not terrible but not amazing either. Pretty dry and humdrum.
March 18, 2021
Snarky, boring, repetitive, self-indulgent. Quit half-way through.
May 22, 2025
[Ballantine Books] (1960). SB. 141 Pages. Purchased from Zardoz Books.
An informative and entertaining short survey. Under-paragraphed.
Occasionally funny. Concerning science fiction reader archetypes:
“…mental juveniles who still like fairy stories… chronic nosey-parkers… misfits in society, often subversive…” (p. 51.)
“…gum-chewing adolescents… and lower-class laboratory floor sweepers…” (p. 129.)
Then, there’s L. Ron Hubbard, the devisor of religions:
“…the mysterious mental science of dianetics (of one book on this subject, the blurb claims proudly that four of the first fifteen people who read it went insane).” (p. 131.)
There are isolated pockets of terrible writing, for instance:
“Even so, a difference which makes the difference between abandoning verisimilitude and trying to preserve it seems to make all the difference…” (p. 18.)
The great man must have been well under the influence…
It’s so bad, one has to seek out the likes of Alison MacLeod for greater ineptitude. Granted, though, she blows it clean out of the water.
I found this to be striking:
“…I cannot feel that the injection of these… ingredients… is likely to lead to much beyond blurring and dilution. It is not by capturing more territory that science fiction will improve itself, but by consolidating what it already has.” (p. 124.)
So many works suffer because of shoe-horning: naff romance, incidental sex etc. Then - there’s the zeigeist - oversized, implausible, ‘superhero types’ forcibly drawn from groups protected under the Equality Act (2010).
I loved Amis’ take on advertising:
“…a truth about the whole… idea, that it is an outrage, an assault on people’s privacy.” (p. 107.)
Somewhat curiously, he eschews ‘dystopia’ in favour of ‘negative utopia’, though the former was first coined the best part of a century before.
Indexed.
The print’s too small.
A Reading/Reference List would have been nice, rather than a mere footnote steer away from magazines and towards short story collections (p. 135.)
An informative and entertaining short survey. Under-paragraphed.
Occasionally funny. Concerning science fiction reader archetypes:
“…mental juveniles who still like fairy stories… chronic nosey-parkers… misfits in society, often subversive…” (p. 51.)
“…gum-chewing adolescents… and lower-class laboratory floor sweepers…” (p. 129.)
Then, there’s L. Ron Hubbard, the devisor of religions:
“…the mysterious mental science of dianetics (of one book on this subject, the blurb claims proudly that four of the first fifteen people who read it went insane).” (p. 131.)
There are isolated pockets of terrible writing, for instance:
“Even so, a difference which makes the difference between abandoning verisimilitude and trying to preserve it seems to make all the difference…” (p. 18.)
The great man must have been well under the influence…
It’s so bad, one has to seek out the likes of Alison MacLeod for greater ineptitude. Granted, though, she blows it clean out of the water.
I found this to be striking:
“…I cannot feel that the injection of these… ingredients… is likely to lead to much beyond blurring and dilution. It is not by capturing more territory that science fiction will improve itself, but by consolidating what it already has.” (p. 124.)
So many works suffer because of shoe-horning: naff romance, incidental sex etc. Then - there’s the zeigeist - oversized, implausible, ‘superhero types’ forcibly drawn from groups protected under the Equality Act (2010).
I loved Amis’ take on advertising:
“…a truth about the whole… idea, that it is an outrage, an assault on people’s privacy.” (p. 107.)
Somewhat curiously, he eschews ‘dystopia’ in favour of ‘negative utopia’, though the former was first coined the best part of a century before.
Indexed.
The print’s too small.
A Reading/Reference List would have been nice, rather than a mere footnote steer away from magazines and towards short story collections (p. 135.)
September 30, 2024
A pretty good overview of science fiction as a field in the late 50's. Amis is coming at the subject as someone who isn't part of the science fiction genre, so is able to approach the subject with a level of distance and insight that someone who is more involved might not have.
Amis gives a pretty good overview of the development of science fiction over the previous century or so, and it's movement from simplistic stories to mature works able to explore elements of the human condition in ways unique to science fiction. He's also able to point out elements of science fiction that aren't always readily apparent, such as the unique combination of being capable of radical ideas about technology and society being paired with shockingly conservative values, which despite advancement of the field over the last 50 some odd years still tends to pop up.
My only real problems with the book are not necessarily the fault of Amis. One is simply that as the book started as a series of lectures, its incredibly brief. An overview of science fiction as a field, so there's not a whole lot to dig into. The other, and even more unfair to bring up, is that Amis wrote this at the exact time science fiction as a field was about to be changed by the rise of the New Wave authors. Funnily enough a lot of the changes and advancements in the field that Amis predicted as happening in the next 30 years ended up happening not long after this book was published.
Even if science fiction has changed a lot since this book was published, it's still an interesting read and a pretty good overview of early 20th century science fiction, and lot of what the book brings up is still relevant. A lot of Amis's observations can still be seen in the field today, even if not in the same way.
Amis gives a pretty good overview of the development of science fiction over the previous century or so, and it's movement from simplistic stories to mature works able to explore elements of the human condition in ways unique to science fiction. He's also able to point out elements of science fiction that aren't always readily apparent, such as the unique combination of being capable of radical ideas about technology and society being paired with shockingly conservative values, which despite advancement of the field over the last 50 some odd years still tends to pop up.
My only real problems with the book are not necessarily the fault of Amis. One is simply that as the book started as a series of lectures, its incredibly brief. An overview of science fiction as a field, so there's not a whole lot to dig into. The other, and even more unfair to bring up, is that Amis wrote this at the exact time science fiction as a field was about to be changed by the rise of the New Wave authors. Funnily enough a lot of the changes and advancements in the field that Amis predicted as happening in the next 30 years ended up happening not long after this book was published.
Even if science fiction has changed a lot since this book was published, it's still an interesting read and a pretty good overview of early 20th century science fiction, and lot of what the book brings up is still relevant. A lot of Amis's observations can still be seen in the field today, even if not in the same way.
September 2, 2024
A fairly conversational adaptation of a lecture-series; Amis possesses fannish enthusiasm and critical distance but not analytic rigour. Very interesting that in an end-of-the-50s analysis Asimov, Clarke, Heinlein barely figure, and that Bradbury is mostly denigrated; no, the action is in Robert Sheckley and Frederick Pohl. H.P. Lovecraft ("[his] intrinsic importance is small") and Mervyn Peake ("a bad fantasy writer of maverick status") catch strays. Amis orbits a point without ever arriving at it: that this thing happening in SF in the 50s, an "instrument of social diagnosis and warning" transmogrified through "the comic inferno", in which the scientific basis figures largely as kayfabe, demonstrates how literary forms might arrive--through market forces, yet--outside the watchmanship of the highbrow cultural apparatus. He will not react favorably in the 60s to claims of the New Wave to actually be the real highbrow cultural apparatus; here, though, he's pretty listenable for 120-odd pages.
October 3, 2018
siamo nel 1960, quando la fantascienza non era più semplicemente un campo esplorato da pochi pionieri ma un genere che stava vivendo la sua prima età dell'oro: è un momento ancora "ingenuo" eppure sugli scaffali erano già arrivate opere di un certo livello, capaci di poter affascinare anche i non fan del genere (e "1984" c'era anche riuscito).
kingsley amis -partendo da una posizione particolare, quella di un autore "serio" che è anche appassionato del genere- porta il lettore non esperto a spasso nel genere: mette spesso le mani avanti quando appaiono gli eccessi delle riviste pulp ma non nasconde la sua passione per l'argomento e sente che il meglio può ancora venire.
per chi legge fantascienza una bellissima fotografia su "come eravamo", per chi è all'oscuro del genere forse non l'opera più adatta oggi per iniziare ad apprezzarlo, ammesso e non concesso che la trovi...
kingsley amis -partendo da una posizione particolare, quella di un autore "serio" che è anche appassionato del genere- porta il lettore non esperto a spasso nel genere: mette spesso le mani avanti quando appaiono gli eccessi delle riviste pulp ma non nasconde la sua passione per l'argomento e sente che il meglio può ancora venire.
per chi legge fantascienza una bellissima fotografia su "come eravamo", per chi è all'oscuro del genere forse non l'opera più adatta oggi per iniziare ad apprezzarlo, ammesso e non concesso che la trovi...
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