Environments in Science Fiction: Essays on Alternative Spaces

206 Pages·2014·1.562 MB·English

by  Susan M. Bernardo (editor)

Environments in Science Fiction
CRITICALEXPLORATIONSINSCIENCEFICTIONANDFANTASY
(aseries edited by Donald E. Palumbo and C.W. Sullivan III)
1Worlds Apart? Dualism and Transgression
in Contemporary Female Dystopias(Dunja M. Mohr, 2005)
2Tolkien and Shakespeare: Essays on Shared Themes and Language
(ed. Janet Brennan Croft, 2007)
3Culture, Identities and Technology in the Star WarsFilms: Essays on
the Two Trilogies(ed. Carl Silvio, Tony M. Vinci, 2007)
4The Influence of Star Trekon Television, Film and Culture
(ed. Lincoln Geraghty, 2008)
5Hugo Gernsback and the Century of Science Fiction(Gary Westfahl, 2007)
6One Earth, One People: The Mythopoeic Fantasy Series of Ursula K. Le Guin,
Lloyd Alexander, Madeleine L’Engle and Orson Scott Card(Marek Oziewicz, 2008)
7The Evolution of Tolkien’s Mythology: A Study
of the History of Middle-earth(Elizabeth A. Whittingham, 2008)
8H. Beam Piper: A Biography(John F. Carr, 2008)
9Dreams and Nightmares: Science and Technology in Myth and Fiction
(Mordecai Roshwald, 2008)
10Lilithin a New Light: Essays on the George MacDonald Fantasy Novel
(ed. Lucas H. Harriman, 2008)
11Feminist Narrative and the Supernatural: The Function of
Fantastic Devices in Seven Recent Novels(Katherine J. Weese, 2008)
12The Science of Fiction and the Fiction of Science: Collected Essays on SF Storytelling
and the Gnostic Imagination(Frank McConnell, ed. Gary Westfahl, 2009)
13Kim Stanley Robinson Maps the Unimaginable: Critical Essays
(ed. William J. Burling, 2009)
14The Inter-Galactic Playground: A Critical Study
of Children’s and Teens’ Science Fiction(Farah Mendlesohn, 2009)
15Science Fiction from Québec: A Postcolonial Study(Amy J. Ransom, 2009)
16Science Fiction and the Two Cultures: Essays on Bridging the Gap Between
the Sciences and the Humanities(ed. Gary Westfahl, George Slusser, 2009)
17Stephen R. Donaldson and the Modern Epic Vision: A Critical Study
of the “Chronicles of Thomas Covenant” Novels(Christine Barkley, 2009)
18Ursula K. Le Guin’s Journey to Post-Feminism (Amy M. Clarke, 2010)
19Portals of Power: Magical Agency and Transformation in Literary Fantasy
(Lori M. Campbell, 2010)
20The Animal Fable in Science Fiction and Fantasy(Bruce Shaw, 2010)
21Illuminating Torchwood: Essays on Narrative, Character and Sexuality
in the BBC Series(ed. Andrew Ireland, 2010)
22Comics as a Nexus of Cultures: Essays on the Interplay
of Media, Disciplines and International Perspectives
(ed. Mark Berninger, Jochen Ecke, Gideon Haberkorn, 2010)
23The Anatomy of Utopia: Narration, Estrangement and Ambiguity in
More, Wells, Huxley and Clarke(Károly Pintér, 2010)
24The Anticipation Novelists of 1950s French Science Fiction: Stepchildren of Voltaire
(Bradford Lyau, 2010)
25The TwilightMystique: Critical Essays
on the Novels and Films(ed. Amy M. Clarke, Marijane Osborn, 2010)
26The Mythic Fantasy of Robert Holdstock: Critical Essays
on the Fiction(ed. Donald E. Morse, Kálmán Matolcsy, 2011)
27Science Fiction and the Prediction of the Future: Essays on Foresight
and Fallacy(ed. Gary Westfahl, Wong Kin Yuen, Amy Kit-sze Chan, 2011)
28Apocalypse in Australian Fiction and Film: A Critical Study(Roslyn Weaver, 2011)
29British Science Fiction Film and Television: Critical Essays
(ed. Tobias Hochscherf, James Leggott, 2011)
30Cult Telefantasy Series: A Critical Analysis ofThe Prisoner, Twin Peaks, The X-Files,
Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Lost, Heroes, Doctor Whoand Star Trek (Sue Short, 2011)
31The Postnational Fantasy: Essays on
Postcolonialism, Cosmopolitics and Science Fiction
(ed. Masood Ashraf Raja, Jason W. Ellis and Swaralipi Nandi, 2011)
32Heinlein’s Juvenile Novels: A Cultural Dictionary(C.W. Sullivan III, 2011)
33Welsh Mythology and Folklore in Popular Culture: Essays on
Adaptations in Literature, Film, Television and Digital Media
(ed. Audrey L. Becker and Kristin Noone, 2011)
34I See You: The Shifting Paradigms of James Cameron’s
Avatar (Ellen Grabiner, 2012)
35Of Bread, Blood and The Hunger Games: Critical Essays on the
Suzanne Collins Trilogy(ed. Mary F. Pharr and Leisa A. Clark, 2012)
36The Sex Is Out of This World: Essays on the Carnal Side of
Science Fiction(ed. Sherry Ginn and Michael G. Cornelius, 2012)
37Lois McMaster Bujold: Essays on a Modern Master of
Science Fiction and Fantasy(ed. Janet Brennan Croft, 2013)
38Girls Transforming: Invisibility and Age-Shifting in
Children’s Fantasy Fiction Since the 1970s(Sanna Lehtonen, 2013)
39Doctor Who in Time and Space: Essays on Themes, Characters,
History and Fandom, 1963–2012(ed. Gillian I. Leitch, 2013)
40The Worlds ofFarscape: Essays on the Groundbreaking
Television Series(ed. Sherry Ginn, 2013)
41Orbiting Ray Bradbury’s Mars: Biographical, Anthropological,
Literary, Scientific and Other Perspectives(ed. Gloria McMillan, 2013)
42The Heritage of Heinlein: A Critical Reading of the Fiction
Television Series(Thomas D. Clareson and Joe Sanders, 2014)
43The Past That Might Have Been, the Future That May Come:
Women Writing Fantastic Fiction, 1960s to the Present
(Lauren J. Lacey, 2014)
44Environments in Science Fiction: Essays on Alternative Spaces
(ed. Susan M. Bernardo, 2014)
45Discworld and the Disciplines: Critical Approaches to the Terry Pratchett Works
(ed. Anne Hiebert Alton and William C. Spruiell, forthcoming [2014])
46 Nature and the Numinous in Mythopoeic Fantasy Literature
(Christopher Straw Brawley, ed. Donald E. Palumbo
and C.W. Sullivan III, forthcoming [2014])
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Environments in
Science Fiction
Essays on Alternative Spaces
Edited by SUSAN M. BERNARDO
CRITICALEXPLORATIONSINSCIENCEFICTIONANDFANTASY, 44
Series EditorsDonald E. Palumbo andC.W. Sullivan III
McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers
Jefferson, North Carolina
LIBRARYOFCONGRESSCATALOGUING-IN-PUBLICATIONDATA
Environments in Science Fiction : Essays on Alternative
Spaces / edited by Susan M. Bernardo.
p. cm. — (Critical Explorations in Science Fiction
and Fantasy ; 44)
[Donald E. Palumbo and C.W. Sullivan III, series editors]
Includes bibliographical references and index.
♾
ISBN 978-0-7864-7579-7(softcover : acid free paper)
ISBN 978-1-4766-1503-5 (ebook)
1. Science fiction—History and criticism. 2. Future, The,
in literature. 3. Dystopias in literature. 4. Ecocriticism.
I. Bernardo, Susan M., editor of compilation.
PN3433.6.E73 2014
809.3'8762—dc23 2014003861
BRITISHLIBRARYCATALOGUINGDATAAREAVAILABLE
© 2014 Susan M. Bernardo. All rights reserved
No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form
or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying
or recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system,
without permission in writing from the publisher.
Cover image: © Photodisc/Thinkstock
Manufactured in the United States of America
McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers
Box 611, Jefferson, North Carolina 28640
www.mcfarlandpub.com
Acknowledgments
Without the help of an array of people this book would not have
been possible. For their patience and tenacity I thank all the contributors.
The support that Wagner College has provided has been key. I would
like to thank the Faculty Personnel Committee and the provost for their
support and assistance. The staff of Horrmann Library, as always, pro-
vided help with locating sources, even on short notice. Special thanks
go to Tim Hickey for his work on the text of the book. Thanks to Don
Palumbo, who has been easy to work with and encouraging.
Very special thanks to my constant assistant and sounding board,
Mark Wagner.
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Table of Contents
Acknowledgments vii
Introduction 1
PART ONE
IN THE MARGINS: RECENTERING INDIVIDUALS,
SOCIETIES AND ENVIRONMENTS
Heterotopian Possibilities in Science Fictions by Stephen Baxter,
Terry Pratchett, Samuel Delany and Ursula K. Le Guin
LAUREN J. LACEY 10
Acceptance of the Marginalized in Marge Piercy’s He, She, It and
Melissa Scott’s Trouble and Her Friends
MELANIE A. MAROTTA 28
Anathem’s Flows of Power: State Space and Nomadology on a
Cloistered Planet
JONATHAN P. LEWIS 46
PART TWO
SHIFTING WORLDS THROUGH RE- CREATION
Karel Čapek’s War with the Newts: Deterritorializing Land
and Language
ADAM LAWRENCE 64
Mary Shelley’s Literary Laboratory: Frankensteinand the Emergence
of the Modern Laboratory in Nineteenth- Century Europe
MATTHEW HADLEY 83
Ecotopian London: Morris’s Geography of Conservation
MARGARET S. KENNEDY 101
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