Science Fiction: A Critical Guide

<p>This book, first published in 1979, presents a portrait of science fiction as a distinct form of serious and creative literature. Contributors are drawn from Britain, America and Europe, and range from well-known academic critics to young novelists. The essays establish the common properties of science fiction writing, and assess the history and significance of a field in which critical judgements have often been unreliable. The material ranges from the earliest imaginative journeys to the moon, to later developments of British, American and European science fiction.</p> <p><strong>Part 1. Early Landmarks: From the Beginnings to 1900</strong> 1. The Literary Background to Science Fiction <i>Mark R. Hillegas</i> 2. Jules Verne: the Last Happy Utopianist <i>Marc Angenot</i> 3. The Science Fiction of H.G. Wells <i>John Huntington</i> <b>Part 2. Two Formative Traditions </b> 4. Utopia and Science Fiction <i>Raymond Williams</i> 5. Science Fiction and the Scientific World-View <i>Patrick Parrinder</i> <b>Part 3. Science Fiction Today: Aspects of a Contemporary Literature </b> 6. The Cold War in Science Fiction, 1940-1960 <i>T.A. Shippey</i> 7. Science Fiction, Religion and Transcendence <i>Tom Woodman</i> 8. Characterisation in Science Fiction: Two Approaches 8.1. The Disappearance of Character <i>Scott Sanders</i> 8.2. The Alien Encounter: or Mrs Brown and Mrs Le Guin <i>Patrick Parrinder </i> 9. American Science Fiction Since 1960 <i>J.A. Sutherland </i> 10. British Science Fiction <i>Christopher Priest</i> 11. European Science Fiction <i>Franz Rottensteiner</i></p>