Hard Reading: Learning from Science Fiction

Tom Shippey is Professor Emeritus at Saint Louis University and has published widely, especially on J. R. R. Tolkien. He was special academic advisor to director Peter Jackson for the Lord of the Rings/Hobbit films.

• List of FiguresNote on ReferencesA Personal PrefaceWhat SF Is1 Coming Out of the Science Fiction Closet‘Learning to Read Science Fiction’2 Rejecting Gesture Politics‘Literary Gatekeepers and the Fabril Tradition’3 Getting Away from the Facilior Lectio‘Semiotic Ghosts and Ghostlinesses in the Work of Bruce Sterling’SF and Change4 Getting Serious with the Fans‘Science Fiction and the Idea of History’5 Getting to Grips with the Issue of Cultures …‘Cultural Engineering: A Theme in Science Fiction’6 … And Not Fudging the Issue!‘“People are Plastic”: Jack Vance and the Dilemma of Cultural Relativism’7 SF Authors Really Mean what they Say‘Alternate Historians: Newt, Kingers, Harry and Me’8 A Revealing Failure by the Critics‘Kingsley Amis’s Science Fiction and the Problems of Genre’9 A Glimpse of Structuralist Possibility‘The Golden Bough and the Incorporations of Magic in Science Fiction’10 Serious Issues, Serious Traumas, Emotional Depth‘The Magic Art and the Evolution of Words: Ursula Le Guin’s “Earthsea” Trilogy’SF and Politics11 A First Encounter with Politics‘The Cold War in Science Fiction, 1940–1960’12 Language Corruption, and Rocking the Boat‘Variations on Newspeak: The Open Question of Nineteen Eighty-Four’13 Just Before the Disaster‘The Fall of America in Science Fiction’14 Why Politicians, and Producers, Should Read Science Fiction‘The Critique of America in Contemporary Science Fiction’15 Saying (When Necessary) the Lamentable Word‘Starship Troopers, Galactic Heroes, Mercenary Princes: The Military and its Discontents in Science Fiction’ReferencesIndex

'This is an engaging and thought-provoking (or debate-provoking) selection of work.'Jack Fennell, Fantastika