Science Fiction

George Slusser was professor of comparative literature and curator of the J. Lloyd Eaton Collection of Science Fiction and Fantasy Literature, at the University of California, Riverside. Gary Westfahl is professor emeritus at the University of La Verne.

• Foreword: A Novel Method for Constructing Science Fiction’s Originsby N. Katherine HaylesNotes on the Textby Gary WestfahlIntroduction: Science Fiction:Toward a World LiteratureChapter OneThe Paradigms of Science FictionChapter TwoFraternal Frontiers: Defining a Space for LiteratureChapter ThreeFuture Liberty: Nineteenth Century HorizonsChapter FourExtending the Mind Circle: DeQuincey’s English Mail CoachChapter FiveGenre at the Crossroads: Cultural Readings of Maupassant’s “Le Horla”Chapter SixBernal’s Masterplot and the Transhuman PromiseChapter SevenEach Man Is an Island: The Legacy of Emerson’s Golden AgeConclusionThe Fortunes of Science FictionAfterword: Knowing Georgeby Gregory BenfordA Brief Bibliography of the Works of George Slusser

I applaud George Slusser’s expansive efforts to see outside the generic box in terms of broadening science fiction to encompass world literature. Science Fiction: Toward a World Literature is newly remarkable because Gary Westfahl rescued his deceased mentor’s work and infused it with life. Slusser’s bold vision of science fiction as rightfully global literature currently underscores that every science fiction scholar is present on the planet for a limited time. Westfahl addresses the science fiction scholarly community’s cohesiveness. He assures us that when we are no longer on Earth our books will be remembered—and our memory will be cherished.