Science Fiction has proved notoriously difficult to define. It has been explained as a combination of romance, science and prophecy; as a genre based on an imagined alternative to the reader's environment; and as a form of fantastic fiction and historical literature.
It has also been
argued that science fiction narratives are the most engaged, socially relevant, and responsive to the modern technological environment. This Very Short Introduction doesn't offer a history of science fiction, but instead ties examples of science fiction to different historical moments, in order to
demonstrate how science fiction has evolved over time.
David Seed looks not only at literature, but also at drama and poetry, as well as film. Examining recurrent themes in science fiction he looks at voyages into space, the concept of the alien and alternative social identities, the
role of technology in science fiction, and its relation to time - in the past, present, and future.
Introduction
1. Voyages into space
2. Alien encounters
3. Science fiction and technology
4. Utopias and dystopias
5. Fictions of time
6. The field of science fiction
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David Seed is Professor in the School of English at Liverpool University. His many publications include American Science Fiction and the Cold War (Edinburgh University Press) and A Companion to Science Fiction (Blackwell, Oxford). He is on the editorial board of the Journal of American Studies
(CUP), has contributed to many edited volumes, and has published several articles in academic journals. He is currently editing Blackwell's Companion to Twentieth Century U.S. Fiction.
