Reading by Starlight: Postmodern Science FictionReading by Starlight explores the characteristics in the writing, marketing and reception of science fiction which distinguish it as a genre. Damien Broderick explores the postmodern self-referentiality of the sci-fi narrative, its intricate coded language and discursive `encyclopaedia'. He shows how, for perfect understanding, sci-fi readers must learn the codes of these imaginary worlds and vocabularies, all the time picking up references to texts by other writers. Reading by Starlight includes close readings of paradigmatic cyberpunk texts and writings by SF novelists and theorists including Isaac Asimov, Arthur C. Clarke, Brian Aldiss, Patrick Parrinder, Kim Stanley Robinson, John Varley, Roger Zelazny, William Gibson, Fredric Jameson and Samuel R. Delaney. |
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Page xii
... example of an sf writer advancing both fictive and theoretical narratives side by side , in his case from an explicitly poststructuralist position . I shall trace both these trajectories of Delany's , and position them against those of ...
... example of an sf writer advancing both fictive and theoretical narratives side by side , in his case from an explicitly poststructuralist position . I shall trace both these trajectories of Delany's , and position them against those of ...
Page xiii
... example of its kind ? Why is sf relished by practised readers or viewers , while others loathe it ? One crucial factor is that sf is written in a kind of code ( on top of - and sometimes displacing - all the other codes of writing ) ...
... example of its kind ? Why is sf relished by practised readers or viewers , while others loathe it ? One crucial factor is that sf is written in a kind of code ( on top of - and sometimes displacing - all the other codes of writing ) ...
Page xvi
... Examples of effective sf are displayed against bad or routine material . In Chapter 2 , sf's formal specificities and historical vectors are traced in the light of semiotic analysis of genre . Chapter 3 develops the view that sf is ...
... Examples of effective sf are displayed against bad or routine material . In Chapter 2 , sf's formal specificities and historical vectors are traced in the light of semiotic analysis of genre . Chapter 3 develops the view that sf is ...
Page 4
... example , the ancient Mesopotamian Epic of Gilgamesh , and passing through the non - realistic chapters of various sacred scriptures to Lucian of Samosata's True History ( c . 150 ) , More's Utopia ( 1516 ) , Bacon's New Atlantis ( 1627 ) ...
... example , the ancient Mesopotamian Epic of Gilgamesh , and passing through the non - realistic chapters of various sacred scriptures to Lucian of Samosata's True History ( c . 150 ) , More's Utopia ( 1516 ) , Bacon's New Atlantis ( 1627 ) ...
Page 7
... example of just this is Don DeLillo's White Noise , 19 a novel dealing with industrial and intellectual pollution - hardly sf by contemporary standards . The fifties retro image many people have today of sf , pulp magazine tales of ...
... example of just this is Don DeLillo's White Noise , 19 a novel dealing with industrial and intellectual pollution - hardly sf by contemporary standards . The fifties retro image many people have today of sf , pulp magazine tales of ...
Contents
3 | |
GENERIC ENGINEERING | 21 |
GENRE OR MODE? | 38 |
THE USES OF OTHERNESS | 49 |
READING THE EPISTEME | 64 |
DREAMS OF REASON AND UNREASON | 75 |
THE STARS MY DISSERTATION | 89 |
MAKING UP WORLDS | 103 |
SF AS A MODULAR CALCULUS | 128 |
THE MULTIPLICITY OF WORLDS OF OTHERS | 137 |
THE AUTUMNAL CITY | 153 |
Notes | 159 |
Bibliography | 180 |
xi | 193 |
74 | 195 |
ALLOGRAPHY AND ALLEGORY | 117 |
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Common terms and phrases
Aldiss alien allegory attempts attention become called Chapter character cited close codes cognitive common constituted constructed course critical culture death definition Delany Delany's detail developed discourse discussion dream early effect episteme especially example experience fantasy figure force future genre given human ibid icons images imagination important interesting Intersection invention Jameson John kind language late later least less limits linguistic literary literature Lobey Marxism means mega-text metaphor mode move myth narrative never notes novel object offers once perhaps play position possible postmodern precisely question reader reading reality recent reference relation remains science fiction scientific seems semiotic sense sf's signifiers social space specific Stars story Strange structure tell textual theory things thinking tropes true turn universe volume writing