Carl Freedman | |
---|---|
Born | 1951 (age 71–72) North Carolina, U.S. |
Occupation | Writer, academic |
Notable works | Critical Theory and Science Fiction (2000) |
Notable awards | Pilgrim Award (2018) |
Title | William A. Read Professor of English Literature |
Academic background | |
Alma mater | Yale University |
Academic work | |
Institutions | Louisiana State University |
Website | www |
Carl Howard Freedman (born 1951) is an American writer,literary theorist and professor of English literature at Louisiana State University. He is best known for the non-fiction book Critical Theory and Science Fiction,and his scholarly work on the writer Philip K. Dick. Freedman's other works include a series of books on Isaac Asimov,Ursula K. Le Guin and Samuel R. Delany,and several essays and a book on China Miéville. In 2018,he won the Pilgrim Award for lifetime contribution to science fiction and fantasy scholarship.
Carl Freedman was born in North Carolina in 1951. [1] He received his BA in English from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Oxford University,and his PhD from Yale University. [2] He is currently the William A. Read Professor of English literature at Louisiana State University,where he was named a distinguished research master in 2013. [3] [4]
Freedman's most highly cited work is his 2000 book,Critical Theory and Science Fiction, [1] where he examines the analytical potential of SF. He places science fiction above all other genres in terms of "historical concreteness and rigorous self-reflectiveness", [5] and thus as the most sound genre for academic study. [6] The book focuses on novels from five authors: [7]
It presents the case that the above works constitute the "aesthetic and political core" of SF (per Gerlach and Hamilton). [8] Freedman employs the notion of science fiction as "cognitive estrangement",an idea popularized by academic Darko Suvin. [9] [10] This has been described as a Marxist and utopian approach to SF:by placing readers in a world different from their own,it challenges them to imagine alternatives to the status quo. [11] [1]
Freedman is also known for his essays on the writer Philip K. Dick, [1] where he studies the prevalence of paranoia in Dick's works. [12] His Literary Conversations series of books (2005–09) contain extended interviews with Isaac Asimov,Ursula K. Le Guin,and Samuel R. Delany. [1] Freedman has also authored essays on Marxism and China Miéville. His 2015 book,Art and Idea in the Novels of China Miéville,studies six of his novels: King Rat ;the three Bas-Lag books, Perdido Street Station , The Scar and Iron Council ; The City and the City ;and Embassytown . It has been described as "essential reading" for discussion of Miéville's work. [13] [14]
Other writers that have been the subject of Freedman's work include Robert A. Heinlein and Kim Stanley Robinson,with focus on their authorship of utopian SF. Freedman has also written books on U.S. electoral politics,and on film. [1]
Freedman received the 1999 Pioneer Award for Excellence in Scholarship for his essay "Kubrick's 2001 and the Possibility of a Science-Fiction Cinema". In 2018,he was awarded the Pilgrim Award for Lifetime Achievement by the Science Fiction Research Association. [15]
Feminist science fiction is a subgenre of science fiction focused on such feminist themes as:gender inequality,sexuality,race,economics,reproduction,and environment. Feminist SF is political because of its tendency to critique the dominant culture. Some of the most notable feminist science fiction works have illustrated these themes using utopias to explore a society in which gender differences or gender power imbalances do not exist,or dystopias to explore worlds in which gender inequalities are intensified,thus asserting a need for feminist work to continue.
Science fiction and fantasy serve as important vehicles for feminist thought,particularly as bridges between theory and practice. No other genres so actively invite representations of the ultimate goals of feminism:worlds free of sexism,worlds in which women's contributions are recognized and valued,worlds that explore the diversity of women's desire and sexuality,and worlds that move beyond gender.
Joanna Russ was an American writer,academic and feminist. She is the author of a number of works of science fiction,fantasy and feminist literary criticism such as How to Suppress Women's Writing,as well as a contemporary novel,On Strike Against God,and one children's book,Kittatinny. She is best known for The Female Man,a novel combining utopian fiction and satire,and the story "When It Changed".
Science fiction is a genre of speculative fiction,which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology,space exploration,time travel,parallel universes,and extraterrestrial life. Science fiction can trace its roots to ancient mythology. It is related to fantasy,horror,and superhero fiction and contains many subgenres. Its exact definition has long been disputed among authors,critics,scholars,and readers.
The New Wave was a science fiction (SF) style of the 1960s and 1970s,characterized by a great degree of experimentation with the form and content of stories,greater imitation of the styles of trendy non-science fiction literature,and an emphasis on the psychological and social sciences as opposed to the physical sciences. New Wave authors often considered themselves as part of the modernist tradition of fiction,and the New Wave was conceived as a deliberate change from the traditions of the science fiction characteristic of pulp magazines,which many of the writers involved considered irrelevant or unambitious.
Ursula Kroeber Le Guin was an American author best known for her works of speculative fiction,including science fiction works set in her Hainish universe,and the Earthsea fantasy series. She was first published in 1959,and her literary career spanned nearly sixty years,producing more than twenty novels and over a hundred short stories,in addition to poetry,literary criticism,translations,and children's books. Frequently described as an author of science fiction,Le Guin has also been called a "major voice in American Letters". Le Guin said she would prefer to be known as an "American novelist".
The Dispossessed is a 1974 anarchist utopian science fiction novel by American writer Ursula K. Le Guin,one of her seven Hainish Cycle novels. It is one of a small number of books to win all three Hugo,Locus and Nebula Awards for Best Novel. It achieved a degree of literary recognition unusual for science fiction due to its exploration of themes such as anarchism and revolutionary societies,capitalism,utopia,and individualism and collectivism.
China Tom Miéville is a British speculative fiction writer and literary critic. He often describes his work as weird fiction and is allied to the loosely associated movement of writers called New Weird.
The Pilgrim Award is presented by the Science Fiction Research Association for Lifetime Achievement in the field of science fiction scholarship. It was created in 1970 and was named after J. O. Bailey’s pioneering book Pilgrims Through Space and Time. Fittingly,the first award was presented to Bailey.
The Lathe of Heaven is a 1971 science fiction novel by American writer Ursula K. Le Guin. The plot concerns a character whose dreams alter past and present reality. The story was serialized in the American science fiction magazine Amazing Stories. The novel received nominations for the 1972 Hugo and the 1971 Nebula Award,and won the Locus Award for Best Novel in 1972. Two television film adaptations were released:the PBS production,The Lathe of Heaven (1980),and Lathe of Heaven (2002),a remake produced by the A&E Network.
Brian Attebery is an American writer and emeritus professor of English and philosophy at Idaho State University. He is known for his studies of fantasy literature,including The Fantasy Tradition in American Literature:From Irving to Le Guin (1980) and Strategies of Fantasy (1992) which won the Mythopoeic Award. Attebery is also editor of the Journal of the Fantastic in the Arts,for which he received the World Fantasy Award in 2021. He has also won the IAFA Award for distinguished scholarship and the Pilgrim Award for lifetime achievement.
Gender has been an important theme explored in speculative fiction. The genres that make up speculative fiction (SF),science fiction,fantasy,supernatural fiction,horror,superhero fiction,science fantasy and related genres,have always offered the opportunity for writers to explore social conventions,including gender,gender roles,and beliefs about gender. Like all literary forms,the science fiction genre reflects the popular perceptions of the eras in which individual creators were writing;and those creators' responses to gender stereotypes and gender roles.
Science fiction studies is the common name for the academic discipline that studies and researches the history,culture,and works of science fiction and,more broadly,speculative fiction.
The role of women in speculative fiction has changed a great deal since the early to mid-20th century. There are several aspects to women's roles,including their participation as authors of speculative fiction and their role in science fiction fandom. Regarding authorship,in 1948,10–15% of science fiction writers were female. Women's role in speculative fiction has grown since then,and in 1999,women comprised 36% of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America's professional members. Frankenstein (1818) by Mary Shelley has been called the first science fiction novel,although women wrote utopian novels even before that,with Margaret Cavendish publishing the first in the seventeenth century. Early published fantasy was written by and for any gender. However,speculative fiction,with science fiction in particular,has traditionally been viewed as a male-oriented genre.
Ursula K. Le Guin (1929–2018) was an American author of speculative fiction,realistic fiction,non-fiction,screenplays,librettos,essays,poetry,speeches,translations,literary critiques,chapbooks,and children's fiction. She was primarily known for her works of speculative fiction. These include works set in the fictional world of Earthsea,stories in the Hainish Cycle,and standalone novels and short stories. Though frequently referred to as an author of science fiction,critics have described her work as being difficult to classify.
Embassytown is a science fiction novel by British author China Miéville. It was published in the UK by Pan Macmillan on 6 May 2011,and in the US by Del Rey Books on 17 May 2011. A limited edition was released by Subterranean Press. The plot of the novel surrounds the town of Embassytown,the native alien residents known as Ariekei,their Language,and the human interaction with them. The novel was well reviewed and won the 2012 Locus Award for Best Science Fiction Novel.
The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to science fiction:
"The Matter of Seggri" is a science fiction novelette by American writer Ursula K. Le Guin. It was first published in 1994 in the third issue of Crank!,a science fiction –fantasy anthology,and has since been printed in number of other publications. In 2002,it was published in Le Guin's collection of short stories The Birthday of the World:and Other Stories. "The Matter of Seggri" won the James Tiptree Jr. Award in 1994 for exploring "gender-bending" and has been nominated for other honors including the Nebula Award.
Thomas Patrick Moylan is an American-Irish academic,literary and cultural critic,Professor Emeritus in the Department of Language,Literature,Communication and Culture at the University of Limerick. Moylan's academic interests are in utopian studies and critical theory,science fiction studies,cultural studies,American studies,and Irish studies.
More Women of Wonder:Science Fiction Novelettes by Women About Women is an anthology of five novelettes and two short stories edited by Pamela Sargent. It was published in 1976. The collection reprints work by female science fiction authors originally published from 1935 to 1974,arranged in chronological order.