Few literary genres can expand the boundaries of our imagination as much as science fiction. The Science Fiction Handbook offers a comprehensive historical survey of literary works of science fiction and its most popular sub-genres. Beginning with a broad overview of science fiction's emergence as a literary genre, the Handbook goes on to provide detailed historical surveys of its distinct sub-genres, whose development often paralleled society's technological advances. These include works of time-travel and alternative history narratives; alien-invasion narratives; space exploration and space opera; post-apocalyptic and post-disaster narratives; works of utopian and dystopian science fiction; feminism and gender themes in science fiction; science fiction as satire; cyberpunk and post-human science fiction; and multicultural science fiction. The authors also offer brief biographies of several noted science fiction writers along with extended critical analyses of 20 of the genre's most significant works.

Leseprobe

Part I: Introduction. Science Fiction in Western Culture. Part II: Brief Historical Surveys of Science Fiction Subgenres. The Time-Travel Invasion. The Alien Invasion Narrative. The Space Opera. Apocalyptic and Post-Disaster Narratives. Dystopian Science Fiction. Utopian Fiction. Feminism, Science Fiction, and Gender. Science Fiction and Satire. Cyberpunk and Posthuman Science Fiction. Multicultural Science Fiction. Part III: Representative Science Fiction Authors. Part IV: Discussions of Individual Texts. Glossary. Selected Bibliography. Index.