Science Fiction and Empire

Patricia Kerslake

doi:10.5949/UPO9781846314018

This book is about the human desire to experiment with empire. In the past it was done with real soldiers and expeditions and slaves and trade and misery and force. In the future it will be done with generation ships and off-world pioneers, robots and invasion, electronic sheep and people who just dont want to be pushed around any more. Beginning with a discussion of who we are (hopefully, the good guys) and who they are (anyone who isnt us), this narrative scans the lights of science fiction looking at the places where humans try to touch a variety of futures. Is SF designed to purge our dark imperialistic fantasies, or is it a laboratory of mind-experiments: carefully considered trials of political, social and economic scenarios? Which tomorrow are we more likely to accept where the blood of empire is red or read ? Examining such classic SF texts as Lasswitzs Two Planets and Wells The War of the Worlds, this book investigates Asimovs Robots and Heinleins Moon, as well as Robinsons Mars and Banks postcolonial Culture. We see the rise-and-fall of empire through the eyes of Miller, Clarke and Wyndham, and the apparently inevitable failure of the imperial project as discussed in Solaris, The Dispossessed and The Forever War. This book offers an insight into the darkest power abuses of mankind; where the oppression, silencing and marginalisation of those who are not-us continues and flourishes. Who are the monsters of our future the Others invading from another planet, or the unseen and unrecognised Other within?

- Aa Reduce text
- Aa Enlarge text

View selected items
Save to my bookmarks
Export citations
Download PDF (zip)
Save to Kindle
Save to Dropbox
Save to Google Drive
Save content to
To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to .

To save content items to your Kindle, first ensure no-reply@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Please be advised that item(s) you selected are not available.
You are about to save
Your Kindle email address

Please provide your Kindle email.

@free.kindle.com @kindle.com (service fees apply)

By using this service, you agree that you will only keep content for personal use, and will not openly distribute them via Dropbox, Google Drive or other file sharing services

Metrics

Total number of HTML views: 0

Total number of PDF views: 0 *

Loading metrics...

Total views: 0 *

Loading metrics...

* Views captured on Cambridge Core between #date#. This data will be updated every 24 hours.

Usage data cannot currently be displayed.

Why this information is here

This section outlines the accessibility features of this content - including support for screen readers, full keyboard navigation and high-contrast display options. This may not be relevant for you.

Accessibility Information

Accessibility compliance for the PDF of this book is currently unknown and may be updated in the future.

Science Fiction and Empire

This Book has been cited by the following publications. This list is generated based on data provided by Crossref.

Book description

Refine List

Actions for selected content:

Contents

Frontmatter
pp i-iv

Contents
pp v-v

Introduction
pp 1-7

1 - The Self and Representations of the Other in Science Fiction
pp 8-24

2 - Resistance Is Futile: Silencing and Cultural Appropriation
pp 25-42

3 - The Word for World Is Forest: Metaphor and Empire in Science Fiction
pp 43-62

4 - Things Fall Apart: Relativity, Distance and the Periphery
pp 63-82

5 - Moments of Empire: Perceptions of Lasswitz and Wells
pp 83-104

6 - Exoticising the Future: American Greats
pp 105-126

7 - The Shape of Things to Come: Homo futuris and the Imperial Project
pp 127-145

8 - A Postcolonial Imagination: Kim Stanley Robinson's Mars
pp 146-167

9 - Beyond Empire: Meta-empire and Postcoloniality
pp 168-187

Conclusion
pp 188-192

Notes
pp 193-205

Bibliography
pp 206-213

Index
pp 214-217

Metrics

Full text views

Book summary page views

Accessibility standard: Unknown

Why this information is here

Accessibility Information

Science Fiction and Empire

Book description

Refine List

Actions for selected content:

Save Search

Contents

Metrics

Full text views

Book summary page views

Accessibility standard: Unknown

Why this information is here

Accessibility Information