Science Fiction: A Critical Guide A Critical Guide

This book, first published in 1979, presents a portrait of science fiction as a distinct form of serious and creative literature. Contributors are drawn from Britain, America and Europe, and range from well-known academic critics to young novelists. The essays establish the common properties of science fiction writing, and assess the history and significance of a field in which critical judgements have often been unreliable. The material ranges from the earliest imaginative journeys to the moon, to later developments of British, American and European science fiction.

Part 1. Early Landmarks: From the Beginnings to 1900 1. The Literary Background to Science Fiction Mark R. Hillegas 2. Jules Verne: the Last Happy Utopianist Marc Angenot 3. The Science Fiction of H.G. Wells John Huntington Part 2. Two Formative Traditions 4. Utopia and Science Fiction Raymond Williams 5. Science Fiction and the Scientific World-View Patrick Parrinder Part 3. Science Fiction Today: Aspects of a Contemporary Literature 6. The Cold War in Science Fiction, 1940-1960 T.A. Shippey 7. Science Fiction, Religion and Transcendence Tom Woodman 8. Characterisation in Science Fiction: Two Approaches 8.1. The Disappearance of Character Scott Sanders 8.2. The Alien Encounter: or Mrs Brown and Mrs Le Guin Patrick Parrinder 9. American Science Fiction Since 1960 J.A. Sutherland 10. British Science Fiction Christopher Priest 11. European Science Fiction Franz Rottensteiner

Patrick Parrinder