Description

This wide-ranging volume explores the various dialogues that flourish between different aspects of science fiction: academics and fans, writers and readers; ideological stances and national styles; different interpretations of the genre; and how language and ‘voices’ are used in constructing SF. Introduced by the acclaimed novelist Brian W. Aldiss, the essays range from studies of writers such as Robert A. Heinlein, who are considered as the ‘heart’ of the genre, to more contemporary writers such as Jack Womack and J. G. Ballard. Speaking Science Fiction: Introduction – Brian W. Aldiss Who Speaks Science Fiction? – Andy Sawyer Science Fiction Dialogues – David Seed Speaking of Homeplace, Speaking from Someplace – Candas Jane Dorsey Speaking Science Fiction – Out of Anxiety? – Josef Nesvadba Science Fiction as Language: Postmodern and Mainstream: Some Reflections – José Manuel Mota ‘Fantastic Dialogues’: Critical Stories about Feminism and Science Fiction – Helen Merrick Vicissitudes of the Voice, Speaking Science Fiction – Roger Luckhurst ‘A Language of the Future’: Discursive Constructions of the Subject in A Clockwork Orange and Random Acts of Senseless Violence – Veronica Hollinger Speaking the Body: The Embodiment of ‘Feminist’ Cyberpunk – Bronwen Calvert and Sue Walsh Bodies that Speak Science Fiction: Stelarc – Performance Artist ‘Becoming Posthuman’ – Ross Farnell Science Fiction and the Gender of Knowledge – Brian Attebery Corporatism and the Corporate Ethos in Robert Heinlein’s ‘The Roads Must Roll’ – Farah Mendlesohn Convention and Displacement: Narrator, Narratee, and Virtual Reader in Science Fiction – Danièle Chatelain and George Slusser Aphasia and Mother Tongue: Themes of Language Creation and Silence in Women’s Science Fiction – Nickianne Moody ‘My Particular Virus’: (Re-)Reading Jack Womack’s Dryco Chronicles – Andrew M. Butler Aliens in the Fourth Dimension – Gwyneth Jones Freefall in Inner Space: From Crash to Crash Technology – Simon Sellars Notes on Contributors Index Speaking Science Fiction: Introduction – Brian W. Aldiss Who Speaks Science Fiction? – Andy Sawyer Science Fiction Dialogues – David Seed Speaking of Homeplace, Speaking from Someplace – Candas Jane Dorsey Speaking Science Fiction – Out of Anxiety? – Josef Nesvadba Science Fiction as Language: Postmodern and Mainstream: Some Reflections – José Manuel Mota ‘Fantastic Dialogues’: Critical Stories about Feminism and Science Fiction – Helen Merrick Vicissitudes of the Voice, Speaking Science Fiction – Roger Luckhurst ‘A Language of the Future’: Discursive Constructions of the Subject in A Clockwork Orange and Random Acts of Senseless Violence – Veronica Hollinger Speaking the Body: The Embodiment of ‘Feminist’ Cyberpunk – Bronwen Calvert and Sue Walsh Bodies that Speak Science Fiction: Stelarc – Performance Artist ‘Becoming Posthuman’ – Ross Farnell Science Fiction and the Gender of Knowledge – Brian Attebery Corporatism and the Corporate Ethos in Robert Heinlein’s ‘The Roads Must Roll’ – Farah Mendlesohn Convention and Displacement: Narrator, Narratee, and Virtual Reader in Science Fiction – Danièle Chatelain and George Slusser Aphasia and Mother Tongue: Themes of Language Creation and Silence in Women’s Science Fiction – Nickianne Moody ‘My Particular Virus’: (Re-)Reading Jack Womack’s Dryco Chronicles – Andrew M. Butler Aliens in the Fourth Dimension – Gwyneth Jones Freefall in Inner Space: From Crash to Crash Technology – Simon Sellars Notes on Contr