Science Fiction: A Very Short Introduction

161 Pages·2011·3.13 MB·English

by  David Seed

Science Fiction: A Very Short Introduction
VERYSHORTINTRODUCTIONS areforanyonewantingastimulating
andaccessiblewayintoanewsubject.Theyarewrittenbyexperts,and
havebeenpublishedinmorethan25languagesworldwide.
Theseriesbeganin1995,andnowrepresentsawidevarietyoftopicsin
history,philosophy,religion,science,andthehumanities.TheVSILibrarynow
containsover200volumes—aVeryShortIntroductiontoeverythingfrom
ancientEgyptandIndianphilosophytoconceptualartandcosmology—and
willcontinuetogrowtoalibraryofaround300titles.
VeryShortIntroductionsavailablenow:
ADVERTISING WinstonFletcher BIOGRAPHY HermioneLee
AFRICANHISTORY THEBLUES ElijahWald
JohnParkerandRichardRathbone THEBOOKOFMORMON
AGNOSTICISM RobinLePoidevin TerrylGivens
AMERICANPOLITICALPARTIES THEBRAIN MichaelO’Shea
ANDELECTIONS L.SandyMaisel BRITISHPOLITICS AnthonyWright
THEAMERICANPRESIDENCY
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CharlesO.Jones
ANARCHISM ColinWard BUDDHISM DamienKeown
ANCIENTEGYPT IanShaw BUDDHISTETHICS DamienKeown
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ANCIENTWARFARE CAPITALISM JamesFulcher
HarrySidebottom CATHOLICISM GeraldO’Collins
ANGLICANISM MarkChapman THECELTS Barry Cunliffe
THEANGLO-SAXONAGE CHAOS LeonardSmith
JohnBlair CHOICETHEORY MichaelAllingham
ANIMALRIGHTS DavidDeGrazia CHRISTIANART BethWilliamson
ANTISEMITISM StevenBeller CHRISTIANethics D.StephenLong
THEAPOCRYPHALGOSPELS
CHRISTIANITY LindaWoodhead
PaulFoster
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HelenMorales
ARISTOCRACY WilliamDoyle
CLASSICS
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ARTHISTORY DanaArnold CLAUSEWITZ MichaelHoward
ARTTHEORY CynthiaFreeland THECOLDWAR RobertMcMahon
ATHEISM JulianBaggini COMMUNISM LeslieHolmes
AUGUSTINE HenryChadwick CONSCIOUSNESS SusanBlackmore
AUTISM UtaFrith CONTEMPORARYART
BARTHES JonathanCuller JulianStallabrass
Beauty RogerScruton CONTINENTALPHILOSOPHY
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BIBLICALARCHAEOLOGY Criticaltheory
EricH.Cline StephenBronner
THECRUSADES FolkMusic MarkSlobin
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CRYPTOGRAPHY DavidCanter
FredPiperandSeanMurphy FORENSICSCIENCE JimFraser
DADAANDSURREALISM FOSSILS KeithThomson
DavidHopkins FOUCAULT GaryGutting
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THEDEADSEASCROLLS
FREEWILL ThomasPink
TimothyLim
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DEMOCRACY BernardCrick
THEFRENCHREVOLUTION
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WilliamDoyle
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PatriciaAufderheide
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EIGHTEENTH-CENTURYBRITAIN GERMANPHILOSOPHY
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EPIDEMIOLOGY RoldolfoSaracci HABERMAS
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BrianandDeborahCharlesworth HINDUISM KimKnott
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FASCISM KevinPassmore THEHISTORYOFASTRONOMY
FASHION RebeccaArnold MichaelHoskin
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THEFIRSTWORLDWAR THEHISTORYOFMEDICINE
MichaelHoward WilliamBynum
THEHISTORYOFTIME LOGIC GrahamPriest
LeofrancHolford-Strevens MACHIAVELLI QuentinSkinner
HIV/AIDS AlanWhiteside THEMARQUISDESADE
HOBBES RichardTuck JohnPhillips
HUMANEVOLUTION MARX PeterSinger
BernardWood MARTINLUTHER
HUMANRIGHTS AndrewClapham ScottH.Hendrix
HUMANism StephenLaw MATHEMATICS TimothyGowers
HUME A.J.Ayer THEMEANINGOFLIFE
IDEOLOGY MichaelFreeden TerryEagleton
INDIANPHILOSOPHY MEDICALETHICS TonyHope
SueHamilton MEDIEVALBRITAIN
INFORMATION LucianoFloridi JohnGillinghamand
INNOVATION RalphA.Griffiths
MarkDodgsonandDavidGann MEMORY JonathanK.Foster
INTELLIGENCE IanJ.Deary MICHAELFARADAY
INTERNATIONALMIGRATION FrankA.J.L.James
KhalidKoser MODERNART DavidCottington
INTERNATIONALRELATIONS MODERNCHINA RanaMitter
PaulWilkinson MODERNIRELAND SeniaPaˇseta
ISLAM MaliseRuthven MODERNJAPAN
ISLAMICHISTORY ChristopherGoto-Jones
AdamSilverstein MODERNISM ChristopherButler
JOURNALISM IanHargreaves MOLECULES PhilipBall
JUDAISM NormanSolomon MORMONISM
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KABBALAH JosephDan Muhammad JonathanA.C.Brown
KAFKA RitchieRobertson MUSIC NicholasCook
KANT RogerScruton MYTH RobertA.Segal
KEYNES RobertSkidelsky NATIONALISM StevenGrosby
KIERKEGAARD PatrickGardiner NELSONMANDELA
THEKORAN MichaelCook EllekeBoehmer
landscapesand NEOLIBERALISM
geomorphology ManfredStegerandRaviRoy
AndrewGoudieandHeatherViles THENEWTESTAMENT
LateAntiquity GillianClark LukeTimothyJohnson
LAW RaymondWacks THENEWTESTAMENTAS
LITERATURE KyleKeefer
THELAWSOFTHERMODYNAMICS
PeterAtkins NEWTON RobertIliffe
LEADERSHIP KeithGrint NIETZSCHE MichaelTanner
LINCOLN AllenC.Guelzo NINETEENTH-CENTURYBRITAIN
ChristopherHarvieand
LINGUISTICS PeterMatthews
H.C.G.Matthew
LITERARYTHEORY JonathanCuller
THENORMANCONQUEST
LOCKE JohnDunn GeorgeGarnett
NORTHAMERICANINDIANS RACISM AliRattansi
ThedaPerdueand THEREAGANREVOLUTION GilTroy
MichaelD.Green THEREFORMATION
NORTHERNIRELAND PeterMarshall
MarcMulholland RELATIVITY RussellStannard
NOTHING FrankClose RELIGIONINAMERICA
NuclearPower MaxwellIrvine TimothyBeal
NUCLEARWEAPONS THERENAISSANCE JerryBrotton
JosephM.Siracusa RENAISSANCEART
Numbers PeterM.Higgins GeraldineA.Johnson
THEOLDTESTAMENT RISK BaruchFischhoffand
MichaelD.Coogan JohnKadvany
Organizations MaryJoHatch ROMANBRITAIN PeterSalway
PAGANISM OwenDavies THEROMANEMPIRE
PARTICLEPHYSICS FrankClose ChristopherKelly
PAUL E.P.Sanders ROMANTICISM MichaelFerber
Pentecostalism WilliamK.Kay ROUSSEAU RobertWokler
PHILOSOPHY EdwardCraig RUSSELL A.C.Grayling
PHILOSOPHYOFLAW RUSSIANLITERATURE
RaymondWacks CatrionaKelly
PHILOSOPHYOFSCIENCE THERUSSIANREVOLUTION
SamirOkasha S.A.Smith
PHOTOGRAPHY SteveEdwards SCHIZOPHRENIA
PLANETS DavidA.Rothery ChrisFrithandEveJohnstone
PLATO JuliaAnnas SCHOPENHAUER
POLITICALPHILOSOPHY ChristopherJanaway
DavidMiller SCIENCEANDRELIGION
POLITICS KennethMinogue ThomasDixon
POSTCOLONIALISM RobertYoung SCiencefiction DavidSeed
POSTMODERNISM TheScientificRevolution
ChristopherButler LawrenceM.Principe
POSTSTRUCTURALISM SCOTLAND RabHouston
CatherineBelsey SEXUALITY Ve´roniqueMottier
PREHISTORY ChrisGosden SHAKESPEARE GermaineGreer
PRESOCRATICPHILOSOPHY SIKHISM EleanorNesbitt
CatherineOsborne SOCIALANDCULTURAL
PRIVACY RaymondWacks ANTHROPOLOGY
PROGRESSIVISM WalterNugent JohnMonaghanandPeterJust
PSYCHIATRY TomBurns SOCIALISM MichaelNewman
PSYCHOLOGY SOCIOLOGY SteveBruce
GillianButlerand FredaMcManus SOCRATES C.C.W.Taylor
PURITANISM FrancisJ.Bremer THESOVIETUNION
THEQUAKERS PinkDandelion StephenLovell
QUANTUMTHEORY THESPANISHCIVILWAR
JohnPolkinghorne HelenGraham
SPANISHLITERATURE JoLabanyi THEUNITEDNATIONS
SPINOZA RogerScruton JussiM.Hanhima¨ki
STATISTICS DavidJ.Hand THEU.S.CONGRESS
STUARTBRITAIN JohnMorrill DonaldA.Ritchie
SUPERCONDUCTIVITY UTOPIANISM
StephenBlundell LymanTowerSargent
TERRORISM CharlesTownshend THEVIKINGS JulianRichards
THEOLOGY DavidF.Ford WITCHCRAFT MalcolmGaskill
THOMASAQUINAS FergusKerr WITTGENSTEIN A.C.Grayling
TOCQUEVILLE HarveyC.Mansfield WORLDMUSIC PhilipBohlman
TRAGEDY AdrianPoole THEWORLDTRADE
ORGANIZATION AmritaNarlikar
THETUDORS JohnGuy
WRITINGANDSCRIPT
TWENTIETH-CENTURYBRITAIN
AndrewRobinson
KennethO.Morgan
Availablesoon:
Conscience PaulStrohm Viruses DorothyH.Crawford
Herodotus JenniferT.Roberts Dictionaries
Jesus RichardBauckham LyndaMugglestone
Formoreinformationvisitourwebsite
www.oup.com/vsi/
David Seed
Science Fiction
A Very Short Introduction
1
3
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ISBN 978–0–19–955745–5
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Contents
Listofillustrations xi
Introduction 1
1 Voyagesintospace 6
2 Alienencounters 27
3 Sciencefictionandtechnology 47
4 Utopiasanddystopias 73
5 Fictionsoftime 97
6 Thefieldofsciencefiction 117
Furtherreading 131
Index 137