The Cambridge Companion to American Science Fiction (Cambridge Companions to Literature) by Gerry Canavan (PDF)

Description

The Cambridge Companion to American Science Fiction explores the relationship between the ideas and themes of American science fiction and their roots in the American cultural experience. Science fiction in America has long served to reflect the country’s hopes, desires, ambitions, and fears. The ideas and conventions associated with science fiction are pervasive throughout American film and television, comics and visual arts, games and gaming, and fandom, as well as across the culture writ large. Through essays that address not only the history of science fiction in America but also the influence and significance of American science fiction throughout media and fan culture, this companion serves as a key resource for scholars, teachers, students, and fans of science fiction.

User’s Reviews

Reviews from Amazon users which were colected at the time this book was published on the website:

⭐A very good job by these two editors.Disclosure: I was unaware of this when I bought the book but I am heavily acknowledged in the introduction. This book is positioned as a companion to my own Cambridge Companion to Science Fiction.The Cambridge Companion to American Science Fiction is a valuable if sometimes eccentric addition to the bookshelf. First, it’s actually rather useful to have a companion unabashedly about the American tradition. All too often the American tradition masquerades as the entire world of sf so to have it considered as a national literature is rather excellent.Unlike the Companion to Science Fiction, which is a very straightforward book aiming to capture what was at the time (2004) a fairly clear consensus of the key ideas about the field (now fracturing in interesting ways), this book aims rather more to provide thought provoking angles of approach and succeeds best precisely where the authors follow that rubric. Although there are a couple of rocky moments chapters all are worth reading.The most problematic chapter is Gary Westfahl’s The Mightiest Machine: the Development of American Science Fiction from the 1920s to the 1960s. This is completely factually accurate, devoid of social, economic or political context, and is best described as a Patriotic History of American Science Fiction. Westfahl appears unaware of such issues as the paper shortage in Europe after the war, the shipping of pulp as ballast, or the very very many US writers who have never been heard of in Europe. His wild assertion that US sf was “the best” is very dubious (particularly as the classic citation of the “Big Three” is Asimov, Heinlein and Clarke, which in terms of population size means one Brit carries effectively far more weight than any American). But for all that it’s entertaining.I’d also note that Rob Latham seems unaware of the publishing history of British science fiction and its approved presence on the English curriculum for many decades in his essay on slipstream, but this, and the labelling of Nalo Hopkinson as American in Lisa Yaszek’s essay on Afro Futurism, are minor blips in otherwise excellent essays.I particularly liked Mark Bould’s essay on American Utopias, Priscilla Wald’s on Science, Technology and the Environment and John Reider’s on the American Frontier. Overall a really interesting approach to this kind of Companion, very different to the original Companion to Science Fiction (or it’s planned sequel—yes folks, that’s a plug for 2017) and very useful for teaching or just for the enthusiast.

⭐A very good job by these two editors.Disclosure: I was unaware of this when I bought the book but I am heavily acknowledged in the introduction. This book is positioned as a companion to my own Cambridge Companion to Science Fiction.The Cambridge Companion to American Science Fiction is a valuable if sometimes eccentric addition to the bookshelf. First, it’s actually rather useful to have a companion unabashedly about the American tradition. All too often the American tradition masquerades as the entire world of sf so to have it considered as a national literature is rather excellent.Unlike the Companion to Science Fiction, which is a very straightforward book aiming to capture what was at the time (2004) a fairly clear consensus of the key ideas about the field (now fracturing in interesting ways), this book aims rather more to provide thought provoking angles of approach and succeeds best precisely where the authors follow that rubric. Although there are a couple of rocky moments chapters all are worth reading.The most problematic chapter is Gary Westfahl’s The Mightiest Machine: the Development of American Science Fiction from the 1920s to the 1960s. This is completely factually accurate, devoid of social, economic or political context, and is best described as a Patriotic History of American Science Fiction. Westfahl appears unaware of such issues as the paper shortage in Europe after the war, the shipping of pulp as ballast, or the very very many US writers who have never been heard of in Europe. His wild assertion that US sf was “the best” is very dubious (particularly as the classic citation of the “Big Three” is Asimov, Heinlein and Clarke, which in terms of population size means one Brit carries effectively far more weight than any American). But for all that it’s entertaining.I’d also note that Rob Latham seems unaware of the publishing history of British science fiction and its approved presence on the English curriculum for many decades in his essay on slipstream, but this, and the labelling of Nalo Hopkinson as American in Lisa Yaszek’s essay on Afro Futurism, are minor blips in otherwise excellent essays.I particularly liked Mark Bould’s essay on American Utopias, Priscilla Wald’s on Science, Technology and the Environment and John Reider’s on the American Frontier. Overall a really interesting approach to this kind of Companion, very different to the original Companion to Science Fiction (or its planned sequel—yes folks, that’s a plug for 2017) and very useful for teaching or just for the enthusiast.

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