Classical traditions in science fiction /edited by Brett M. Rogers and Benjamin Eldon Steven.
- Oxford ; New York : Oxford University Press, (c)2015.
- 1 online resource.
- Classical presences .
Includes bibliographies and index.
Introduction: The past is an undiscovered country / Part I: SF's rosy-fingered dawn. The lunar setting of Johannes Kepler's Somnium, science fiction's missing link / Part II: SF "classics". A complex Oedipus : the tragedy of Edward Morbius / Part III: Classics in space. Moral and mortal in Star trek : the original series / Part IV: Ancient classics for a future generation? Revised Iliadic epiphanies in Dan Simmons' Ilium / Suggestions for further reading and viewing / Brett M. Rogers and Benjamin Eldon Stevens -- Dean Swinford ; Lucretius, Lucan, and Mary Shelley's Frankenstein / Jesse Weiner ; Virgil in Jules Verne's Journey to the center of the earth / Benjamin Eldon Stevens ; Mr. Lucian in suburbia : links between the True history and the First men in the moon / Antony Keen -- Gregory S. Bucher ; Walter M. Miller, Jr.'s A canticle for Leibowitz, the great year, and the ages of man / Erik Grayson ; Time and self-referentiality in The Iliad and Frank Herbert's Dune / Joel P. Christensen ; Disability as rhetorical trope in classical myth and Blade runner / Rebecca Raphael -- George Kovacs ; Hybrids and homecomings in The odyssey and Alien resurrection / Brett M. Rogers ; Classical antiquity and western identity in Battlestar Galactica / Vincent Tomasso -- Gaël Grobéty ; Refiguring the Roman Empire in The hunger games trilogy / Marian Makins ; Jonathan Hickman's Pax Romana and the end of antiquity / C.W. Marshall -- Robert W. Cape, Jr.
Annotation For all its concern with change in the present and future, science fiction is deeply rooted in the past and, surprisingly, engages especially deeply with the ancient world. Indeed, both as an area in which the meaning of "classics" is actively transformed and as an open-ended set of texts whose own 'classic' status is a matter of ongoing debate, science fiction reveals much about the roles played by ancient classics in modern times. Classical Traditions in Science Fiction is the first collection dedicated to the rich study of science fiction's classical heritage, offering a much-needed mapping of its cultural and intellectual terrain.This volume discusses a wide variety of representative examples from both classical antiquity and the past four hundred years of science fiction, beginning with science fiction's "rosy-fingered dawn" and moving toward the other-worldly literature of the present day. As it makes its way through the eras of science fiction, Classical Traditions in Science Fiction exposes the many levels on which science fiction engages the ideas of the ancient world, from minute matters of language and structure to the larger thematic and philosophical concerns.
9780199988426 9780190228330
Science fiction, American--History and criticism. Science fiction, English--History and criticism. Science fiction films--History and criticism. Science fiction television programs--History and criticism. Civilization, Ancient, in literature. Classical literature--Influence. Civilization, Ancient--Influences.