Journal of the fantastic in the arts 

About: Journal of the fantastic in the arts is an academic journal. The journal publishes majorly in the area(s): Fantasy & HERO. It has an ISSN identifier of 0897-0521. Over the lifetime, 158 publications have been published receiving 398 citations.

Lives of the Monster Plants: The Revenge of the Vegetable in the Age of Animal Studies

Abstract: "Quid est enim homo secundum formam nisi quedam arbor eversa? [What indeed is man according to his form but a tree turned upside-down?]" --Pope Innocent III, De miseria condicionis humane, 1195 "The vegetable world [...] has its revenges." --Phil Robinson, "The Man-Eating Tree," 1881 (1) A SPECTER IS HAUNTING ANIMAL STUDIES: THE SPECTER OF CELLULOSE. BUT in fact the monster plant is terrorizing quite a bit more than this contemporary critical formation, as the various genres of speculative fiction have all but covered the globe with perilous foliage. We can find man-eating plants hidden away in the Amazon basin, the Himalayas, Southeast Asia, Madagascar, and the dark African interior, yet also in the wilds of Arizona, Carolina swamps, and even the occasional "poorly settled part of England" or skid-row flower shop, as in the many versions of The Little Shop of Horrors. (2) Nor is the natural habitat of the monster plant exclusive to planet Earth, as they thrive in both the secondary worlds of high fantasy and the alien biospheres of far-future science fiction, everywhere from Oz to Middle-earth and Xanth to Barsoom. B-movies, too, have embraced this novel concept for a monster-of-the-week, (3) and the animate plant has also squared off against some of the most famous heroes of serial media franchises, including Doc Savage, Dr. Who, Will Robinson, and Mario. In addressing the question of whence comes this still-ubiquitous vegetable monstrosity and what it means, I hope to set the lives of the monster plants--and through them, the lives of real plants--in dialogue with that strain of posthumanist thought known as critical animal studies, human-animal studies, or simply animal studies. Work done in animal studies over the past several years has done much to advance our thinking about the place of animals not only in literature but also in their real embodied existence alongside our own. (4) Even so, the lack of attention paid to plants in animal studies reveals some of the blind spots of this critical formation, just as surely as animal studies has effectively challenged the "speciesism" inherent in other critical projects. While this paper does not advocate for the development of an independent "plant studies," it will invite further thinking about the implications of taking the word "species" in animal studies a little more literally, as the word so often seems to mean "mammal species" or "animal species": the monster plant may point to a deep unease about the boundary between taxonomic kingdoms that even recent work done in animal studies can have some difficulty navigating. This essay will examine the origins of the modern monstrous plant in the early pulp era and the decades preceding it when the diffusion of Darwinian thought through speculative fiction and its precursors first began, both in order to understand the place of the monster plant in fiction and to propose a place for it in contemporary theoretical discourse. "How to make a human," as Karl Steel has demonstrated in his 2011 book of the same title, has been, historically, to define humanity through and against the concept of the animal, often with negative consequences for real animals. In a recent article, however, Karen Houle has pointed out that plants, by contrast, have not even been granted this dubious place of honor in the definition of the human, resulting in their complete backgrounding in the discourse of humanity and human discourse generally (91-92). As a philosopher deeply engaged with animal studies herself, Houle stresses throughout that, in theory, the posthumanist foundation of animal studies does not exclude plants from equal consideration, but, in practice, work done in this area typically backgrounds them as well. (5) For example, Jeffrey Jerome Cohen, influenced by the speculative turn in critical theory, has recently turned from earlier studies of monsters and animals to undertake a fascinating project examining the "life" of stone; even he, in reaching for what seems "as inhuman a substance as can be found," proceeds directly from animal to mineral, skipping over the vegetable ("Stories of Stone" 58). …

Gordon, Andrew. Empire of Dreams: The Science Fiction and Fantasy Films of Steven Spielberg

Abstract: Gordon, Andrew. Empire of Dreams: The Science Fiction and Fantasy Films of Steven Spielberg. Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc., 2008. 302 pp. Paperback. ISBN 978-0-7425-5578-5. $26.95. Andrew Gordon's Empire of Dreams: The Science Fiction and Fantasy Films of Steven Spielberg is the fourth book to come out on Spielberg's work in as many years, which is both its blessing and its curse. It is a blessing because Gordon is able to draw from the work of Warren Buckland, Lester Friedman, and Nigel Morris, all of whom recently published monographs on Spielberg's films (Buckland's Directed by Steven Spielberg and Friedman's Citizen Spielberg came out in 2006; Morris's The Cinema of Steven Spielberg shortly after, in 2007). As a result, of the four books, Gordon's offers the most comprehensive review of the critical receptions and readings of Spielberg's sf, fantasy, and horror films because he is able to reference the work of the other three scholars. At the same time, Gordon's timing could be seen as a curse: his is the fourth in line, and therefore his book must struggle to tell us something about Spielberg we could not learn from the other three. Indeed, Gordon begins his book in much the way Buckland, Friedman, and Morris begin theirs: as a critical defense of Spielberg against the purple prose of gushy fans, on the one hand, and on the other, marauding bands of critics intent on maligning Spielberg's work as popular and sentimental. Gordon writes, "While most publications about Spielberg provide a fan's eye view of the man and his work, many academic critics dismiss his films as akin to animated cartoons or sentimental greeting cards. I shall treat Spielberg with respect as a major filmmaker" (1). In other words, like Buckland, Friedman, and Morris, Gordon's aim is to take up the Spielberg oeuvre critically yet unapologetically. What separates Gordon's book from the three that immediately preceded it is that it focuses on Spielberg's sf, fantasy, and horror films, and does so through a psychological or psychoanalytical lens. Buckland's book is a methodical analysis of Spielberg's filmmaking techniques; Friedman's a far-reaching, encyclopedic romp through Spielberg's entire oeuvre; and Morris's a careful, sometimes esoteric, psychoanalytic exploration of Spielberg's many films. Gordon's book, on the other hand, is playful and accessible. It is organized chronologically, beginning with Spielberg's earliest horror film, Duel (1971), and proceeding through the 2005 film War of the Worlds. Almost all chapters address each film individually. Despite the linear organization, Gordon manages to provide readings of the films in context; for example, he brings up depictions of manhood in Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977) in the chapter where he discusses Hook (1991). In other words, the book is well structured, but Gordon's themes and explorations remain fluid. They are also accessible, which stems in part from the fact that Gordon frequently inserts himself as a viewer personally and directly in the book. This is both an advantage and a disadvantage. By personalizing the psychological effects of Spielberg's work, Gordon takes psychoanalytical film criticism (which, we should admit, often seems bizarre or impenetrable to the average reader) and casts it as a tool for understanding problems posed by spectatorship. Rather than losing himself or the reader in the complexities of Freudian, Kleinian, or Jungian analyses, Gordon tries to understand his own reactions--positive or negative--to Spielberg's films: "I don't go to many horror movies. When I first saw Jaws in 1975, I was so scared by the opening sequence that I wanted to race out of the theatre in a panic. I hadn't been so terrified by a film since the shower scene in Psycho (1960). Yet I stayed till the end of Jaws. Why did I stay?" (30). Gordon goes on to use Freud (and others) to look for answers to such questions but does so in a way that might be compelling, say, to an undergraduate film student skeptical of psychological readings of film. …

Extraordinary Pasts: Steampunk as a Mode of Historical Representation

Abstract: Introduction The publication of two dedicated anthologies of steampunk short stories (Extraordinary Engines, edited by Nick Gevers, and Steampunk, edited by Ann and Jeff VanderMeer) in 2008 shows that steampunk fiction is alive and well, and far from being an exhausted mode, why have so many of our fantastic writers suddenly found in the last decade or two such a rich imaginative ground in the Victorian era? Certainly there is no simple answer to this question, but I believe that part of the answer lies in examining in detail the ways that steampunk fiction uses and represents history, we are all familiar with arguments that claim that when popular culture represents the past, it often gets it wrong, imposing present-day historicity on a past that serves mostly as a costume party we might look at steampunk as speculative fiction's revenge against such arguments, because steampunk is a fiction that places a premium on minutely accurate historical detail, within flamboyantly wrong imagined pasts, in order to explore the ways in which the conventional historical sensibility sometimes gets it wrong As Jacob burckhardt once said, history is "on every occasion the record of what one age finds worthy of note in another" (171) Steampunk takes this impulse to heart in order to create an imaginative engagement between the present and the past that makes possible a challenge to the totalizing narrative of historical progress Up to now, academic discussion of steampunk fiction (see Clayton, Hantke, spencer, sussman, Tatsumi, and others) has been almost completely confined to discussion of william Gibson and bruce sterling's The Difference Engine, which is certainly a work of immense importance However, general conclusions about the sub-genre have been drawn based on this one text, and its idiosyncrasies have been imputed to the entire movement For example, Jay Clayton's Charles Dickens in Cyberspace, which explores many themes and theories close to the heart of steampunk, uses Gibson and sterling's novel as the sole example from the science fiction sub-genre Clayton condemns the novel on the basis of its gender politics and then gives no further mention of steampunk fiction It seems to me that, while sf writers need to be held accountable for the outdated gender constructs that still seem to plague our plots, this critique is not necessarily relevant to the question of steampunk's historical representation It also seems rather hasty to dismiss all steampunk fiction because of the gender politics of one novel If we look at the range offered by the thirteen stories in Extraordinary Engines, for example, we do not find too many of the damsels in distress or heroic shoot-'em-ups that Clayton justly laments--instead we have outraged and capable women destroying their tormentors ("Lady Witherspoon's Solution"; "Static"; "Machine Maid") and soft-spoken automatons quietly teaching their engineer-mechanics the meaning of heart and heroism ("American Cheetah"; "Steampunch") Clearly, it is a mistake to pass judgment on the role of gender in steampunk based on The Difference Engine alone, (1) and there might be other ways in which our critical perspective on steampunk has been skewed by this narrow focus on the one novel as well So as we turn to the question of assessing steampunk as postmodern historical representation, I want to set aside Gibson and Sterling, and take Gevers's Extraordinary Engines at the word of its jacket copy, and look at it as "The Definitive Steampunk Anthology," or at least consider it as a reasonably good sample of steampunk fiction, from a variety of different authors and approaches I will explore the stories of this anthology comparatively, rather than discussing individual stories in depth, to discover the strategies of historical representation that bring them together That said, four stories stand out for more lengthy treatment: "American Cheetah" by Robert Reed, "Lady Witherspoon's Solution" by James Morrow, "Steampunch" by James Lovegrove, and "Petrolpunk" by Adam Roberts …

Henthorne, Tom. Approaching the Hunger Games Trilogy: A Literary and Cultural Analysis

Abstract: Henthorne, Tom. Approaching The Hunger Games Trilogy: A Literary and Cultural Analysis. Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 2012. 200 pp. Paperback. ISBN: 978-0786468645. $40.00. Pharr, Mary F. and Leisa A. Clark. Of Bread, Blood, and The Hunger Games: Critical Essays on the Suzanne Collins Trilogy. Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 2012. 246 pp. Paperback. ISBN: 978-0786470198. $40.00. As popular excitement extends ever more rapidly to scholarly curiosity, the recent explosion of interest in young adult literature is no longer limited to the production of big-budget movies and record sales of associated merchandise. With many extant essay collections focused on Twilight (2005-2008) and Harry Potter (1997-2007), it is no wonder that Suzanne Collins' The Hunger Games (2008-2010) trilogy now receives similar attention, and two recent books take on that task. Tom Henthorne's Approaching the Hunger Games Trilogy: A Literary and Cultural Analysis provides a single author's multifaceted take on the three novels, while Mary F. Pharr and Leisa A. Clark's Of Bread, Blood and The Hunger Games: Critical Essays on the Suzanne Collins Trilogy collects a variety of essays from professors, graduate students, and writers, each bringing their own approach to the texts. Though significant overlap exists between the two books' approaches and both would benefit from additional explanation and expansion of their claims, Pharr and Clark's larger volume of collected essays effectively discusses the trilogy from multiple perspectives while Henthorne's tighter configuration surprisingly produces a more fragmentary experience. After its preface and introductory materials, Approaching the Hunger Games Trilogy opens with a brief biography of Suzanne Collins and a discussion of the novels' creation, distribution, and reception, establishing interest in the impact of Collins's life on her books. Though this biographical attention recurs periodically, a media studies approach dominates the remainder of the book, with its first chapter, "Make of It What You Will," approaching the novels as part of the young adult literature phenomenon, and its eighth and final chapter, "Make of It What You Will (Remix)," discussing the books as a "digital text" (Henthorne 139). Between these bookends, Henthorne explores a variety of subjects, including transgressive gender presentations in chapter two, war stories and activism in chapter three, pragmatist ethics in chapter four, a return to media studies in chapter five's treatment of reality television, and a discussion of dystopian themes and survivor narratives in chapters six and seven, respectively. The book concludes with three appendices: two providing glossaries for terms and characters in the Hunger Games trilogy and a third offering questions for further study to readers of the trilogy, Collins's previous books, and the recently released film. The inclusion of study questions and the scope of topics under consideration suggest that the text might serve as an introduction to literary studies for trilogy readers unfamiliar with such approaches, and the casual style of Henthorne's prose confirms this. However, the text's short length forces foreshortened exploration of each theory or perspective, impacting the quality of engagement. Each chapter begins with an explanation of a particular concept and then relates it to the Hunger Games trilogy. Nearly every chapter effectively introduces its concepts with clever descriptions of the theoretical concept before exploring its role in the text. For example, in his chapter two discussion of gender roles, Henthorne informs the reader that "[understood in this way, it is easy to see how gender identities can be destabilized and subverted when they are performed in ways other than those prescribed by society" (46), invoking Judith Butler efficiently. He builds on this base to make some very interesting claims about Collins's novels, in particular noting that during Katniss's rise as a tribute, "she quickly learns that performing traditional forms of femininity is essential to her survival, and so she cooperates with Cinna and his team . …