The Dreadful Credibility of Absurd Things: A Tendency in Fantasy Theory
TL;DR: Although it is unclear whether, by ‘fantasy,’ Butler intended a narrow denition (generic fantasy, i.e., imitation Tolkien heroic or epic fantasy and sword ’n’ sorcery) or a broad denition as mentioned in this paper, such statistics nonethless make the need for a Marxist theory or preferably, Marxist theories of the fantastic selfevident.
Abstract: Although it is unclear whether, by ‘fantasy’, Butler intends a narrow denition (generic fantasy, i.e., imitation Tolkien heroic or epic fantasy and sword ’n’ sorcery) or a broad denition (the fantastic genres, i.e., generic fantasy, sf (science ction), horror, supernatural gothic, magic realism, etc.), such statistics nonethless make the need for a Marxist theory – or preferably, Marxist theories – of the fantastic selfevident. The last twenty or thirty years have witnessed a remarkable expansion in the study of fantastic texts and genres. Literary studies has embraced the gothic, fairy tales and sf, and screen studies has developed a complex critique of horror and is now beginning
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2,171 citations
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01 Jan 2008
TL;DR: A major critical work from a senior scholar of science fiction as discussed by the authors describes science fiction as a constellation of seven diverse modes of awareness, which frame experiences as if they were aspects of the science fiction, i.e., fictive neology, fictive novums, future history, imaginary science, science-fictional sublime, the sciencefictional grotesque, and the Technologiade.
Abstract: This is a major critical work from a senior scholar of science fiction.Technoscience impacts every aspect of daily life, and science fiction has become an essential part of everyday imagining. Films, art, music, video and computer games, and non-genre fiction have become what Csicsery-Ronay calls science fictional, stimulating science-fictional habits of mind. He describes science fiction as a constellation of seven diverse mode of awareness, which frame experiences as if they were aspects of science fiction. These are the "seven beauties" of the title: fictive neology, fictive novums, future history, imaginary science, the science-fictional sublime, the science-fictional grotesque, and the Technologiade, or the epic of technoscience's development into a global regime.
122 citations
Book•
01 Jan 1995
TL;DR: A TURTLE WHICH EXPLORER CAPTAIN COOK GAVE TO THE KING OF TONGA IN 1777 DIED YESTERDAY. It was NEARLY 200 YEARS OLD as mentioned in this paper.
Abstract: A TURTLE WHICH EXPLORER CAPTAIN COOK GAVE TO THE KING OF TONGA IN 1777 DIED YESTERDAY. IT WAS NEARLY 200 YEARS OLD. THE ANIMAL, CALLED TU'IMALILA, DIED AT THE ROYAL PALACE GROUND IN THE TONGAN CAPITAL OF NUKU, ALOFA. THE PEOPLE OF TONGA REGARDED THE ANIMAL AS A CHIEF AND SPECIAL KEEPERS WERE APPOINTED TO LOOK AFTER IT. IT WAS BLINDED IN A BUSH FIRE A FEW YEARS AGO. TONGA RADIO SAID TU'IMALILA'S CARCASS WOULD BE SENT TO THE AUCKLAND MUSEUM IN NEW ZEALAND.
97 citations
Dissertation•
01 Jan 2016
TL;DR: The authors compare contemporary anglophone and francophone rewritings of traditional fairy tales for adults, arguing that while the revisions studied share similar themes and have comparable aims, the methods for inducing wonder (where wonder is defined as the effect produced by the text rather than simply its magical contents) are diametrically opposed.
Abstract: This thesis compares contemporary anglophone and francophone rewritings of traditional fairy tales for adults. Examining material dating from the 1990s to the present, including novels, novellas, short stories, comics, televisual and filmic adaptations, this thesis argues that while the revisions studied share similar themes and have comparable aims, the methods for inducing wonder (where wonder is defined as the effect produced by the text rather than simply its magical contents) are diametrically opposed, and it is this opposition that characterises the difference between the two types of rewriting.
While they all engage with the hybridity of the fairy-tale genre, the anglophone works studied tend to question traditional narratives by keeping the fantasy setting, while francophone works debunk the tales not only in relation to questions of content, but also aesthetics. Through theoretical, historical, and cultural contextualisation, along with close readings of the texts, this thesis aims to demonstrate the existence of this francophone/anglophone divide and to explain how and why the authors in each tradition tend to adopt such different views while rewriting similar material.
This division is the guiding thread of the thesis and also functions as a springboard to explore other concepts such as genre hybridity, reader-response, and feminism. The thesis is divided into two parts; the first three chapters work as an in-depth literature review: after examining, in chapters one and two, the historical and contemporary cultural field in which these works were created, chapter three examines theories of fantasy and genre hybridity. The second part of the thesis consists of textual studies and comparisons between francophone and anglophone material and is built on three different approaches. The first (chapter four) looks at selected texts in relation to questions of form, studying the process of world building and world creation enacted when authors combine and rewrite several fairy tales in a single narrative world. The second (chapter five) is a thematic approach which investigates the interactions between femininity, the monstrous, and the wondrous in contemporary tales of animal brides. Finally, chapter six compares rewritings of the tale of ‘Bluebeard’ with a comparison hinged on the representation of the forbidden room and its contents: Bluebeard’s cabinet of wonder is one that he holds sacred, one where he sublimates his wives’ corpses, and it is the catalyst of wonder, terror, and awe.
The three contextual chapters and the three text-based studies work towards tracing the tangible existence of the division postulated between francophone and anglophone texts, but also the similarities that exist between the two cultural fields and their roles in the renewal of the fairy-tale genre.
37 citations
References
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01 Jan 1991
TL;DR: In this paper, a wide-ranging survey of postmodernism is presented, from high art to low art, from market ideology to architecture, from painting to “punk” film, from video art to literature.
Abstract: Now in paperback, Fredric Jameson’s most wide-ranging work seeks to crystalize a definition of ”postmodernism”. Jameson’s inquiry looks at the postmodern across a wide landscape, from “high” art to “low” from market ideology to architecture, from painting to “punk” film, from video art to literature.
6,317 citations
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01 Jan 1947
TL;DR: The Dialectic of Enlightenment as mentioned in this paper is one of the most celebrated and often cited works of modern social philosophy, and it has been identified as the keystone of the 'Frankfurt School', of which Theodor Adorno and Max Horkheimer were the leading members.
Abstract: Dialectic of Enlightenment is, quite justifiably, one of the most celebrated and often cited works of modern social philosophy. It has been identified as the keystone of the 'Frankfurt School', of which Theodor Adorno and Max Horkheimer were the leading members, and does not cease to impress in its wide-ranging ambition and panache. Adorno and Horkheimer addressees themselves to a question which went to the very heart of the modern age, namely 'why mankind, instead of entering into a truly human condition, is sinking into a new kind of barbarism'. Modernity, far from redeeming the promises and hopes of the Enlightenment, had resulted in a stultification of mankind and an administered society, characterised by simulation and candy-floss entertainment. To seek an answer to the question of how such a condition could arise, Adorno and Horkheier subjected the whole history of Western catagories of reason and nature, from Homer to Nietzsche, to a searching philosophical and psychological critique. Drawing on psychoanalytical insights, their own work on the 'culture industry', deep knowledge of the key Enlightenment and anti-Enlightenment thinkers, as well as fascinating considerations on the relationship between reason and myth - the rational and the irrational - the authors exposed the domination and violence towards both nature and humanity that underpin the Enlightenment project.
4,868 citations
Book•
01 Jan 1973
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors present a history of the use of the Sociological Method to solve problems of syntactic construction in translators, and present a study in the application of the theory of Utterance and the problems of Syntax to problems of reported speech.
Abstract: Translators' Preface, 1986 Author's Introduction, 1929 Guide to Translation Translators' Introduction PART 1: THE PHILOSOPHY OF LANGUAGE AND ITS SIGNIFICANCE FOR MARXISM 1. The Study of Ideologies and Philosophy of Language 2. Concerning the Relation of the Basis and Superstructures 3. Philosophy of Language and Objective Psychology PART 2: TOWARD A MARXIST PHILOSOPHY OF LANGUAGE 1. Two Trends of Thought in Philosophy of Language 2. Language, Speech. And Utterance 3. Verbal Interaction 4. Theme and Meaning in Language PART 3: TOWARD A HISTORY OF FORMS OF UTTERANCE IN LANGUAGE CONSTRUCTORS (Study in the Application of the Sociological Method to Problems of Syntax) 1. Theory of Utterance and the Problems of Syntax 2. Exposition of the Problems of Reported Speech 3. Indirect Discourse, Direct Discourse, and Their Modification 4. Quasi-Direct Discourse in French, German, and Russian Appendix 1. On the First Russian Prolegomena to Semiotics Ladislav Matejka Appendix 2. The Formal Method and the Sociological Method (M.M. Baxtin, P.N. Medvedev, (V.N. Volosinov) in Russian Theory and Study of Literature I. R Titunik Index
3,326 citations
Book•
01 Jan 1984
TL;DR: Ilya Prigogine, winner of the Nobel Prize in 1977 for his work on the thermodynamics of non-equilibrium systems, makes his ideas accessible to a wide audience in this book, which has engendered massive debate in Europe and America as discussed by the authors.
Abstract: Ilya Prigogine, winner of the Nobel Prize in 1977 for his work on the thermodynamics of non-equilibrium systems, makes his ideas accessible to a wide audience in this book, which has engendered massive debate in Europe and America He and his colleague, Isabelle Stengers, show how the two great themes of classic science, order and chaos, which coexisted uneasily for centuries, are being reconciled in a new and unexpected synthesis
2,540 citations