In what N. Katherine Hayles describes as "this enormously ambitious posthumous volume," renowned scholar George Slusser offers a definitive version of the argument about the history of science fiction that he developed throughout his career: that several important ideas and texts, routinely overlooked in other critical studies, made significant contributions to the creation of modern science fiction as it developed into a truly global literature. He explores how key thinkers like Rene Descartes, Benjamin Constant, Thomas DeQuincey, Guy du Maupassant, J.D. Bernal, and Ralph Waldo Emerson influenced and are reflected in twentieth-century science fiction stories from the United States, Great Britain, France, Germany, Poland, and Russia. The conclusion begins with Slusser's overview of global science fiction in the twenty-first century and discusses recent developments in countries like China, Romania, and Israel. Hayles's foreword provides a useful summation of the book's contents, while science fiction writer Gregory Benford contributes an afterword providing a personal perspective on the life and thoughts of his longtime friend. The book was edited by Slusser's former colleague Gary Westfahl, a distinguished scholar in his own right.
George Slusser was professor of comparative literature and curator of the J. Lloyd Eaton Collection of Science Fiction and Fantasy Literature, at the University of California, Riverside. Gary Westfahl is professor emeritus at the University of La Verne.
Foreword: A Novel Method for Constructing Science Fiction's Origins by N. Katherine Hayles Notes on the Text by Gary Westfahl Introduction: Science Fiction: Toward a World Literature Chapter One The Paradigms of Science Fiction Chapter Two Fraternal Frontiers: Defining a Space for Literature Chapter Three Future Liberty: Nineteenth Century Horizons Chapter Four Extending the Mind Circle: DeQuincey's English Mail Coach Chapter Five Genre at the Crossroads: Cultural Readings of Maupassant's "Le Horla" Chapter Six Bernal's Masterplot and the Transhuman Promise Chapter Seven Each Man Is an Island: The Legacy of Emerson's Golden Age Conclusion The Fortunes of Science Fiction Afterword: Knowing George by Gregory Benford A Brief Bibliography of the Works of George Slusser
