Critical Theory and Science Fiction

Title Page, Copyright, Dedication, Quotes

Critical Theory and Science Fiction Critical Theory and Science Fiction Carl Freedman Wesleyan University Press Published by University Press of New England Hanover and London Wesleyan University Press Middletown, Connecticut Published by Wesleyan University Press, Middletown, CT 06459 www.wesleyan.edu/wespress© 2000 by Carl Freedman All rights reserved Printed in the United States of America 5 4 3 2 cip data appear at the end of the book isbns for the paperback edition: isbn-13: 978–0–8195–6399–6 isbn-10: 0–8195–6399–4 Cover photogragh by Piotr Uklanski, Untitled (Queens), 1998, © the artist. Courtesy Gavin Brown's enterprise, New York. To my mother and father And to the memory of Lev Davidovich Bronstein To change the world is not to explore the moon. It is to make the revolution and build socialism without regressing back to capitalism. The rest, including the moon, will be given to us in addition. —louis althusser Se vuol ballare, Signor Contino, Il chitarrino Le suonerò. —lorenzo da ponte A map of the world that does not include Utopia is not worth even glancing at, for it leaves out the one country at which Humanity is always landing. And when Humanity lands there, it looks out, and, seeing a better country, sets sail. Progress is the realisation of Utopias. —oscar wilde ...