The Routledge Companion to Science Fiction

Routledge Companions

by Mark Bould (Editor), Andrew Butler (Editor), Adam Roberts (Editor)

The Routledge Companion to Science Fiction is a comprehensive overview of the history and study of science fiction. It outlines major writers, movements, and texts in the genre, established critical approaches and areas for future study. Fifty-six entries by a team of renowned international contributors are divided into four parts which look, in turn, at: Bringing into dialogue the many perspectives on the genre The Routledge Companion to Science Fiction is essential reading for anyone interested in the history and the future of science fiction and the way it is taught and studied.

Genres: Science Fiction, Research, Art, Books About Books, Dystopia, Literature

554 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2009

Reviews

[Gerhard · Rating 4 out of 5]

It’s incredible how these ‘guides’ to science fiction differ in content and approach. I must say my all-time favourite is ‘The Cambridge History of Science Fiction’, which includes ‘modern’ topics like Afrofuturism and the Global South. There is even a chapter on fandom and ‘convergence culture’, whatever that is. The ‘Routledge Companion’ is divided into four main sections: History, Theories, Issues and Challenges, and Subgenres. It does include Critical Race Theory and Queer Theory, which the ‘Cambridge History’ does not. However, ‘Routledge’ does not venture into the choppy global waters beyond postcolonialism. It is probably best to read several such guides in conjunction to get the most comprehensive overview of the genre possible.

[Karl Bunker · Rating 5 out of 5]

The 550 pages and 250,000+ words of this formidable book are put to good use. In it you'll find a systematic, nearly all-encompassing presentation of the academic study of science fiction.

The scope of the book is simply vast, covering a huge array of subjects within SF or related to the field (see the table of contents below). The only gaps I saw in the volume's broad-brush treatment were a consideration of non-anglophone SF literature, and perhaps a chronology of SF-related video and role-playing games in the "History" section.

Granted, this breadth of coverage comes at some cost to depth. In its history of SF for example, the chapter on "Fiction, 1926 - 1949" takes up only 9 pages. In the "Theory" section, a mere 7 pages are allocated to the important subject of utopian studies.

Given the limitations of space, a reader who's strictly interested in written SF may feel some annoyance at the number of pages given over to topics such as comic books and "SF tourism" (a discussion of science-fictional elements found in theme parks, etc.). But I'd argue against that attitude, and against skipping any chapters. I found a lot of fascinating information and insights in some chapters that I was initially grumbling about as being a waste of space.

It's worth noting that the book is somewhat heavy on theory, and a few chapters are rather densely written. Or to put this another way, the book seems to be directed more toward readers interested in science fiction studies than those straightforwardly interested in science fiction. Thus, for example, you'll find more mentions of SF scholar Darko Suvin in its pages than Isaac Asimov.

But any negative points to be made are relative quibbles. Overall the book is a remarkable achievement in its field. Although it was written by a host of authors, the writing is uniformly very good, and the text is as neatly organized and even-handed in its coverage as one would expect from a single-author book.

If you have any interest in SF studies, this book is a must-have. For those who are deeply involved in the field, it should be one of the foundation volumes of their library. And for those with a lesser interest, it's the best choice available as a one-and-only (or at least a first) book on the subject.

I've copied the full table of contents below; reading through it is essential to appreciating the scope of the book.

Part I
History
1: The Copernican Revolution
2: Nineteenth Century SF
3: Fiction, 1895 - 1926
4: SF Tourism
5: Film, 1895 - 1950
6: Fiction, 1926 - 1949
7: Golden Age Comics
8: Film and Television, the 1950s
9: Fiction, 1950 - 1963
10: Film and Television, 1960 - 1980
11: Fiction, 1964 - 1979
12: Manga and Anime
13: Silver Age Comics
14: Film Since 1980
15: Television Since 1980
16: Fiction, 1980 - 1992
17: Comics Since The Silver Age
18: Fiction Since 1992

Part II
Theory
19: Critical Race Theory
20: Cultural history
21: Fan Studies
22: Feminisms
23: Language and Linguistics
24: Marxism
25: Nuclear Criticism
26: Postcolonialism
27: Posthumanism and Cyborg Theory
28: Postmodernism
29: Psychoanalysis
30: Queer Theory
31: Utopian Studies
32: Virtuality

Part III
Issues and Challenges
33: Animal Studies
34: Design for Screen SF
35: Digital Games
36: Empire
37: Environmentalism
38: Ethics and Alterity
39: Music
40: Pseudoscience
41: Science Studies
42: Space
43: Time, Possible Worlds, and Counterfactuals

Part IV
Subgenres
44: Young Adult SF
45: Alternate History
46: Apocalyptic SF
47: Arthouse SF Film
48: Blockbuster SF Film
49: Dystopia
50: Eutopia
51: Feminist SF
52: Future History
53: Hard SF
54: Slipstream
55: Space Opera
56: Weird Fiction

[Markovian Muse · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a collection of papers on sf and its various tropes and genres, for the most part written by and for academicians, fans and activists of various stripes.

Part I is a historical survey of sf, mostly addressing the 20th and early 21st centuries. Parts III and IV discuss issues, themes and genres found in sf. All are interesting and mostly accessible to the general reader, although I wish some of the material and context had been addressed in more depth.

Part II is a lengthy, disjointed (and often unintentionally hilarious) trek through every kind of critical theory and -ism that seems to be rampant in departments of philosophy, literature and cultural studies these days. Although the authors liberally reference and interpret various strands of twentieth century thought, it's often hard to see more than a tenuous link between the chapters themselves and the bodies of work they purportedly describe and analyze. Some chapters seem to be little more than a string of quotes and footnotes assembled hurriedly to meet a publishing deadline without much thought to the actual subject of sf. Or the language is so convoluted that you forget the point that's being made by the time you reach the end of a sentence.

For example, this reference to how one theorist of "virtuality" considers their "original cybernetic vision of a pattern-identity continually produced and reproduced through informational processes of homeostatic self regulation" to imply "both a fundamental instability (similar to the emphasis on iteration in theories of performativity) and a transformation of body boundaries, as the self-contained individual becomes spliced into feedback loops and entangled with his or her environment, in ways that make it difficult to sharply distinguish the two."

Lots of ten-dollar words here. It simply means that one of the themes explored in cyberpunk fiction is that all technology is merely an extension of what makes us human, and that the more advanced it gets the more it breaks down the idea of a "world out there" that is distinct and completely separate from "human beings" themselves. But using plain English would make it sound less inscrutable and profound. I suppose some people go for this sort of linguistic and intellectual masturbatory gymnastics. But like most people, I read sf for the stories, characters and ideas they so explore, not to "de(con)struct" it into case studies in poststructuralism, postmodernism, posthumanism, postcolonialism, psychoanalytic theory, marxism, radical feminism, queer theory, masochism and/or intellectual contortionism.

My advice -- enjoy Parts I, III and IV of this volume, but skip Part II. In its place, curl up instead with a good novel or short story by an author such as Ray Bradbury, Ursula Le Guin, William Gibson, Adam Roberts or China Miéville.

[Aleksandra · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting and useful book for those researching science fiction from an academic point of view.

[Benjamin Fasching-Gray · Rating 3 out of 5]

It took me five years to get through The Routledge Companion to SF, partly because I read the e-book and that's not really my style, but mainly because it was so uneven, more than the usual ups and downs from an edited volume. Some entries felt like some fan's blog, and then others very academic. Most fun are the pieces by authors with some lit-crit chops who also write in the genre. It's also very British. Still, I learned a lot and added a lot of books to my to-be-read list because of this.

[Yahel Avelsnik · Rating 3 out of 5]

A full and comprehensive overview of science fiction (both in literature and movies). I read it for my thesis, and recommend it to anyone interested in studying science fiction or looking for some further reading on this subject.

[Kelly · Rating 3 out of 5]

First third on history was very good. Skimmed through rest. Not an easy read