What do you think?
Future West: Utopia and Apocalypse in Frontier Science Fiction
What is the future of the American West? Is it fated to shine with the benign promise of Ernest Callenbach's Ecotopia ? Or will it instead dissolve into postapocalyptic dust, as in Walter Miller's classic novel A Canticle for Leibowitz , or devolve into relentlessly dark and rain-soaked urban landscapes, as in Ridley Scott's Blade Runner ?
William Katerberg takes a new look at works of utopian, dystopian, and apocalyptic science fiction to show how narratives of the past and future powerfully shape our understanding of the present-day West. Combining intellectual history, literary analysis, and political philosophy, his study boldly encourages readers to reframe their understanding of both popular Western culture and American political culture.
The frontier has long fostered America's persistent desire to leave the past behind and begin anew-a desire that has nurtured the utopian dreams of westerners from Progressives to Earth First!ers. Katerberg revisits the frontier mythos (and iconic figures like Buffalo Bill Cody and Frederick Jackson Turner) and explores the West of future-oriented novels and films, in which the frontier is long past and American society is aging. He suggests powerful new ways to think critically and hopefully about American history—and about politics and civic life in the present.
Ranging widely over science fiction subgenres—from alternative futures to cyberpunk—Katerberg takes us on a tour of utopias of all stripes, whether exclusivist, reactionary, or progressive. Here are Douglas Coupland's postindustrial West, Callenbach's eco-utopian Pacific Northwest, and Kim Stanley Robinson's critical utopian view of Orange County. He considers how Leslie Marmon Silko's Almanac of the Dead ties revitalized Native American traditions to their hopes for the future, and he uses such stories of race wars as The Turner Diaries to compare reactionary visions to progressive utopianism.
By looking at how American frontier mythology plays out in the imagined West of the future, Katerberg offers a new approach to understanding the region's popular culture. Through this artful juxtaposition of history and projected futures, he reminds us that what's to come is not yet determined—and that, even for a nation desperate to leave the past behind, history holds ideas that can light the way to a brighter society.
William Katerberg takes a new look at works of utopian, dystopian, and apocalyptic science fiction to show how narratives of the past and future powerfully shape our understanding of the present-day West. Combining intellectual history, literary analysis, and political philosophy, his study boldly encourages readers to reframe their understanding of both popular Western culture and American political culture.
The frontier has long fostered America's persistent desire to leave the past behind and begin anew-a desire that has nurtured the utopian dreams of westerners from Progressives to Earth First!ers. Katerberg revisits the frontier mythos (and iconic figures like Buffalo Bill Cody and Frederick Jackson Turner) and explores the West of future-oriented novels and films, in which the frontier is long past and American society is aging. He suggests powerful new ways to think critically and hopefully about American history—and about politics and civic life in the present.
Ranging widely over science fiction subgenres—from alternative futures to cyberpunk—Katerberg takes us on a tour of utopias of all stripes, whether exclusivist, reactionary, or progressive. Here are Douglas Coupland's postindustrial West, Callenbach's eco-utopian Pacific Northwest, and Kim Stanley Robinson's critical utopian view of Orange County. He considers how Leslie Marmon Silko's Almanac of the Dead ties revitalized Native American traditions to their hopes for the future, and he uses such stories of race wars as The Turner Diaries to compare reactionary visions to progressive utopianism.
By looking at how American frontier mythology plays out in the imagined West of the future, Katerberg offers a new approach to understanding the region's popular culture. Through this artful juxtaposition of history and projected futures, he reminds us that what's to come is not yet determined—and that, even for a nation desperate to leave the past behind, history holds ideas that can light the way to a brighter society.
281 pages, Hardcover
First published October 29, 2008
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 1 of 1 review
October 5, 2010
This is one of two books on science fiction that I can find written by historians (if you know of more, please do let me know), which is too bad, because this isn't a very good book. The root of the problem is apparent in the subtitle itself: "Utopia and Apocalypse in Frontier Science Fiction", because Katerberg can't decide if this book is basically about the culture of the frontier, or apocalyptic knowledge, or utopian social planning, and the kind of tenuous connections he traces between them are not enough to make this much of a compelling monograph. It's kind of poorly written and structured and edited, too. For example, on page 63 we learn that [as racist far-right novels,] "Far more than the other fiction and film examined in this study, Hear the Cradle Song and The Turner Diaries can be connected to social groups and political movements and are meant to win converts."
The footnote for this sentence reads "Good introductions are..." and then a list of books on audience/reception studies. Now, I get what he means there, but structurally speaking you can't not mention audience studies at all in the body and then have a footnote that starts like that and never has any actual explanation of the studies in question.
Or, a footnote on page 264, which gives us a citation of an article by Patricia Melzer and then says "Melzer's reading is very different from mine, focusing on the theme of feminist organizing for change. The best reading of the novels, and one closer to my own, is in Moylan, Scraps of the Untainted Sky." This kind of oddly off-hand antipathy to feminism pops up a couple of times and, as with much else in this book, isn't really explained in any kind of depth.
Or a footnote on the next page: "For the phrase 'leftwing communitarian survivalism,' see Phillips [citation]. My use is different from that of Phillips." How are they different? How does Phillips use the term? I don't know. And you'll have to believe me when I say that the answer is nowhere in the sentence that is footnoted thusly, because I don't feel like typing it out.
The footnote for this sentence reads "Good introductions are..." and then a list of books on audience/reception studies. Now, I get what he means there, but structurally speaking you can't not mention audience studies at all in the body and then have a footnote that starts like that and never has any actual explanation of the studies in question.
Or, a footnote on page 264, which gives us a citation of an article by Patricia Melzer and then says "Melzer's reading is very different from mine, focusing on the theme of feminist organizing for change. The best reading of the novels, and one closer to my own, is in Moylan, Scraps of the Untainted Sky." This kind of oddly off-hand antipathy to feminism pops up a couple of times and, as with much else in this book, isn't really explained in any kind of depth.
Or a footnote on the next page: "For the phrase 'leftwing communitarian survivalism,' see Phillips [citation]. My use is different from that of Phillips." How are they different? How does Phillips use the term? I don't know. And you'll have to believe me when I say that the answer is nowhere in the sentence that is footnoted thusly, because I don't feel like typing it out.
Displaying 1 - 1 of 1 review