Kim Stanley Robinson Maps the Unimaginable: Critical Essays

Critical Explorations in Science Fiction and Fantasy #13

by William J. Burling (Editor)

While Kim Stanley Robinson is perhaps best known for his hard science fiction works Red Mars, Green Mars and Blue Mars, the epic trilogy exploring ecological and sociological themes involved in human settlement of the Red Planet, his contributions to utopian science fiction are diverse and numerous. Along with aspects of sociology and ecology in the Mars trilogy and other topics, these essays examine Robinson's use of alternate history and politics, both in his many novels and in his short stories. While Robinson has long been a subject of literary criticism, this collection, which includes five new essays and is drawn from writers on four continents, broadens the interpretive debate surrounding Robinson's science fiction and argues for consideration of the author as an intellectual figure of the first rank.

Genres: Science Fiction

312 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2009

Reviews

[Lesley Arrowsmith · Rating 3 out of 5]

I bought this book in a fit of enthusiasm at WorldCon last year, having just met the author. I thought that it would help me to understand some of the idea in his work.
To be honest, some of it was a bit too academic for me - but it did help me to get a better idea of the Mars series and the Science in the Capitol series, and it did encourage me to try the Orange County trilogy again. I started the one where the main characters indulge in some illicit archaeology, and I wanted to slap the young man round his head for his stupidity, so I gave up on the book. So I've now got The Wild Shore, which is supposed to be the Utopian future of the trilogy (they're all set in Orange County California in three different futures), and I'll see what I make of it.
I was a bit disappointed that none of the essays seemed to deal with the practicalities of the alternative economic ideas in the Mars trilogy and Antarctica - and they managed to discuss the Mars trilogy at length without once mentioning the term Demimonde, which is important in the books. But that's criticising the book for something that it wasn't meant to be.