Critical Explorations in Science Fiction and Fantasy
4 total works
This volume analyzes the use of Joseph Campbell's monomyth in twenty-six films and two SciFi Channel miniseries released and aired in the fifty year period between 1960 and 2009. In addition to serving as the underlying plot structure in the initial Star Wars trilogy - Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope (1977), Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back (1980), and Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi (1983) - these films include The Time Machine (1960), Logan's Run (1976), Time After Time (1979), Escape from New York (1981), Tron (1982), Dreamscape (1984), The Last Starfighter (1984), Dune (1984), The Terminator (1984), Back to the Future (1985), Total Recall (1990), The Matrix (1999), and each of the first eleven Star Trek Films: Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979), Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (1982), Star Trek III: The Search for Spock (1984), Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (1986), Star Trek V: The Final Frontier (1989), Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country (1991), Star Trek: Generations (1994), Star Trek: First Contact (1996), Star Trek: Insurrection (1998), Star Trek: Nemesis (2002), and Star Trek (2009). The two Sci Fi miniseries discussed are Frank Herbert's Dune (2000) and Frank Herbert's Children of Dune (2003). Organized into an Introduction and nine chapters, this study examines the monomyth in the context of Campbell's The Hero with a Thousand Faces (1949) and then discusses the use of this versatile plot structure in these twenty-six films and two miniseries.
This companion to Frank Herbert's six original Dune novels-Dune, Dune Messiah, Children of Dune, God Emperor of Dune, Heretics of Dune and Chapterhouse: Dune-provides an encyclopedia of characters, locations, terms and other elements, and highlights the series' underrated aesthetic integrity. An extensive introduction covers themes of ecology, chaos theory, concepts and structures, and Joseph Campbell's monomyth in Herbert's narrative.
A prolific author, Isaac Asimov is most admired for his science fiction, including his collection of short stories I, Robot and his Robot, Empire and Foundation series novels. While each of these narratives takes place in a different fictional universe, Asimov asserted at the end of his career that he had, with his last Robot and Foundation novels, unified them into one coherent metaseries.
The Encyclopedia Galactica, a compendium of all human knowledge, is prominent in the Foundation series as a key plot element but is also widely cited in the text itself. Palumbo and Sullivan's major new reference work book contains 1,000 selected excerpts from the Encyclopedia, identifying and describing all of the characters, locales, artifacts, concepts and institutions in Asimov's metaseries. The authors argue that Asimov successfully integrates the three series through the retroactive use of chaos theory, the underlying principle behind both psychohistory and Three Laws of Robotics-respectively the crucial concepts in the Foundation and Robot stories.
The Encyclopedia Galactica, a compendium of all human knowledge, is prominent in the Foundation series as a key plot element but is also widely cited in the text itself. Palumbo and Sullivan's major new reference work book contains 1,000 selected excerpts from the Encyclopedia, identifying and describing all of the characters, locales, artifacts, concepts and institutions in Asimov's metaseries. The authors argue that Asimov successfully integrates the three series through the retroactive use of chaos theory, the underlying principle behind both psychohistory and Three Laws of Robotics-respectively the crucial concepts in the Foundation and Robot stories.
Magic Words, Magic Worlds
by Matthew Oliver, Donald E. Palumbo, and C. W. Sullivan
Published 10 June 2022
While all fiction uses words to construct models of the world for readers, nowhere is this more obvious than in fantasy fiction. Epic fantasy novels create elaborate secondary worlds entirely out of language, yet the writing style used to construct those worlds has rarely been studied in depth. This book builds the foundations for a study of style in epic fantasy. Close readings of selected novels by such writers as Steven Erikson, Ursula Le Guin, N. K. Jemisin and Brandon Sanderson offer insights into the significant implications of fantasy's use of syntax, perspective, paratexts, frame narratives and more. Re-examining critical assumptions about the reading experience of epic fantasy, this work explores the genre's reputation for flowery, archaic language and its ability to create a sense of wonder. Ultimately, it argues that epic fantasy shapes the way people think, examining how literary representation and style influence perception.