Landscape and the Science Fiction Imaginary

Distributed for Intellect Ltd

Paper $28.50 ISBN: 9781783208609 Published May 2018 Not for sale in the United Kingdom or Europe

There has been plenty of scholarship on science fiction over the decades, but it has left one crucial aspect of the genre all but unanalyzed: the visual. Ambitious and original, Landscape and the Science Fiction Imaginary corrects that oversight, making a powerful argument for science fiction as a visual cultural discourse. Taking influential historical works of visual art as starting points, along with illustrations, movie matte paintings, documentaries, artist’s impressions, and digital environments, John Timberlake focuses on the notion of science fiction as an “imaginary topos,” one that draws principally on the intersection between landscape and historical/prehistorical time. Richly illustrated, this book will appeal to scholars, students, and fans of science fiction and the remarkable visual culture that surrounds it.

Table of Contents

Contents
Review Quotes

Contents

Introduction

Chapter 1:
Land of the Giants: Size and Scale, Macroscopy and Microscopy in the Landscapes of Science Fiction

Chapter 2:
A Game in the Ruins: Landscape and Virtual Realities

Chapter 3:
Blasted Heaths and Turbulent Energies: Chris Foss’s Accelerated Dream of Wessex

Chapter 4:
An Unforgiveable Composure: The Apocalyptic Imaginary Since Yosuke Yamahata’s Nagasaki

Chapter 5:
‘Suppositional Realism’ and the Fictions of Science: The Astronomical Landscapes of Pavel Klushantsev and Chesley Bonestell and Their Legacy

Chapter 6:
Beyond the Periphery: Desert and Darkness

Conclusion: Where Otherwise Nothing Has Changed

Review Quotes

Patrick Whitmarsh | Science Fiction Research Association Review

"Moving easily from ancient mythology to postmodern cinema, Timberlake examines how fluctuations in physical size influence social relations, yielding a tragic framework in which physical environments exhibit an 'elemental indifference' to human presence. . . . Such moves reveal the nuanced, and occasionally understated, methodology of Landscape and the Science Fiction Imaginary. Less a study of sf per se, it rather illuminates in sf a visual imperative that Timberlake argues is at work 'across the centuries,' connecting works as diverse as Goya’s painting and video games such as Metal Gear Solid. . . . The conceptual gravity of Timberlake’s study is undeniable, and his compelling readings make Landscape and the Science Fiction Imaginary a valuable contribution to the field of sf criticism and visual media theory."

John Roberts, University of Wolverhampton

“Through its account of science fiction as a form of ‘alternate seeing’, ‘suppositional realism’, confrontation with the arche-fossils of pre-human landscapes, and utopic longing in the face the demise of traditional forms of futurism, this book reveals how varied and important the ‘science fiction imaginary’ is to the political, historical and scientific resources of literary, artistic and filmic form.”

For more information, or to order this book, please visit https://press.uchicago.edu

Art: Art--General Studies

Culture Studies

Film Studies

Literature and Literary Criticism: General Criticism and Critical Theory

You may purchase this title at these fine bookstores. Outside the USA, see our international sales information.