Patrick Parrinder is Professor of English at the University of Reading, England. His previous books include Authors and Authority: English and American Criticism, 1750–1990 and Shadows of the Future: H. G. Wells, Science Fiction, and Prophecy.
"[A] demanding yet rewarding collection . . ."
--P. Schlueter," Choice"
"Science fiction studies has always been committed to exploring the relationship between science fiction and utopia, and all of the essays in this volume take up that task."
--American Literature
"[A] diverse collection of insightful elaborations and literary/cultural analyses . . . . Scholars working with Suvin's theories of literature and culture will be hard pressed to find a more timely and comprehensive collection."
--Jimmy McCroy, "SFRA Review"
"Most of the book will appeal to readers interested either in canonical science fiction or in Suvin's wide-ranging and provocative work; the theoretical essays will attract those studying the nature of science fiction. . . . [T]he other essays will attract those inquiring into specific subjects, such as a theme, text, or author, or the development of science fiction studies. . . . [A] well-timed, thoughtful examination of the field through commentary on a scholar whose work exemplifies it."
--Ellen Peel, "Modern Philology"
""Learning From Other Worlds "performs a difficult task admirably well. The task, as defined by Patrick Parrinder in his excellent introduction to this volume, is to bring together a representative variety of critical writings on science fiction that, despite their differences in critical approach, focus, and national origin, all build upon pioneering SF critic Darko Suvin's most salient themes. The task is difficult because one would be hard-pressed to find any work of SF criticism that did not respond to and/or build upon, either implicitly or explicitly, and either critically or approvingly, some aspect of Suvin's critical corpus on SF. Parrinder has chosen eleven recently authored essays exemplary of one among several interimplicated tendencies in the field of SF criticism, a tendency that he describes in the following passage."
--Alcena Madeline Davis Rogan," South Atlantic Review"