Across the Wounded Galaxies: Interviews with Contemporary American Science Fiction Writers - Softcover

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9780252061400: Across the Wounded Galaxies: Interviews with Contemporary American Science Fiction Writers

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0252061403 ISBN 13: 9780252061400

Publisher: University of Illinois Press, 1991

Modern science fiction writers have long inhabited a dimension far removed from the comfortable realms of filmic space opera franchises and Dr. Who. Too often lurking along the margins of literature are some of the most intelligent, imaginative, and outrageous writing talents of our day. These interviews by legendary critic and SF proponent Larry McCaffery journeys into the minds and psyches of ten iconic writers whose works influenced the evolution of science fiction. Authors like Octavia Butler, William Gibson, Thomas Disch, Ursula Le Guin, and Bruce Sterling discuss New Wave, hard versus soft SF, and the viability of the genre as a means of suggesting political, radical, and sexual agendas. As these writers speak candidly about their works, backgrounds, and aesthetic impulses, it becomes clear that the issues on their minds and in their fiction are central to contemporary life and art.

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From the Inside Flap:

Modern science fiction writers inhabit a land far removed from the comfortably familiar realms of E.T. and Star Wars. Lurking here in the suburbs of literature are some of the most intelligent, fiercely imaginative, and outrageous writing talents at work today. Across the Wounded Galaxies probes the minds and psyches of 10 writers whose works have had a significant influence on the evolution of the genre over the past quarter-century. As Larry McCaffery puts it, "While SF authors have been sifting through familiar SF elements and discovering new complexities and syntheses, they have also been boldly exploring literary terrain where no authors have gone before."

The interviewees, most of whom claim SF writing as a full-time career, discuss New Wave, cyberpunk, hard vs. soft SF, and the viability of science fiction as a means of suggesting political, radical, and sexual agendas. Science fiction's formal and thematic concerns are shown to be intimately related to other postmodern art forms. As the authors speak candidly about their works, their backgrounds, and their aesthetic impulses, it becomes clear that science fiction deserves serious attention, and that the issues they examine are absolutely central to late-20th-century life and art.

About the Author:

Larry McCaffery is a literary critic and editor, and a retired professor of English and comparative literature. His many books include Storming the Reality Studio: A Casebook of Cyberpunk and Postmodern Science Fiction and Some Other Frequency: Interviews with Innovative American Authors.

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