American Science Fiction and the Cold War : : Literature and Film / / David Seed.

• Superior document: Title is part of eBook package: De Gruyter Edinburgh University Press Archive eBook-Package Pre-2000
• VerfasserIn: Seed, David,
• Place / Publishing House: Edinburgh : : Edinburgh University Press, , [2022]; ©1999
• Year of Publication: 2022
• Language: English
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (224 p.)

American Science Fiction - in both literature and film - has played a key role in the portrayal of the fears inherent in the Cold War. The end of this era heralds the need for a reassessment of the literary output of the forty-year period since 1945. Working through a series of important texts, David Seed investigates the political inflexions put on American narratives in the post-war decades by Cold War cultural circumstances. Nuclear holocaust, Russian invasion, and the perceived rise of totalitarianism in American society are key elements in the author'sexploration of science fiction narratives which include Fahrenheit 451, Invasion of the Body Snatchers and Dr Strangelove. Written in a lively and engaging style, the author's approach draws on the significant body of Nuclear Criticism and the historicism of Hayden White and others in order to bring out the ideological tensions and urgencies in this fiction. Relating the theory to a range of popular novels, stories and films makes this book accessible to students, academics and general readers alike.

Table of Contents

Frontmatter -- Contents -- Acknowledgements -- Introduction -- I. Postwar Jeremiads: Philip Wylie and Leo Szilard -- II. Variations on a Patriotic Theme: Robert A. Heinlein -- III. History and Apocalypse in Poul Anderson -- IV. Views from the Hearth -- V. Cultures of Surveillance -- VI. Take-Over Bids; Frederik Pohl and Cyril Kornbluth -- VII. The Russians Have Come -- VIII. Embodying the Arms Race: Bernard Wolfe's Limb -- IX. The Cold War Computerised -- X. Conspiracy Narratives -- XI. Absurdist Visions: Dr. Strangelove in Context -- XII. The Signs of War: Walter M. Miller and Russell Hoban -- XIII. In the Aftermath -- XIV. The Star Wars Debate -- Bibliography -- Index