[csaa-forum] New book: Science Fiction and Narrative Form

[Andrew Milner]

*Science Fiction and Narrative Form* by David Roberts, Andrew Milner and
Peter Murphy has just been published by Bloomsbury (London, New York and
Sydney). The book is inspired by - and is in a sense a sequel to Georg
Lukács's *The Theory of the Novel*.

Details can be found at:
https://www.bloomsbury.com/au/science-fiction-and-narrative-form-9781350350748/
.

ISBN:
HB: 978-1-3503-5074-8
ePDF: 978-1-3503-5075-5
eBook: 978-1-3503-5076-2

vi + 238 pp, 2023.

Locating science fiction as its own distinct and increasingly important
narrative form, this book explores how the genre challenges pervasive
perceptions of society as presented in the conventional modern novel.
Inspired by, and building upon, Georg Lukács's criticism of the orthodox
novel for its depiction of life as alienating and disjointed, Roberts,
Milner and Murphy posit that science fiction steps beyond this contemporary
form to be a more constructive literature, better able to conceive of
society as complete, integrated and well-rounded. Taking stock of three
kinds of science fiction which lie outside the scope of the modern novel -
theological or ontological science fiction, the science fiction of future
history and epic science fiction – this book demonstrates science fiction's
unique capacity to encapsulate the whole world, persons and events, things
and objects in a glance, and address the motive behind the wish for a
meaningful totality.

With reference to a vast array of works by authors such as Michel
Houellebecq, Elias Canetti*, *Isaac Asimov, Jules Verne, H. G. Wells,
Aldous Huxley, Marge Piercy, Iain M. Banks, Margaret Atwood, Ursula K. Le
Guin, William Gibson, Dirk C. Fleck, Philip K. Dick, George Orwell and
Kazuo Ishiguro, this book offers a compelling argument for rethinking the
position and potential of the science fiction novel and to challenge the
way we perceive our culture.
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