Green Speculations: Science Fiction and Transformative Environmentalism

ISBN: 0814256732

Author: Otto, Eric C.

Condition: New

Science fiction goes green? Eric C. Otto explores literary science fictions engagement with a central concern of our times: ecological degradation. Situated at the intersection of science fiction studies and environmental philosophy, Green Speculations: Science Fiction and Transformative Environmentalism highlights key works of environmental science fiction that critique various human values for their roles in instigating such degradation.The books receiving ecocritical treatment in Green Speculations include George R. Stewarts Earth Abides (1949), Frank Herberts Dune (1965), Ursula K. Le Guins The Word for World Is Forest (1972), Joan Slonczewskis A Door into Ocean (1986), Kim Stanley Robinsons Mars trilogy (1993, 1994, 1996), and Paolo Bacigalupis The Windup Girl (2009). Otto reads these and other important science fiction novels as educative in their representations of environmental issues and the environmental philosophies that have emerged in response to them.Green Speculations demonstrates how environmental science fiction can be read not only as reflecting the ideas of environmental philosophies such as deep ecology, ecofeminism, and ecosocialism, but also as instrumental in thinking through the tenets of these philosophies. As such, the book places science fiction at the center of environmentalism and considers the genre to be an essential tool for prompting needed social and cultural transformation.