Full Text Available
Note: Clicking the button above will open the full text document at the original institutional repository in a new window.
Mirrors of the past : versions of history in science fiction and fantasy
The primary argument of this Thesis is that Science Fiction (SF) is a form of Historical Fiction, one which speculatively appropriates elements of the past in fulfilment of the ideological expectations of its genre readership. Chapter One presents this definition, reconciling it with some earlier de...
Saved in:
| Main Author: | |
|---|---|
| Other Authors: | |
| Format: | Thesis |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Department of English Language and Literature
2014
|
| Subjects: | |
| Tags: |
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
|
| _version_ | 1867613303071571968 |
|---|---|
| access_status_str | Open Access |
| author | Gevers, Nicholas David |
| author2 | Cartwright, John |
| author_browse | Cartwright, John Gevers, Nicholas David |
| author_facet | Cartwright, John Gevers, Nicholas David |
| author_sort | Gevers, Nicholas David |
| collection | Thesis |
| description | The primary argument of this Thesis is that Science Fiction (SF) is a form of Historical Fiction, one which speculatively appropriates elements of the past in fulfilment of the ideological expectations of its genre readership. Chapter One presents this definition, reconciling it with some earlier definitions of SF and justifying it by means of a comparison between SF and the Historical Novel. Chapter One also identifies SF's three modes of historical appropriation (historical extension, imitation and modification) and the forms of fictive History these construct, including Future History and Alternate History; theories of history, and SF's own ideological changes over time, have helped shape the genre's varied borrowings from the past. Some works of Historical Fantasy share the characteristics of SF set out in Chapter One. The remaining Chapters analyse the textual products of SF's imitation and modification of history, i.e. Future and Alternate Histories. Chapter Two discusses various Future Histories completed or at least commenced before 1960, demonstrating their consistent optimism, their celebration of Science and of heroic individualism, and their tendency to resolve the cyclical pattern of history through an ideal linear simplification or 'theodicy'. Chapter Three shows the much greater ideological and technical diversity of Future Histories after 1960, their division into competing traditional (Libertarian), Posthistoric (pessimistic), and critical utopian categories, an indication of SF's increasing complexity and fragmentation. |
| format | Thesis |
| id | oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/10511 |
| institution | University of Cape Town (South Africa) |
| language | eng |
| last_indexed | 2026-06-10T12:33:59.204Z |
| license_str | Not specified — see source repository |
| provenance_str_mv | Harvested via OAI-PMH from UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository |
| publishDate | 2014 |
| publishDateRange | 2014 |
| publishDateSort | 2014 |
| publisher | Department of English Language and Literature |
| publisherStr | Department of English Language and Literature |
| record_format | dspace |
| source_str | UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository |
| spelling | oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/10511 Mirrors of the past : versions of history in science fiction and fantasy Gevers, Nicholas David Cartwright, John English Language and Literature The primary argument of this Thesis is that Science Fiction (SF) is a form of Historical Fiction, one which speculatively appropriates elements of the past in fulfilment of the ideological expectations of its genre readership. Chapter One presents this definition, reconciling it with some earlier definitions of SF and justifying it by means of a comparison between SF and the Historical Novel. Chapter One also identifies SF's three modes of historical appropriation (historical extension, imitation and modification) and the forms of fictive History these construct, including Future History and Alternate History; theories of history, and SF's own ideological changes over time, have helped shape the genre's varied borrowings from the past. Some works of Historical Fantasy share the characteristics of SF set out in Chapter One. The remaining Chapters analyse the textual products of SF's imitation and modification of history, i.e. Future and Alternate Histories. Chapter Two discusses various Future Histories completed or at least commenced before 1960, demonstrating their consistent optimism, their celebration of Science and of heroic individualism, and their tendency to resolve the cyclical pattern of history through an ideal linear simplification or 'theodicy'. Chapter Three shows the much greater ideological and technical diversity of Future Histories after 1960, their division into competing traditional (Libertarian), Posthistoric (pessimistic), and critical utopian categories, an indication of SF's increasing complexity and fragmentation. 2014-12-30T06:38:05Z 2014-12-30T06:38:05Z 1997 Doctoral Thesis Doctoral PhD http://hdl.handle.net/11427/10511 eng application/pdf Department of English Language and Literature Faculty of Humanities University of Cape Town |
| spellingShingle | English Language and Literature Gevers, Nicholas David Mirrors of the past : versions of history in science fiction and fantasy |
| thesis_degree_str | Doctoral |
| title | Mirrors of the past : versions of history in science fiction and fantasy |
| title_full | Mirrors of the past : versions of history in science fiction and fantasy |
| title_fullStr | Mirrors of the past : versions of history in science fiction and fantasy |
| title_full_unstemmed | Mirrors of the past : versions of history in science fiction and fantasy |
| title_short | Mirrors of the past : versions of history in science fiction and fantasy |
| title_sort | mirrors of the past versions of history in science fiction and fantasy |
| topic | English Language and Literature |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/11427/10511 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT geversnicholasdavid mirrorsofthepastversionsofhistoryinsciencefictionandfantasy |