Classical Traditions in Science Fiction

Edited by Brett M. Rogers and Benjamin Eldon Stevens

Classical Presences

The first comprehensive, book-length treatment of the classical tradition in science fiction.
Will appeal equally strongly to students and scholars of classics and to those of science fiction.

Classical Traditions in Science Fiction

Edited by Brett M. Rogers and Benjamin Eldon Stevens

Description

For all its concern with change in the present and future, science fiction is deeply rooted in the past and, surprisingly, engages especially deeply with the ancient world. Indeed, both as an area in which the meaning of "classics" is actively transformed and as an open-ended set of texts whose own 'classic' status is a matter of ongoing debate, science fiction reveals much about the roles played by ancient classics in modern times. Classical Traditions in Science Fiction is the first collection in English dedicated to the study of science fiction as a site of classical receptions, offering a much-needed mapping of that important cultural and intellectual terrain.

This volume discusses a wide variety of representative examples from both classical antiquity and the past four hundred years of science fiction, beginning with science fiction's "rosy-fingered dawn" and moving toward the other-worldly literature of the present day. As it makes its way through the eras of science fiction, Classical Traditions in Science Fiction exposes the many levels on which science fiction engages the ideas of the ancient world, from minute matters of language and structure to the larger thematic and philosophical concerns.

Classical Traditions in Science Fiction

Edited by Brett M. Rogers and Benjamin Eldon Stevens

Classical Presences

Preface

Introduction: The True History of The Future (and Its Future)
Brett M. Rogers
Benjamin Eldon Stevens

Part I: SF's Rosy-Fingered Dawn

1. The Lunar Setting of Johannes Kepler's Somnium, Science Fiction's Missing Link
Dean Swinford

2. Lucretius, Lucan, and Mary Shelley's Frankenstein
Jesse Weiner

3. Virgil in Jules Verne's Journey to The Center of The Earth
Benjamin Eldon Stevens

4. Mr. Lucian in Suburbia: Links between The True History and The First Men in The Moon
Antony Keen

Part II: SF 'Classics'

5. A Complex Oedipus: The Tragedy of Edward Morbius
Gregory S. Bucher

6. Walter M. Miller, Jr.'s A Canticle for Leibowitz, The Great Year, and The Ages of Man
Erik Grayson

7. Time and Self-Referentiality in The Iliad and Frank Herbert's Dune
Joel Christensen

8. Disability as Rhetorical Trope in Classical Myth and Blade Runner
Rebecca Raphael

Part III: Classics in Space

9. Moral and Mortal in Star Trek: The Original Series
George Kovacs

10. Hybrids and Homecomings in The Odyssey and Alien Resurrection
Brett M. Rogers

11. Classical Antiquity and Western Identity in Battlestar Galactica
Vincent Tomasso

Part IV: Ancient Classics for a Future Generation?

12. Revised Iliadic Epiphanies in Dan Simmons' Ilium
Gaël Grobéty

13. Refiguring the Roman Empire in The Hunger Games Trilogy
Marian Makins

14. Jonathan Hickman's Pax Romana and The End of Antiquity
C. W. Marshall

Appendix
Suggestions for Further Reading and Viewing
Robert W. Cape, Jr.

Works Cited

Classical Traditions in Science Fiction

Edited by Brett M. Rogers and Benjamin Eldon Stevens

Classical Presences

Author Information

Brett M. Rogers is Assistant Professor of Classics at the University of Puget Sound.

Benjamin Eldon Stevens is Visiting Assistant Professor of Classics at Hollins University.

Contributors:

Dean Swinford, Assistant Professor of English, Fayetteville State University
Jesse Weiner, Professor of Greek and Roman Studies and Religion, Illinois Wesleyan University
Antony Keen, Associate Lecturer in Classics, Open University
Gregory S. Bucher, Associate Professor of Classical and Near Eastern Studies, Creighton University
Erik Grayson, Assistant Professor of English, Wartburg College
Joel Christensen, Associate Professor of Classics, University of Texas at San Antonio
Rebecca Raphael, Assistant Professor of Philosophy, Texas State University
George Kovacs, Assistant Professor of Ancient History and Classics, Trent University
Vincent Tomasso, Visiting Assistant Professor of Classics, Ripon College
Gaël Grobéty, doctoral candidate, Université de Lausanne
Marian Makins, Critical Writing Fellow, University of Pennsylvania
C. W. Marshall, Professor of Ancient Performance Traditions and Greek Poetry, University of British Columbia
Robert W. Cape, Jr., Professor of Classics, Austin College

Classical Traditions in Science Fiction

Edited by Brett M. Rogers and Benjamin Eldon Stevens

Classical Presences

Reviews and Awards

A 2015 Times Higher Education Book of the Year

"Whereas a classics scholar may be confused by the different approaches to defining and originating science fiction, Classical Traditions in Science Fiction is a particularly helpful work in orienting science fiction scholars toward a more historical approach to the genre. The work shows that even the most advanced and surreal worlds of science fiction hark back to classical origins in their reflections on humanity, knowledge, and ethics." --Kanta Dihal, Science Fiction Research Association (SFRA) Review

"The collection as a whole is to be described as extremely successful, and it is hoped that further studies will follow at a similar level." --Bryn Mawr Classical Review

"If you're excited by taking a deeper look into science fiction through the lens of the myths and stories of antiquity--that is to say if you're a Classics nerd along with being a traditional nerd--then Classical Traditions in Science Fiction is an absolute blast." --i09.com

"...[A] consistently stimulating collection. ... [T]his collection ranges from Lucian and Kepler to the rebooted Battlestar Galactica, and much is necessarily omitted. But any wish for something more, or something different, only reinforces the editors' case for exploring this rich relationship..." --Sarah Annes Brown, Classical World

"Interestingly enough, though the genre of science fiction has evolved greatly since the time of Kepler, and though the genre is very often focused on the future, the persistence of classical traditions on science fiction seems to offer no signs of waning. This volume offers valuable insights on a genre that is ever-evolving, and that simultaneously has its roots deeply situated in classical literature." -- Fafnir: Nordic Journal of Science Fiction and Fantasy

Classical Traditions in Science Fiction

Edited by Brett M. Rogers and Benjamin Eldon Stevens

Classical Presences

From Our Blog

The top sci five classical receptions on screen

Recently, a number of prominent publications have featured a growing body of work on classical receptions in science fiction and fantasy, including M©lanie Bost-Fi©vet's and Sandra Provini's collection L'Antiquit© dans l'imaginaire contemporain (Garniers Classiques 2014), a special issue of the journal Foundation on 'Fantastika and the Greek and Roman Worlds' (Autumn 2014), and our own collection, Classical Traditions in Science Fiction (OUP 2015). This focus on science fiction, now an important part of popular culture, reveals much about how ancient classics are being received by modern audiences, particularly when it comes to the silver screen.

Posted on April 14, 2015

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