The Culture of 'The Culture'

Utopian Processes in Iain M. Banks's Space Opera Series

Joseph S. Norman

Liverpool University Press

Liverpool Science Fiction Texts and Studies LUP

The first monograph to focus solely on close thematic analysis of Banks's 'Culture' series
Draws upon rarely-seen material from Iain M. Banks's personal archive and conversations with Banks's close personal friend, Ken MacLeod
A wide-ranging study, drawing upon various disciplines and critical approaches to provide a unique holistic analysis
Applies Istvan Csicsery-Ronay Jr.'s concept of the 'technologiade' to the Culture series, providing unique insight into the space opera sub-genre

The Culture of 'The Culture'

Utopian Processes in Iain M. Banks's Space Opera Series

Joseph S. Norman

Liverpool University Press

Liverpool Science Fiction Texts and Studies LUP

Description

In a career that spanned over thirty years, Iain M. Banks became one of the best-loved and most prolific writers in Britain, with his space opera series concerned with the pan-galactic utopian civilisation known as "the Culture" widely regarded as his most significant contribution to science fiction. The Culture of "The Culture" focuses solely on this series, providing a comprehensive, thematic analysis of Banks's Culture stories from Consider Phlebas to The Hydrogen Sonata. It explores the development of Banks's political, philosophical and literary thought, arguing that the Culture offers both an image of a harmonious civilisation modelled on an alternative socialist form of globalisation and a critique of our neo-liberal present. As Joseph Norman explains, the Culture is the result of an ongoing utopian process, attempting through the application of technoscience to move beyond obstacles to progress such as imperialism, capitalism, the human condition, religious dogma, patriarchy and crises in artistic representation. The Culture of "The Culture" defines Banks's creation as culture: a utopian way of doing, of being, of seeing: an approach, an attitude and a lifestyle that has enabled, and is evolving alongside, utopia, rather than an image of a static end-state.