Zinātniskā fantastika kā ideoloģiskais ierocis

2020 ◽  
pp. 165-175
Author(s):  
Bārbala Simsone
Keyword(s):  
Science Fiction ◽  
Literary Criticism ◽  
20Th Century ◽  
Modern Science ◽  
Safe Distance ◽  
Political Ideas ◽  
Perspective Drawing ◽  
Original Works ◽  
Present World ◽  
Insight Into

Since one of the main characteristics of the science fiction genre is the modelling of future societies, often from the safe distance perspective drawing quite visible parallels with those of the present world, the discussion about political and social topics has been an integral part of the genre since the beginnings. Moreover, since science fiction, especially regarding the subgenre of utopia, allegorically projects a particular ideology in an imaginary world, certain propaganda was also frequent compound in the genre works. These factors were largely responsible for the fact that some political regimes, especially those of the 20th century, made direct and indirect use of science fiction as a powerful tool of ideological propaganda that helped to turn the thinking of readers, especially young people, in the direction favoured by the regime. Still, it must also be remembered that the presence of political ideas in the science fiction works as well as interpretation of these works has always been quite a complicated matter, and science fiction authors frequently found ways to circumnavigate the limitations set by censorship and include messages unflattering to the regime in their works. The paper provides an insight into the aspects of relationship between science fiction and ideology in contemporary literary theory, turns a particular attention to the practical aspects of these relationships as they formed during the 20th century in the literary space of Soviet regime – discussing original works as well as translations and literary criticism; finally, the paper outlines some topical ideological directions visible in modern science fiction works.

scholarly journals Science Fiction In Latvian Literature

2018 ◽  
Vol 22 (2) ◽  
pp. 397
Author(s):  
Bārbala Simsone
Keyword(s):  
Science Fiction ◽  
20Th Century ◽  
Popular Fiction ◽  
Literary Context ◽  
Period 2 ◽  
Time Period ◽  
The 1960S ◽  
New Generation ◽  
Adventure Novels ◽  
Insight Into

The present paper is devoted to the overview of the beginnings and development of the genre of science fiction in Latvian literature. Similarly to other popular fiction genres, science fiction in Latvian literature has not been very popular due to social and historical reasons; however, during the course of the 20th century several authors have at least partially approached the genre and created either fully fledged science fiction works or literary works with science fiction elements in them. The paper looks at the first attempts to create science fiction-related works during the beginning of the 20th century; it then provides an insight into three epochs when the genre received comparatively wider attention: 1) the 1930s produced mainly adventure novels with elements of science fiction mirroring the correspondent world tendencies of that time period; 2) the period between the 1960s and 80s saw authors who had the courage to leave the strict platform of Soviet Social Realism, experimenting with a variety of science fiction elements in the postmodern literary context which allowed for a wide metaphoric interpretation. This epoch also saw the emergence of a specific phenomenon – humorous / satiric science fiction which the authors employed in order to offer social criticism of the Soviet lifestyle; 3) the beginning of the 21st century saw the emergence of several science fiction works by a new generation of writers: these works presently comprise the majority of newly published science fiction. The paper outlines the main tendencies of the newest Latvian science fiction such as authors experimenting with a variety of themes, the preference for dystopian future scenarios and humour. The paper offers brief conclusions as to the possible future of Latvian science fiction in context of the current developments in the genre.

scholarly journals Matters of Gravity: Special Effects and Supermen in the 20th Century

2005 ◽  
Vol 30 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Alison Harvey
Keyword(s):  
Popular Culture ◽  
Science Fiction ◽  
20Th Century ◽  
The Body ◽  
Special Effects ◽  
The Sublime ◽  
Amusement Parks ◽  
Insight Into

Using essays on such topics as musical films, superheroes, the sublime, morphing, science fiction, special effects, and amusement parks to illustrate his argument, Scott Bukatman’s collection explores the importance of popular culture in relation to the possibilities of flight offered to the body in constricted environments. His celebration of the sense of liberated movement offered by popular culture's varying forms of entertainment offers insight into the necessity of these types of spectacle and play in light of the frightening realities of our culture.

scholarly journals Facing the Monsters: Otherness in H. P. Lovecraft’s Cthulhu Mythos and Guillermo del Toro’s Pacific Rim and Hellboy

Religions ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 58
Author(s):  
David McConeghy
Keyword(s):  
Science Fiction ◽  
20Th Century ◽  
Sigmund Freud ◽  
Modern Science ◽  
Pacific Rim ◽  
Early 20Th Century ◽  
The Uncanny ◽  
Rudolf Otto

What happens when we imagine the unimaginable? This article compares recent films inspired by H. P. Lovecraft’s Cthulhu Mythos with that author’s original early 20th century pulp horror stories. In Guillermo del Toro’s films Pacific Rim and Hellboy, monsters that would have been obscured to protect Lovecraft’s readers are now fully revealed for Hollywood audiences. Using the period-appropriate theories of Rudolf Otto on the numinous and Sigmund Freud on the uncanny, that share Lovecraft’s troubled history with racist othering, I show how modern adaptations of Lovecraft’s work invert central features of the mythos in order to turn tragedies into triumphs. The genres of Science Fiction and Horror have deep commitments to the theme of otherness, but in Lovecraft’s works otherness is insurmountable. Today, Hollywood borrows the tropes of Lovecraftian horror but relies on bridging the gap between humanity and its monstrous others to reveal a higher humanity forged through difference and diversity. This suggests that otherness in modern science fiction is a means of reconciliation, a way for the monsters to be defeated rather than the source of terror as they were in Lovecraft’s stories.

scholarly journals CONCEPT OF "SOUL" IN THE NARRATIVE-FANTASY OF VOLODYMYR ARENIEV "DUSHNYTSIA"

2019 ◽  
pp. 332-337
Author(s):  
S. S. Khorob
Keyword(s):  
Science Fiction ◽  
Literary Criticism ◽  
Mass Culture ◽  
Modern Science ◽  
Scientific Article ◽  
National Academy Of Sciences ◽  
Fantasy World ◽  
National University ◽  
Long Time ◽  
Academy Of Sciences

Problem setting. Fundamental scientific research on science fiction in contemporary literary criticism is rather an exception than a regularity. For a long time fantasy  did not have sufficient scientific support, remaining just a genre of mass culture. However, lately, science fiction is seen not only as something purely entertaining. After all, it gradually develops: from the scientific object of separate researches (M. Nazarenko, A. Niamtsu, S. Oliinyk, O. Stuzhuk, etc.) to the theme of the great conference “Slavic science fiction” at Taras Shevchenko Kyiv National University and later to the constantly acting (from 2015) research center of literature on fantasy at Taras Shevchenko Institute of Literature in National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine. There is also a trend from a single research to system ones. Therefore, in modern study of literature, the situation has improved considerably concerning proper understanding of this problem, but many aspects of science fiction need to be scientifically substantiated and explored. Analysis of the research. In our opinion among all modern Ukrainian fantasy writers special attention deserves Volodymyr Areniev (Volodymyr Puzii). However, there are few articles about his work. With the exception of the reviews (A. Rybalka on Bukvoiid, A. Shtefan on Chitomo or V. Chernyshenko on the Litaccent) or tangentially to a certain theme (Ovdiichuk  L. “Chronotop as a genre factor in modern science fiction and fantasy for children”, Oliinyk S. “Book image  in the fantasy world”, as an independent object, appeared in the researches of Oles Stuzhuk and Solomiia Khorob. Therefore, we see the actuality of this scientific article. Goal. To analyze the novel “Dushnytsa” by Volodymyr Areniev in terms of the functioning of the concept “soul”, which appears to be central in this work. It is also necessary to pay attention to the genre peculiarities of the existence of fantasy in the work of the chosen writer.

lmost all estimates of the figure of Alexander Solzhenitsyn are not related to literary criticism. Most studies evaluate his role, intentions and results. His figure is assessed in the context of the fate of the country, public perception and attitude to the country, which is Motherland for some, and mental and political enemy for the others. And for this purpose it is not even important who is right from the historical and political point of view. The point is who and how perceived the USSR and the entire Soviet project. Solzhenitsyn is seen as the enemy of the USSR and the Soviet project by those who popularized and helped him, and also according to his self-evaluation. Therefore, for those who identify themselves with the Soviet Union, its heritage and the entire Soviet project Solzhenitsyn represents the enemy and bearer of evil. For those who are hostile to the Soviet Union and the Soviet project, Solzhenitsyn is an ally in their struggle and bearer of good. Which of these parties is right is the issue of history and morality. 66% of Russian citizens support the first point of view, and the second point of view is supported by 25% of the population. Nowadays 88 % of Russian citizens know who Solzhenitsyn was. 31% consider him to be moral authority for them. 8% of the people believe that Solzhenitsyn presented true facts in his books.

2019 ◽  
Vol 66 ◽  
pp. 260-275
Author(s):  
Victor V.  Aksyuchits
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Union ◽  
Literary Criticism ◽  
Public Perception ◽  
Moral Authority ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Self Evaluation ◽  
Political Ideas ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
The People ◽  
Russian Intelligentsia

In the article the author studies the formation process of Russian intelligentsia analyzing its «birth marks», such as nihilism, estrangement from native soil, West orientation, infatuation with radical political ideas, Russophobia. The author examines the causes of political radicalization of Russian intelligentsia that grew swiftly at the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th centuries and played an important role in the Russian revolution of 1917.

‘Almost the same, but not quite’: Ontological politics of recognition in modern science fiction

2016 ◽  
Vol 17 (3) ◽  
pp. 251-267 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ingvil Hellstrand
Keyword(s):  
Science Fiction ◽  
Modern Science ◽  
Politics Of Recognition ◽  
Race And Gender ◽  
Conditions Of Possibility ◽  
Human Ontology ◽  
And Gender ◽  
Fixed Boundaries

This article explores how issues of ‘not quite human-ness’ expose the conditions of possibility of being considered human; of human ontology. I refer to these dynamics for identifying sameness and difference as ontological politics of recognition. Tracing the genealogies of passing, I situate passing and Othering socio-political regulation and ideological frameworks for conceptualising ontology. I am particularly concerned with how the notion of ontology is bound up in questions of race and gender, and with the entanglements of technology and biology that can destabilise apparently fixed boundaries between the (natural/normative) human and its (constructed/abnormal) Others. I identify three trajectories of passing as human in the histories of science fiction. The first trajectory discusses ontological mimicry: the ways in which the non-human attempts to be like the human. The second trajectory addresses how passing as human relies on a Butlerian performativity: doing human-ness by complying with the regulatory frames for appearances and practices. The final trajectory discusses what is at stake in contemporary ontological politics of recognition: a renegotiation of human supremacy through an emphasis on collectivity and collaboration rather that singularity and boundedness.

“Moral Enigma” in Shakespeare’s Othello? An Exercise in Philosophical Hermeneutics

Janus Head ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
pp. 128-155
Author(s):  
Norman Swazo ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Literary Criticism ◽  
20Th Century ◽  
Early 20Th Century ◽  
Philosophical Hermeneutics ◽  
Moral Significance ◽  
Poetic Justice

Literary criticism of Shakespeare’s Othello since the early 20th century leaves us with various complaints that Shakespeare fails to achieve poetic justice therein, or that this work leaves us, in the end, with a moral enigma—despite what seems to be Shakespeare’s intent to represent a plot and characters having moral probity and, thereby, to foster our moral edification through the tragedy that unfolds. Here a number of interpretive views concerning the morality proper to Othello are reviewed. Thereafter, it is proposed that Heidegger’s thought about the relation of appearance, semblance, and reality enables a novel interpretation of the moral significance of this tragedy, thereby to resolve the question of moral enigma.

Mary Shelley's Frankenstein

2021 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Science Fiction ◽  
Modern Science ◽  
Lord Byron ◽  
Mary Wollstonecraft ◽  
William Godwin ◽  
Gothic Literature ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Ghost Stories ◽  
Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley ◽  
Story Writing

Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley conceived of the central idea for Frankenstein; or, the Modern Prometheus—most often referred to simply as Frankenstein—during the summer of 1816 while vacationing on Lake Geneva in Switzerland. It is her first and most famous novel. Although the assertion is debatable, some scholars have argued that Frankenstein is the first work of modern science fiction. Shelley was inspired to write Frankenstein in response to a “ghost story” writing contest between herself, Percy Shelley, Percy Shelley’s physician and friend John Polidori, and Lord Byron, who were trapped indoors reading German ghost stories as the result of inclement weather. Polidori’s contribution to this contest, “The Vampyre: A Tale” (1819), influenced the development of Gothic literature. According to Shelley, she drew inspiration from a nightmare she had, which she attributed to discussions she overheard between Percy and Byron regarding experiments with electricity and animation. Shelley began working on the novel when she returned home to England in September, and the book’s first edition was published anonymously in 1818. Shelley’s father William Godwin made minor revisions for a second edition in 1821; and Shelley herself made more substantial changes for the third edition in 1831. The story is told through an epistolary frame, and follows Victor Frankenstein, a university student of the “unhallowed arts” who assembles, animates, and abandons an unnamed human-like creature. The creature goes on to haunt his creator both literally and metaphorically. Over the past two hundred years, the story has been widely influential, and re-interpreted in various forms of culture and media. In literary studies, scholars have discussed which edition of the text is the “truest” to Mary Shelley’s intended vision. The novel has been analyzed for its messages about human pride and hubris, the pursuit of knowledge, the nature/nurture question, as put forth by Rousseau, ethical questions in medicine and science, and family, gender, and reproduction, among other topics.

Plants and Literature

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Susan McHugh
Keyword(s):  
Science Fiction ◽  
Early Modern ◽  
Literary Criticism ◽  
Early Modern Period ◽  
Hybrid Plant ◽  
Reference Points ◽  
Ethical Challenges ◽  
Early 21St Century ◽  
Many Sources ◽  
A Minor

In countless ways, plants have been in literature from the start. They literally provide surfaces and tools of inscription, as well as figuratively inspire a diverse body of writing that ranges from documenting changing social and ecological conditions to probing the limits of the human imagination. The dependence of human along with all other life on vegetal bodies assures their omnipresence in literatures across all periods and cultures, positioning them as ready reference points for metaphors, similes, and other creative devices. As comestibles, landscape features, home décor, and of course paper, plants appear in the pages of virtually every literary text. But depictions of botanical life in action often prove portentous, particularly when they remind readers that plants move in mysterious ways. At the frontiers of ancient and medieval European settlements, the plant communities of forests served as vital sources of material and imaginative sustenance. Consequently, early modern literature registers widespread deforestation of these alluring and dangerous borderlands as threats to economic and social along with ecological flourishing, a pattern repeated through the literatures of settler colonialism. Although appearing in the earliest of literatures, appreciation for the ways in which plants inscribe stories of their own lives remains a minor theme, although with accelerating climate change an increasingly urgent one. Myths and legends of hybrid plant-men, trees of life, and man-eating plants are among the many sources informing key challenges to representing plants in modern and contemporary literature, most obviously in popular genre fictions like mystery, horror, and science fiction (sf). Further enlightening these developments are studies that reveal how botanical writing emerges as a site of struggle from the early modern period, deeply entrenched in attempts to systematize and regulate species in tandem with other differences. The scientific triumph of the Linnaean “sexual system” bears a mixed legacy in feminist plant writing, complicated further by Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) writers’ creative engagements with the unevenly felt consequences of professionalized plant science. Empowered by critical plant studies, an interdisciplinary formation that rises to the ethical challenges of emergent scientific affirmations of vegetal sentience, literature and literary criticism are reexamining these histories and modeling alternatives. In the early 21st century with less than a fraction of 1 percent of the remaining old growth under conservation protection worldwide, plants appear as never before in fragile and contested communal terrains, overshadowed by people and other animals, all of whose existence depends on ongoing botanical adaptation.

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