Exploring the intersection of science fiction and Russian culture, this book delves into how the genre shaped a distinct vision of modernity in Russia. It highlights the ways Russian authors reimagined technological and social advancements, contrasting them with Western perspectives. Through analysis of key works and themes, the narrative reveals how science fiction became a vehicle for expressing national identity, philosophical inquiries, and critiques of contemporary society, ultimately influencing the broader cultural landscape.
The first collection of its kind, this anthology documents a radically different geography and history of science fiction in the world. Western, specifically Anglo-American, SF is not the only hub of the global trade of alternative realities and futures. Rather it is but only one of several competing flows and circuits of distribution, contacts, influence, translation, adaptation, and collaboration, across space and time. The essays collected here focus on arguably the biggest and most influential of those competing the socialist world and its extensive cultural networks across the global South and East. Written by scholars from around the world, the chapters address the «other» transatlantic of the Caribbean, Latin America, African America, and the Soviet Union; the surprising multitude of transnational networks behind the Iron Curtain; and asymptotic and subterranean discourses across Russia, India, and China. Science Fiction Circuits of the South and East is intended for scholars, students, and fans interested in science fiction, popular culture, comparative literature, film studies, postcolonialism, techno-science, translation studies, and the literature and cultures of China, Cuba, Germany, India, Mexico, Poland, and Russia.
