Lost in Space: Probing Feminist Science Fiction and Beyond

by Barr, Marleen S.

• ISBN13: 9780807844212
• ISBN10: 0807844217
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1993-11-01
• Publisher: UNIV OF NORTH CAROLINA PRESS

Summary

Archaeologists and anthropologists discover other civilizations; science fiction writers invent them. In this collection of her major essays, Marleen Barr argues that feminist science fiction writers contribute to postmodern literary canons with radical alternatives to mainstream patriarchal society. Because feminist science fiction challenges male-centered social imperatives, it has been marginalized and dismissed from the canon--thus, lost in space. Moving beyond feminist science fiction itself, Barr goes on to examine other literary genres from the perspective of 'feminist fabulation'--a term she has coined to encompass science fiction, fantasy, utopian literature, and mainstream literature that critiques patriarchal fictions. Discussing the works of such writers as Margaret Atwood, Joanna Russ, Salman Rushdie, Paul Theroux, Ursula Le Guin, Herman Melville, Saul Bellow, Edgar Allan Poe, and Marge Piercy, Barr illuminates feminist science fiction's connections to other literary traditions and contemporary canons. Her critical analysis yields a new and expanded understanding of feminist creativity.

Author Biography

Marleen S. Barr, associate professor of English at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University

Table of Contents

Foreword by Marge Piercy: Marleen Barr's Lost and Found	p. ix
Acknowledgments	p. xiii
Introduction: Patriarchal Hocus-Pocus	p. 1
Before Feminist Fabulation: Feminist Science Fiction
Thelma and Louise: Driving toward Feminist Science Fiction	p. 21
Anne McCaffrey Portrays a Female Artist	p. 30
Suzy McKee Charnas, Sally Gearhart, and Marge Piercy Depict Sex and the Single Feminist Utopian Quasi-tribesperson	p. 39
Jessica Amanda Salmonson's "The Prodigal Daughter" and Feminist Science Fiction's Traditions	p. 50
Science Fiction's Invisible Female Men: Joanna Russ's "When It Changed" and James Tiptree's "The Women Men Don't See"	p. 59
Men in Feminist Science Fiction: Marge Piercy, Thomas Berger, and the End of Masculinity	p. 67
Suzy McKee Charnas, Zoe Fairbairns, Katherine Marcuse, and Kate Wilhelm Blur Generic Conventions: Pregnancy and Power in Feminist Science Fiction	p. 81
After Feminist Fabulation: Feminist Postmodernism
Octavia Butler and James Tiptree Do Not Write about Zap Guns: Positioning Feminist Science Fiction within Feminist Fabulation	p. 97
Antipatriarchal Fabulation; or, The Green Pencils Are Coming, the Green Pencils Are Coming	p. 108
Haroun and Seeing Women's Stories: Salman Rushdie and Marianne Wiggins	p. 141
Ursula Le Guin's "Sur" as Exemplary Humanist and Antihumanist Text	p. 154
Aliens, Airplanes, and Cultural Cross-dressing: Reading Buchi Emecheta, Haruki Murakami, and Paul Theroux	p. 171
Ms. Sammler's Planet: Margaret Atwood, Saul Bellow, and Joanna Russ Rescue the Female Child's Story	p. 196
Permissions	p. 223
Index	p. 225
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