Global Science Fiction: Essays on the International Imagination

Science fiction represents a diverse community of writers and readers that spans the entire world. This collection provides a global tour of the genre, with essays about Latin American, European, African, Arabic, Indian, Japanese, and Chinese science fiction providing insights about how writers around the world have explored and reinvigorated the genre. Essays by prominent critics from five continents inform about particular cultures and analyze representative texts by authors such as Tobias S. Buckell, Lourenco Mutarelli, Stanislaw Lem, Masande Ntshanga, Tawfiq Al-Hakim, Anil Menon, and Cixin Liu.

The contributing scholars examine how national experiences have shaped these narratives, which often differ strikingly from Anglo-American science fiction. An introductory survey of foreign-language science fiction in the United States endeavors to explain why so many of these texts have remained unknown to Anglophone readers. An extensive bibliography lists numerous resources for further study of science fiction from various parts of the world.

Gary Westfahl, a professor emeritus at the University of La Verne, California, has authored, edited, or co-edited 31 books about science fiction and fantasy, and hundreds of articles and reviews. In 2003, he received the Science Fiction Research Association’s Pilgrim Award for his lifetime contributions to science fiction and fantasy scholarship.