Science Fiction A Critical Guide

First published in 1979. This volume presents Science Fiction as a coherent system, not as a collection of facts or random sequence of individual voices. The contributors are concerned with less with surveying the bare facts of the genre than with interpretating their significance. They attempt to establish the common properties of Science Fiction writing whether in the treatment of a theme or in SF of a given period or nationality.

This classic work is an essential tool for collection development, research, reference, and readers' advisory work."--BOOK JACKET.

The third edition (1987) of this annotated SF bibliography is cited in BCL3, Walford, and the Supplement to Sheehy . This revised and updated edition provides concise summaries and evaluations of some 2,100 works of fiction and over 800 works of nonfiction published from the genre's beginnings to th

The critical vocabulary of the mainstream often give short shrift to the fantastic, and scholars of the fantastic have often had to look elsewhere for their critical termionology. Such scholars will find Wolfe's work an excellent resource. Choice.

America in the 1950s was a cauldron of contradictions. Advances in technology chafed against a grimly conservative political landscape; the military-industrial complex ceaselessly promoted the "Communist menace"; young marrieds fled crumbling cities for artificial communities known as suburbs; and the corporate cipher known as "The Organization Man" was created, along with stifling images of women. The decade, huddled under the fear of nuclear holocaust, was also dedicated to all things futuristic. Science fiction was in its salad days, in magazines and novels and in motion pictures, trying every trick in the book to lure customers back from television, including reliance on monster movies. All of these forces collided in 1957, when an astounding 57 movies of the science fiction, horror and fantasy variety were shown in the United States--a record unmatched to this day. Reflecting some of the socio-political topics of the day, several are exceptional examples of their genres. This book critically discusses each of the films.