Scraps Of The Untainted Sky: Science Fiction, Utopia, Dystopia

Scraps of the Untainted Sky Cultural Studies Series Pauf Smith, Series Editor Scraps of t!ze litztazlinted Sky: Scierzce Fictiarz, Utopia, Clystopia, Tom Mtyf an Turning the Century: Essays in iWdia and Cultural St-udies,edited by Carot Stabile iUidfieldcsl-"sUo~zerzt: hlitz't-S,Litel-atiure, aarzd Culture in Corrtempara;~y South Africa, Grant Farred The Atldience and Its Landscape, edited b y John Hay, Laure-enceGrossberg, ancl Ellcn Wartella Art laud the Courrlni~eJEye: The Ctlltuml Functions afIruragery, RRichard Leppert Vouth, Mzrrrier, Spectacle: The Czlltuml hlitics c$''Youth in CrI;Sisjn Charles R. Acland Enlightenell Racism: The Cosby Show, Audiences>arzd the Pvfyth of t!ze American Dream, Sut Jhally and Justin Lewis Forthcoming Postmodernlsrn an J the hlirics of "Cgrltgdre," Adam Kafz Scraps o Science Fiction, Utopia, Dystopia crnber of the Perseus Baoks Group AI1 rights reserved, Printed in the United States of h ~ e r i c aNo , part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any forrn or by any means, ejectronic or mechdniwl, including phorocopy, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system, withaur permission ill writing from the LwuMisher. Copyright Q 2000 by Wet;tview Press, A Mernber of the Perseus Boi~ksGroup Published in 2000 in the United States of America by Westview Ress, 5500 Central Avenue, Boulder, Colorado 80304-2877, and in the United Kingdom by Westview Press, 12 Hid5 Copse Road, Curtllzor Will, Oxford 0x2 91J Visit us 012 the iYt~rld%TkteiYcb at w\~\~.i~~ctstviewpress,com Library of Congess Catatoging-in-Publicatio11 Data Moylan, %m, 1943Scraps af the untai~ltedsky: science fictio~z,utopia, dysropialThomas iMoylnn. p. cm..--- (Cultural studies series) Includes bibliographical references and index, ISBN 0-8133-9758-5 1, Science fiction-History and criticism, 2. Dysropias in literdrure. 3, Utopias in literdrure. I. Tide. 11. Cultural studies. The payer used in this publcation meets the recluirements of the American National Standard for Perrxlanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials 239.48-1984. As he spoke, the whole city was broken like a honeycomb. An airship had sailed in through the vomitory into a ruined wharf: It crashed downwards, exploding as it went, rending gallery afier gallery with its wings of steel. For a moment they saw the nations of the dead, and, before they joined them, scraps of the untainted sky. This page intentionally left blank Contents PART ONE SCIENCE JFlCTION AND UTOPIA 1. Dangerous Visions 2 Absent Paradigms 3 flaring to t>weam PART TWO: IDVSTOPIA 4 New Maps of Hell 5 The Dystoyian Turn 6 The Critical. t>ystopia PART THREE: DYSTOPIAN MANEWERS 7 Kirn Stanfey Robinst-,nk Other Califc):,rnia 8 Octavia Butler's Parables 9 Marge Piercy's Tale of Hope l0 Horizons This page intentionally left blank Excerpts from the foltoMring copyrighted material appear by permissiczn. Any additional arrangements or oversights will be corrected in subsequent editions. "Against the Great Defeat of the Wc~rld'%y John Berger; reprinted by permission of the Xllstitute of Race Relations, The Concept of Utopia by Ruth Levitas; copyright @ 11990 by Ruth Levitas; reprinted by permission of the author. "The Ccrncept of Utopia in the Work of Fredric Jameson" by Peter Fitting; reprinted by permission of UtopZarz Studies. "Dreamwood" the lines from ""Dreamwood," from Time? Power: Poems 1985-1988 by Adrienne Rich. Used by permission of the author and W Nczrton 8F Company, Inc. The Gold Coast.by Kim S~ilnleyRobinson; excerpts, copyright @ l988 by Kim Stanley Robinson; reprinted by permission ofil~eauthor, Orb Books, and HarperCollins. He3 She and It (published in Engiand as Body ofG2as