{"product_id":"zone-theory-science-fiction-and-utopia-in-the-space-of-possible-worlds-9781800794382","title":"Zone Theory: Science Fiction and Utopia in the","description":"\u003cb\u003eBook Synopsis\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003e«This book elaborates a structure for the general family of utopian genres with marvelous clarity, and with it established, Popov can pursue all kinds of further insights about the relationships between these texts. As the world’s situation becomes more desperate, and the need for a new political economy more obvious, this complicated canon is becoming increasingly important: no longer just a minor literary genre, but rather a crucial aid to thinking about our social systems. The better we understand utopian narrative strategies, the more fully we can put them to use, so Popov’s excellent study is timely and interesting.»\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e(Kim Stanley Robinson, author of the \u003ci\u003eMars Trilogy \u003c\/i\u003eand \u003ci\u003eThe Ministry for the Future\u003c\/i\u003e)\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e«Alexander Popov’s \u003ci\u003eZone Theory\u003c\/i\u003e deftly guides us through the thickets of utopian theory and shows us why we should care, with fresh and convincing readings of a variety of science fictional texts. The writers explored here range from the usual suspects—Le Guin, Delany, Kim Stanley Robinson—to some not usually classed as utopian or dystopian, such as John Crowley and Brooke Bolander. Popov builds on the work of Tom Moylan and Fredric Jameson while adding important perspectives such as considering utopia as a hyperobject and using utopian theory to read the incongruous, unresolvable Zones of science fiction such as the Strugatskys’ Roadside Picnic and Jeff VanderMeer’s Southern Reach trilogy. I am happy to do as Popov suggests: to read utopias not only as ongoing processes rather than finished blueprints, as Moylan has taught us, but also to see them as a way of learning about the world. Utopia, says Popov, is \"an apparatus for registering difference at the level of societal organization\" and thus is always open to new discoveries and new antinomies: anti-utopias lead to anti-anti-utopias and so on without end.»\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e(Brian Attebery, Emeritus Professor of English and Philosophy at Idaho State University, author of \u003ci\u003eStories about Stories: Fantasy \u0026amp; the Remaking of Myth\u003c\/i\u003e)\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ci\u003e \u003c\/i\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eZone Theory\u003c\/i\u003e reinterprets utopia as an unceasing dialectic between totality and novelty which keeps on discovering new subjectivities and genres. Through close readings within a wide corpus of SF works, it meditates on utopian forms such as critical utopia, critical dystopia, heterotopia, atopia and ecotopia, ultimately tying them to the notion of \u003ci\u003eanti-anti-utopia\u003c\/i\u003e: a form of forms capacious enough to house a permanently open multiplicity of beings.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eTrade Review\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“This book elaborates a structure for the general family of utopian genres with marvelous clarity, and with it established, Popov can pursue all kinds of further insights about the relationships between these texts.  As the world’s situation becomes more desperate, and the need for a new political economy more obvious, this complicated canon is becoming increasingly important:  no longer just a minor literary genre, but rather a crucial aid to thinking about our social systems.  The better we understand utopian narrative strategies, the more fully we can put them to use, so Popov’s excellent study is timely and interesting.”  Kim Stanley Robinson, author of the Mars Trilogy and The Ministry for the Future  \"Alexander Popov’s Zone Theory deftly guides us through the thickets of utopian theory and shows us why we should care, with fresh and convincing readings of a variety of science fictional texts. The writers explored here range from the usual suspects—Le Guin, Delany, Kim Stanley Robinson—to some not usually classed as utopian or dystopian, such as John Crowley and Brooke Bolander. Popov builds on the work of Tom Moylan and Fredric Jameson while adding important perspectives such as considering utopia as a hyperobject and using utopian theory to read the incongruous, unresolvable Zones of science fiction such as the Strugatskys’ Roadside Picnic and Jeff VanderMeer’s Southern Reach trilogy. I am happy to do as Popov suggests: to read utopias not only as ongoing processes rather than finished blueprints, as Moylan has taught us, but also to see them as a way of learning about the world. Utopia, says Popov, is “an apparatus for registering difference at the level of societal organization” and thus is always open to new discoveries and new antinomies: anti-utopias lead to anti-anti-utopias and so on without end.\"  Brian Attebery, Emeritus Professor of English and Philosophy at Idaho State University, author of Stories about Stories: Fantasy \u0026amp; the Remaking of Myth\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eTable of Contents\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003eTable of Contents\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ci\u003e \u003c\/i\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eList of Figures\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003ePreface\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eAcknowledgements\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003ePermissions\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003e \u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003ePart One. Maps\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003eChapter One: Between Model and Monster\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003eChapter Two: Modalizing Utopia\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003eChapter Three: Six Excursuses on Modal Science Fiction\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003eChapter Four: The Utopian Diagram\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003cb\u003e \u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003cb\u003ePart Two. Fold\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003cb\u003eChapter Five: Topologies of Revolutionary Time. Critical Utopia, Critical Dystopia, Heterotopia\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003cb\u003eChapter Six: Non\/Inhuman Spaces and Economies of the Self\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003cb\u003eChapter Seven: Anti-Anti-Utopia and Totality\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003cb\u003e \u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003cb\u003ePart Three. Unfold\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003cb\u003eChapter Eight: Rewriting Myth and Genre. Narrative Modalities and Possible Worlds\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003cb\u003eChapter Nine: A Cartography of Zones. Inhuman Spaces and Ontological Ruination\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003cb\u003e \u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003cb\u003ePart Four. Refold\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003cb\u003eChapter Ten: Staying with the Singularity. Nonhuman Narrators and More-than-Human Mythologies\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003cb\u003eChapter Eleven: Anti-Anti-Utopia Redux. Utopia as Virus\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003e \u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eBibliography\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eIndex\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Peter Lang International Academic Publishers","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51042760196439,"sku":"9781800794382","price":36.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0817\/1739\/5799\/files\/9781800794382.jpg?v=1750955510","url":"https:\/\/bookcurl.com\/products\/zone-theory-science-fiction-and-utopia-in-the-space-of-possible-worlds-9781800794382","provider":"Book Curl","version":"1.0","type":"link"}