Evaporating Genres: Essays on Fantastic Literature

Product Description


In this wide-ranging series of essays, an award-winning science fiction critic explores how the related genres of science fiction, fantasy, and horror evolve, merge, and finally "evaporate" into new and more dynamic forms. Beginning with a discussion of how literary readers "unlearned" how to read the fantastic during the heyday of realistic fiction, Gary K. Wolfe goes on to show how the fantastic reasserted itself in popular genre literature, and how these genres themselves grew increasingly unstable in terms of both narrative form and the worlds they portray. More detailed discussions of how specific contemporary writers have promoted this evolution are followed by a final essay examining how the competing discourses have led toward an emerging synthesis of critical approaches and vocabularies. The essays cover a vast range of authors and texts, and include substantial discussions of very current fiction published within the last few years.


Review


"There is much to admire in Evaporating Genres." Matthew Cheney, Strange Horizons

Strange Horizons"

There is much to admire in Evaporating Genres. Matthew Cheney,
Strange Horizons"

"There is much to admire in Evaporating Genres."--Matthew Cheney "Strange Horizons" (5/23/2011 12:00:00 AM)


Review


“Evaporating Genres is, as Wolfe’s work has always been, lively, impressively knowledgeable, and crystal clear. It is a major contribution, examining the ways genres function in the late 20th and early 21st centuries.” (Brian Attebery, author of Decoding Gender in Science Fiction)

“Profoundly knowledgeable about science fiction and fantasy fiction, the award-winning critic Gary K. Wolfe possesses both the wisdom and generosity of spirit necessary to consider these genres within the context of the wider literary culture; by doing so he miraculously illuminates them from within.” (Peter Straub, author of A Dark Matter)


About the Author


GARY K. WOLFE is a professor of humanities and English at Roosevelt University. He is the author of several books, most recently Soundings: Reviews 1992-1996 (2005), as well as hundreds of essays and reviews. In addition to his scholarly work, he is contributing editor and lead reviewer for Locus magazine.