Hard Reading: Learning from Science Fiction / Tom Shippey.

What SF is. Coming out of the science fiction closet : 'Learning to read science fiction' -- Rejecting gesture politics : 'Literary gatekeepers and the fabril tradition' -- Getting away from the facilior lectio : 'Semiotic ghosts and ghostlinesses in the work of Bruce Sterling' -- SF and change. Getting serious with the fans : 'Science fiction and the idea of history' -- Getting to grips with the issue of cultures ... : 'Cultural engineering: a theme in science fiction' -- ... and not fudging the issue! : '"People are plastic": Jack Vance and the dilemma of cultural relativism' -- SF authors really mean what they say : 'Alternate historians: Newt, Kingers, Harry and me' -- A revealing failure by the critics : 'Kingsley Amis's science fiction and the problems of genre' -- A glimpse of structuralist possibility : 'The golden bough and the incorporations of magic in science fiction' -- Serious issues, serious traumas, emotional depth : 'The magic art and the evolution of words: Ursula Le Guin's "Earthsea" trilogy' -- SF and politics. A first encounter with politics : 'The Cold War in science fiction, 1940-1960' -- Language corruption, and rocking the boat : 'Variations on newspeak: the open question of Nineteen eighty-four' -- Just before the disaster : 'The fall of America in science fiction' -- Why politicians, and producers, should read science fiction : 'The critique of America in contemporary science fiction' -- Saying (when necessary) the lamentable word : 'Starship troopers, galactic heroes, mercenary princes: the military and its discontents in science fiction'.

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An exploration of politics and the role of the 'soft sciences' in Science Fiction.

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