Publisher: Peter Lang Publishing
“As the first of its kind, the present study of Ukrainian science fiction encompasses both the historical and thematic features of this genre. It contains a discussion of the representative and the most imaginative Ukrainian science fiction works published by writers residing in Ukraine and abroad.
The initial part of the study focuses on the historical legacy of Ukrainian science fiction, with a special emphasis on the authors of the formative period and the émigré authors who wrote after the Second World War, but were totally ignored during the Soviet political hegemony. It is followed by an analysis of the impact of Soviet ideology on the science fiction that prevailed in Ukraine from the 1920s to the late 1950s.
With the relaxation of political controls over literature, publications of Ukrainian science fiction after the 1960s were so numerous that it was not feasible to obtain and to examine all these items. However, the novels and stories that were utilized in this study do provide a representative sample of the themes that comprise the main thrust of Ukrainian science fiction from the early 1960s to the end of the 20th century.”
Contents
Preface
1. Introduction
The Parameters of Science Fiction
History of Science Fiction
International Science Fiction
Ukrainian Science Fiction
2. Harbingers of Ukrainian Science Fiction
Utopia in Belles Lettres
A Populist’s Utopian Vision
Life on Mars
3. The First Ukrainian Utopia
4. Krat’s Religious Utopia
5. By the Power of the Sun
6. The Solar Machine
7. The First Space Voyages
8. Technology and Ideology
9. Emigré Science Fiction
10. Space and Time Travels
11. Encounters with Aliens
12. Evolution of Robots
13. Androids and Biokibers
14. Cyborgs and Syhoms
15. From Manhood to Godhood
16. Science Fiction Mythology: The Star Corsair
17. Science Fiction Mythology: The Gospel of Jesus
18. Cosmic Laughter: Humour in Science Fiction
19. Conclusion
20. Selective Chronological Bibliography
Index of Names
Walter Smyrniw is Professor Emeritus at McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada.
He published numerous articles on nineteenth and twentieth-century Russian and Ukrainian literature in North American and European Slavic journals. He is the author of Ukrainian Prose Manual and Turgenev’s Early Works and co-editor of Studies in Honour of Louis Shein and Socialist Realism Revisited.
Ukrainian Science Fiction. Historical and Thematic Perspectives - Walter Smyrniw