Brian Attebery
Biographic Data
| ID | 783233 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Brian Attebery |
| GIVEN NAMES | Brian |
| FAMILY NAME | Attebery |
| SIGNATURE | ATTEBERY B |
| VERIFIED | No |
| TOTAL WORKS | 10 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 9 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 10 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1987 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2024 |
| H-INDEX | 2 |
Affordances of Fantasy
Each of the functions of fantasy described by J. R. R. Tolkien in his essay “On Fairy-Stories” can be reframed through affordance theory into a kind of re-visioning. Such re-visioning is comparable to the formalist notion of defamiliarization or the science fiction technique that Darko Suvin called “cognitive estrangement.” Whereas science fiction projects alternative futures, fantasy's affordances allow writers to generate alternative worldviews…
Frankenstein and the Science of Dreaming
Science fiction claims Mary Shelley's Frankenstein as a progenitor on the basis of its extrapolation from speculations by Erasmus Darwin and others about the nature and origins of life. An equally strong narrative thread in the novel about extraordinary states of mind is usually taken as evidence of its grounding in supernatural and gothic fiction. The novel applies the same materialist assumptions and reasoned approach to dreaming, however, that…
How Does Zhe Know
Decoding Gender in Science Fiction
From Frankenstein to futuristic feminist utopias, Decoding Gender in Science Fiction examines the ways science fiction writers have incorporated, explored, and revised conventional notions of sexual difference. Attebery traces a fascinating history of men's and women's writing that covertly or overtly investigates conceptions of gender, suggesting new perspectives on the genre.
Fantasy and the Ironic Imagination
Aboriginality in Science Fiction
Science fiction in colonial societies such as Australia can function as what Mary Louise Pratt calls an "art of the contact zone"-an imaginative space within which groups define themselves and negotiate their cultural differences. Australian sf falls into three periods with regard to its treatment of Aboriginal characters and traditions. In the first, from the 1890s to at least the 1960s, native characters are treated as subhuman and Aboriginal b…
Super Men
The superman story has long been a staple of science fiction, combining wish-fulfillment fantasy with the scientific rationale of Darwinian evolution. Under the prodding of John W. Campbell, Jr., nearly every writer of the Golden Age produced at least one such story, and some, like A.E. Van Vogt, wrote little else. In a story that critiques the superman scenario, Philip K. Dick revealed the gender assumptions underlying both the literary and the …
Teaching Fantastic Literature
American Studies: A Not So Unscientific Method
American Studies: A Not So Unscientific Method Brian Attebery (bio) It has become commonplace in recent discussions of cultural studies to refer to American studies as an unsuccessful predecessor, something born in a burst of postwar enthusiasm about 1945 and then collapsed by the mid-1960s. The main reason for its collapse, according to commentators like Jeffrey Louis Decker and Patrick Brantlinger, is a lack of theoretical rigor that led to unc…
Women Worldwalkers: New Dimensions of Science Fiction and Fantasy
Woman: The Other Alien in Alien - Rebecca Bell-Metereau Responsibilities and Temptations of Women Science Fiction Writers - Marion Zimmer Bradley Women and Technology in Science Fiction: An Uneasy Alliance - Valerie Broege Earth Mothers or Male Memories: Wilhelm, Lem, and Future Women - Patrice Caldwell The Classical Humanism of Philip K. Dick - Peder Christiansen Types of Feminist Fantasy and Science Fiction - Kathleen Cioffi Orders of Chaos: Th…
American Studies: A Not So Unscientific Method
American Studies: A Not So Unscientific Method Brian Attebery (bio) It has become commonplace in recent discussions of cultural studies to refer to American studies as an unsuccessful predecessor, something born in a burst of postwar enthusiasm about 1945 and then collapsed by the mid-1960s. The main reason for its collapse, according to commentators like Jeffrey Louis Decker and Patrick Brantlinger, is a lack of theoretical rigor that led to unc…
Super Men
The superman story has long been a staple of science fiction, combining wish-fulfillment fantasy with the scientific rationale of Darwinian evolution. Under the prodding of John W. Campbell, Jr., nearly every writer of the Golden Age produced at least one such story, and some, like A.E. Van Vogt, wrote little else. In a story that critiques the superman scenario, Philip K. Dick revealed the gender assumptions underlying both the literary and the …
Aboriginality in Science Fiction
Science fiction in colonial societies such as Australia can function as what Mary Louise Pratt calls an "art of the contact zone"-an imaginative space within which groups define themselves and negotiate their cultural differences. Australian sf falls into three periods with regard to its treatment of Aboriginal characters and traditions. In the first, from the 1890s to at least the 1960s, native characters are treated as subhuman and Aboriginal b…
Women Worldwalkers: New Dimensions of Science Fiction and Fantasy
Woman: The Other Alien in Alien - Rebecca Bell-Metereau Responsibilities and Temptations of Women Science Fiction Writers - Marion Zimmer Bradley Women and Technology in Science Fiction: An Uneasy Alliance - Valerie Broege Earth Mothers or Male Memories: Wilhelm, Lem, and Future Women - Patrice Caldwell The Classical Humanism of Philip K. Dick - Peder Christiansen Types of Feminist Fantasy and Science Fiction - Kathleen Cioffi Orders of Chaos: Th…
Teaching Fantastic Literature
American Studies: A Not So Unscientific Method
American Studies: A Not So Unscientific Method Brian Attebery (bio) It has become commonplace in recent discussions of cultural studies to refer to American studies as an unsuccessful predecessor, something born in a burst of postwar enthusiasm about 1945 and then collapsed by the mid-1960s. The main reason for its collapse, according to commentators like Jeffrey Louis Decker and Patrick Brantlinger, is a lack of theoretical rigor that led to unc…
Super Men
The superman story has long been a staple of science fiction, combining wish-fulfillment fantasy with the scientific rationale of Darwinian evolution. Under the prodding of John W. Campbell, Jr., nearly every writer of the Golden Age produced at least one such story, and some, like A.E. Van Vogt, wrote little else. In a story that critiques the superman scenario, Philip K. Dick revealed the gender assumptions underlying both the literary and the …
Aboriginality in Science Fiction
Science fiction in colonial societies such as Australia can function as what Mary Louise Pratt calls an "art of the contact zone"-an imaginative space within which groups define themselves and negotiate their cultural differences. Australian sf falls into three periods with regard to its treatment of Aboriginal characters and traditions. In the first, from the 1890s to at least the 1960s, native characters are treated as subhuman and Aboriginal b…
Fantasy and the Ironic Imagination
Decoding Gender in Science Fiction
From Frankenstein to futuristic feminist utopias, Decoding Gender in Science Fiction examines the ways science fiction writers have incorporated, explored, and revised conventional notions of sexual difference. Attebery traces a fascinating history of men's and women's writing that covertly or overtly investigates conceptions of gender, suggesting new perspectives on the genre.
How Does Zhe Know
Affordances of Fantasy
Each of the functions of fantasy described by J. R. R. Tolkien in his essay “On Fairy-Stories” can be reframed through affordance theory into a kind of re-visioning. Such re-visioning is comparable to the formalist notion of defamiliarization or the science fiction technique that Darko Suvin called “cognitive estrangement.” Whereas science fiction projects alternative futures, fantasy's affordances allow writers to generate alternative worldviews…
Frankenstein and the Science of Dreaming
Science fiction claims Mary Shelley's Frankenstein as a progenitor on the basis of its extrapolation from speculations by Erasmus Darwin and others about the nature and origins of life. An equally strong narrative thread in the novel about extraordinary states of mind is usually taken as evidence of its grounding in supernatural and gothic fiction. The novel applies the same materialist assumptions and reasoned approach to dreaming, however, that…
Art (8 works) · Literature (4 works) · Psychology (4 works) · Utopian, Dystopian, and Speculative Fiction (4 works) · Fantasy (3 works) · Cognitive psychology (2 works) · Folklore, Mythology, and Literature Studies (2 works) · Psychoanalysis (2 works) · Sociology (2 works) · Academic Freedom and Politics (1 works)