On the Grotesque in Science Fiction
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 11061540 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Istvan Csicsery-Ronay, István Csicsery‐rónay (corresponding author) |
| Year | 2002 |
| Volume | 29 |
| Issue | Part 1 |
| Pages | 71-99 |
| Publication date | 2002-03-01 |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Science Fiction Studies (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0091-7729 • E-ISSN: 2327-6207 |
| Publisher | University of California Press (PUBLISHER • US) |
| DOI | 10.1525/sfs.29.1.0071 |
| OpenAlex | W4409352868 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 3 |
The “sense of wonder” traditionally attributed to sf is closely allied to the grotesque, the aesthetic of representing objects interfused and combined in an unnatural fashion. In the postmodern period, the grotesque becomes a kind of norm, since science is able to detect and synthesize an unprecedented number of things never before seen in nature, The science-fictional grotesque begins from this premise, embodying in its central repertoire of anomalies a host of monsters, cyborgs, and aliens. The sf grotesque usually involves a descent from intellectual apprehension of anomalies into relentlessly mutable and mutating bodies, and these are often coded as feminine challenges to phallocratic scientific rationality. The essay treats Stanislaw Lem’s Solaris as a quintessential example of the literary sf-grotesque. In it, the grotesque core-object, the plasmic ocean, forces the Solarist scientists to reconceive their scientific rationality, while the narrative itself mutates from one form to another. The Alien films, by contrast, represent the spectacular sf-grotesque. In them, the bodies of the Aliens, the androids, and the humans undergo constantly metamorphosing embodiments and bodily relationships
Aesthetics · Art · Literature · Contemporary Literature and Criticism · Digital Games and Media · Utopian, Dystopian, and Speculative Fiction
| Citations per year | 0.33 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2017 - 2025 (9) |
| Highly cited | No |