The Bubble Metropolis

Manhattan Island Crises in Contemporary Science Fiction

Bibliographic Data

ID12873554
AuthorsWang Liao (0000-0001-6192-0837, Beihang University, corresponding author)
Year2024
Volume20
Issue1
Publication date2024-03-27
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueIsland Studies Journal (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1715-2593 • E-ISSN: 1715-2593
PublisherBeewolf Press Limited (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.24043/001c.94618
OpenAlexW4393230197
LanguageEN
Citations received1
References cited18

As “the island at the center of the world,” Manhattan has inspired countless writers and has served as a spatial archetype in science fiction’s world-building. From the interdisciplinary perspective of literature and economics, this article discusses the crisis imagination of the “bubble metropolis” in five contemporary Manhattan-related science fiction novels including Cities in Flight (1970), The Blister (1975), Terminal World (2010), Zone One (2011), and New York 2140 (2017). The spatial variety of Manhattan Island in these science fiction novels is closely combined with its economic condition. The characters, plots, and spatial imagery of these novels gather to reflect the different stages of the operation of a bubble economy, illustrating a historical cycle of capitalism that can never be escaped. Manhattan Island has long been the symbol of the world’s rush for wealth. The fear of economic recession, environmental degradation, and class conflict have formed the special geographical features of the island in the future. The crisis imagination of the “bubble metropolis” also seeks to stimulate critical thinking on economic ethics, urban design, and high technology, calling for social justice and public welfare

Art · Capitalism · Dystopia · Economics · Economy · Literature · Political science · Recession · Sociology · Symbol (formal · Variety (cybernetics · Crime and Detective Fiction Studies · History · Housing, Finance, and Neoliberalism · Law

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