Possible Mountains and Rivers
The Zen Realism of Kim Stanley Robinson's Three Californias
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 3856577 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Istvan Csicsery-Ronay, István Csicsery‐rónay (corresponding author) |
| Year | 2012 |
| Volume | 20 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Pages | 149-185 |
| Publication date | 2012-03-01 |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Configurations (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1063-1801 • E-ISSN: 1080-6520 |
| Publisher | Project MUSE (PUBLISHER • US) |
| DOI | 10.1353/con.2012.0003 |
| OpenAlex | W2080953561 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 1 |
| References cited | 6 |
While Buddhist sensibilities pervade all of Kim Stanley Robinson's fiction, their most aesthetically consistent development can be found in his first major achievement, the three novels depicting alternative futures for southern California: The Wild Shore, The Gold Coast , and Pacific Edge . Zen realism is quite rare in science fiction, since the genre's most characteristic topoi are alien to Zen's insistence on suchness. That is why Robinson's vision is so distinctive. Each novel in its own way meshes science fiction and the aesthetic values of Zen: in narrative protocols, in linguistic style, and in the relationship between reader and text
Aesthetics · Alien · Art · Art history · Literature · Narrative · Realism · Shore · Sociology · Topos theory · Gothic Literature and Media Analysis · History · Philosophy · Religious Studies and Spiritual Practices · Utopian, Dystopian, and Speculative Fiction · Geology · Oceanography
| Citations per year | 0.14 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2019 - 2019 (1) |
| Highly cited | No |