Celestial Empire: The Emergence of Chinese Science Fiction

Celestial Empire: The Emergence of Chinese Science Fiction (Early Classics of Science Fiction)

Challenging assumptions about science fictionâ€™s Western origins, Nathaniel Isaacson traces the development of the genre in China, from the late Qing Dynasty through the New Culture Movement. Through careful examination of a wide range of visual and print mediaâ€”including historical accounts of the institutionalization of science, pictorial representations of technological innovations, and a number of novels and short storiesâ€”Isaacson makes a case for understanding Chinese science fiction as a product of colonial modernity. By situating the genreâ€™s emergence in the transnational traffic of ideas and material culture engendered by the presence of colonial powers in Chinaâ€™s economic and political centers, Celestial Empires explores the relationship between science fiction and Orientalist discourse. In doing so it offers an innovative approach to the study of both vernacular writing in twentieth-century China and science fiction in a global context.

Celestial Empire: The Emergence of Chinese Science Fiction (Early Classics of Science Fiction)