Contemporary Futures: The Analysis of Science Fiction

Abstract

The principal aim of this chapter is to explore some of the mechanics of analysing science fiction novels so as to reveal their social and historical character. I have chosen to discuss Pohl and Kornbluth’s Wolfbane,¹ but my main concern is less the inherent interest of this novel than illustrating a possible step-by-step procedure for moving from the words on the page to the complexities of their socio-cultural context. Readers approaching the analysis of SF texts for the first time will, I hope, find it useful to reapply such a procedure for themselves until they are confident of adopting a more flexible approach without sacrificing completeness. For this reason I have spelt out some of the more laborious detail which is often only implicit in critical analyses. Moreover, since any critical method is only ever the crystallisation of theory, whether or not conscious and explicit, I have tried throughout to suggest the theoretical rationale behind the procedures and their broader theoretical implications.