Introduction

Abstract

This chapter begins with a reading of the only other extant English language publication on Arabic SF (ASF): Reuven Snir’s 2000 article on the development of the genre. Snir argues that ASF lacks social commentary of the sort generally referred to as cognitive estrangement by scholars of SF; the chapter argues that this is not at all the case, and that ASF from its inception was strongly involved in criticism of its own societies, in terms of both their despotism and their inability or refusal to regard modern technology and the liberal social attitudes that accompany it as other than another manifestation of (neo)colonial dominance. Because Arabic societies lack formal protections for freedom of expression, these critiques are more disguised and subtle than they are in Western SF; if we take into account dominant tropes in Arabic literature, we can understand how the critiques manifest in early ASF novels. The remainder of the chapter explains which works each subsequent chapter will examine and how these analyses will fit into the study’s theses.