Science Fiction in the Information Age Carol Colatrella

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Science Fiction in the Information AgeAuthor(s): Carol ColatrellaSource: American Literary History, Vol. 11, No. 3 (Autumn, 1999), pp. 554-565Published by: Oxford University Press

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S c i e n c e i c t i o n n t h

nformation g e

Carol Colatrella

The Dreams OurStuff Is

Made Of' How Science

Fiction Conquered heWorld

By Thomas M. Disch

Free Press, 1998

Frankenstein's

Daughters. Women

WritingScience Fiction

By Jane Donawerth

Syracuse University

Press, 1997

ImmortalEngines:LifeExtension and

Immortalityin Science

Fiction and FantasyEditedby GeorgeSlusser,

Gary Westfahl, ndEricS.

Rabkin

Universityof Georgia

Press, 1996

Political Science Fiction

Edited by Donald M.

Hassler and ClydeWilcox

Universityof South

CarolinaPress, 1997

Science Fiction and

Market RealitiesEditedby Gary Westfahl,

GeorgeSlusser,and Eric S.

Rabkin

Universityof GeorgiaPress, 1996

Let me begin with the obligatory autobiographical preface:I am not a scholar specializing in science fiction, nor am I a

science fiction writer or editor. And as a readerof science fiction,

I probablyqualify for advanced novice status, at least as I judge

my knowledge against that of some expert students in the science

fiction seminars that I have taught occasionally for a colleague.Yet like many Americans raised on 1960 and 1970s television,

films, and popular literature,I am conversantwith the classics of

science fiction, from novels by Jules Verne, George Orwell, and

Aldous Huxley to Star Trekand its descendants. Like many of

my generation, I appreciate the plots, characterizations,and set-tings of science fiction when I see them in popular culture, find-

ing such allusions and quotations to be sometimes glibly trouble-

some and at other times comforting in their recognizability.It is

a commonplace in our time to assert that readers of science fic-

tion are curious about the ever-increasingpresence that scientific

ideas and technological inventions occupy in our lives. We trea-

surethe celebratoryand fearsome aspects of science and technol-

ogy in acknowledging that even the most progressiveinnovations

might have hidden psychological or moral costs uncomfortableto bear.

In our postmodern, American way,we are alternatelyfasci-

nated and bored by the media descriptions of cutting-edge scien-

tific and technological areas such as reproductive technologies,

genetic research, computing memory and speed, meteor move-

ment, and other futuristic issues that impinge on our present-day

reality. These areas of study are no longer confined to the re-

search laboratory and the imaginative realm of science fictionbecause all of us daily confront the ways in which present yet

future-seemingtechnologies create and/or solve social problems.Science fiction and commentary have become in our contempo-rary world what Donald Pease calls in defining the New Amer-

ican Studies "a field-Imaginary" (1). The field-Imaginary of

contemporary science fiction (its topics, themes, stylistic conven-

tions, ideologies, etc.) has been imported into popular culture,







AmericanLiterary History 555

elite culture,and generalparlance.The frightening,Franken-steinian mageryof narrativesdescribingbiologicaland mecha-nisticadaptationsof the humancoincideswiththe realitiesof aworld n whichwecommunicate, alculate,andimaginewith theassistanceof computingdevices,somesmallenoughto wearor

carry.As microelectronicsngineersdelight n remindingus, it istheirabilityto craftsmaller, aster, ighterchipsthat drivesthemodernInformationRevolution.1 achpersonhas thepotentialto be wired,as NicholasNegropontenotesin describing he lat-

est items installedwith computerchips and testedby the MITmedialab.So, givenour history, iteraryand scientific, t is not

surprisinghatreadersof MaryShelley'snovelsuspectthat suchtechnicaladvantage o turneveryhumanbeinginto a walkingcomputermightlead to ethical,philosophical,and politicaldi-

lemmas,a premise hatwritershaveoutlined ncyberpunkitera-tureof the 1980sand 1990s.

Americanwriters,particularly hose moved by Shelley's

tale,havelong grappledwith science andtechnology n creatinga new nationalliterature, or our myth of nationalidentityisintertwinedwith ideas of scientificprogressand technologicalinnovationeven as individualauthorshaveexpressed uspicionand regretabout technicalpossibilities.2The most familiarex-

amplesappear n AmericanRenaissanceworks peculating boutthe moral influenceof naturalphilosophyandcriticallyevaluat-

ing the social costs of science. Edgar Allan Poe's hymnlike,cosmogonic prose poem Eureka 1848),Nathaniel Hawthorne's

dark stories of experimentalism("Rappacinni'sDaughter"[1848], "The Birthmark"1846],"Doctor Heidegger'sExperi-ment" 1837],"TheArtist of the Beautiful"1846]),andHermanMelville'seclectic fictions ("The Lightning-RodMan" [1856],"TheBell-Tower"1856],andMoby-Dick1851]) xamine cienceas a creative orceinevitably ransforminghosewho delveintoits mysteriesand,in somecases,anyoneelsewithina reasonabledistance(see Limon).

Nineteenth-centuryAmerican authors revealed

hopeand

skepticismconcerning he powerof scienceand technologytotransform social values (see Franklin).Reformerand author

LydiaMaria Childwroteradicallyn "HildaSilfverling:A Fan-

tasy"(1845)of the possibility hatcryogenic ciencemight per-mit a womanwronglyconvictedof her child'smurder o escapefromthe puritanicalandrepressive nvironmentnto which shewas born.3 Mark Twain'sA Connecticut Yankee n King Arthur's

Court(1889) satirizesscientific and technologicalprogressin

questioningwhethermodern nnovations eallyaid humansoci-ety.Thequestionof science's ocial influence tillhauntsmodern

. . our mythof national

identityis intertwined

with ideas of scientific

progressand

technologicalinnovation

evenas individualauthors

haveexpressedsuspicionand regretabout

technicalpossibilities.







556 ScienceFiction n theInformation ge

science fiction writers as they delineate the likely outcome of ourobsessions with technology by framing its use within narratives

concerned with convenience and cooperation or competitionand destruction.4

In our own time, science fiction'spossibilities have encour-

aged us to think globally and even universally.The currentpopu-

larity of galactic spectacles, whether comic or serious (think also

of the movies Independence Day [1996], Men in Black [1997],Contact[1997], Gattaca[1997], Deep Impact [1998],etc.), compli-cates our notions of high and low art, of distinct and rigid generic

boundaries, as the beauty and power of science and technology

impress audiences moved by the magnitude and insidious po-tential of ideas and innovations to damage individuals, social

groups, and whole civilizations. Many SF fictions, films, videos,and games have crossed over into mainstream venues that mix

politics and entertainment,which are no longer considered sepa-rate as television news executives seek to expand their audiences,

attractingreaders,computer users, and television watchers.Con-sider the phrase "Star Wars,"which has multiple referents-it

signifies a film indebted to the television series (also now a book

series) Star Trek,strategicdefense plans of the Reagan adminis-

tration, computer games available to children and adults alike

via the Internet or commercial purchase, and the documentarytelevision coverage of the Gulf War.Politics, commerce, and en-

tertainment converge, as news from Wall Street reminds us.

Defying the strict confines of science fictions, narrativecon-

ventions dependent on extraordinarymechanistic and biologicalpossibilities, supernaturalpowers, and immortality are now rou-

tinely incorporated in mainstream fiction, film, and television,for "vampiric,""ghostly,""alien,"or even "angelic"figures fre-

quently appear within quotidian stories in these media. As anytoddler's parent knows, Sesame Street now features explicitlyalien characters alongside the more humanized Bert, Ernie, and

Zoe, and the most popular US show for teenagers has one of

their own slayingvampireson a weekly basis. There is a subgenreof Hollywood comedy concerning body switching (of father and

son, mother and daughter, sister and sister) that presents such

transformations as mystical science. Our cultural preoccupationwith risk, particularlyin testing our chances in lotteries or other

forms of organized and state-sponsored gambling, has encour-

aged the representationon film of a supernaturalizedcomponentof luck: destiny, a concept that is especially appealing when in-

corporated into modern romances like Next Stop, Wonderland

(1998). It is not surprisingthat universitycourses in postmodernfiction inevitably include texts blurring the boundaries of main-







AmericanLiteraryHistory 557

stream and science fictionsuch as books by J.G. Ballard,Oc-tavia Butler, Michael Crichton, Thomas Pynchon, MargaretAtwood,and WilliamGibson,works hat shouldnot remain or-doned off into the large science fiction section of your localbookstorepreciselybecausethey speak to the interestsof the

generalreaderas much as to the traditional cience fiction fan.As a generalratherthan an expertreaderof the genre,I

differ rom sciencefictionpurists,as I havediscoveredn readingthe texts underreview,becauseI am overwhelmed atherthan

invigorated yits immenserangeandproductiveield-revision-ist histories,feministutopias,technological hrillers,and spacefictions-and becauseI have neither he technicalsavvynor the

patience o indulgewildspeculativeantasy hatencouragesSili-con Valley/Alleyprogrammers r spaceenthusiasts o read fic-tions forthe science's ake.I am bemusedby howsciencefictionnarratives erveas predictorsof scientificdiscoveriesand tech-

niqueswithin hetraditional omainsofutopias,alternateworlds,

immortality,imetravel,cloning,robots,andspacecolonies,butI am moreattracted o the powerof science fictionto trackandto motivatepoliticaland social changethan I am in its abilityto serveas a harbingerof scientificdiscovery.As an historicallymindedcritic of narrative, appreciate he commonfeature ofthe books under review n noticingscience fiction as concernedwith transformation, s FrederikPohl notes (citingTom Ship-pey) in claimingthat "sciencefiction is a literatureof change"(Hasslerand Wilcox7). The volumeseditedby GaryWestfahl,

GeorgeSlusser,and EricRabkinsimilarlyattribute hisdefiningprincipleof changeto those editorswho formulated nddefinedthe genre,fromHugo Gernsback,whose 1920sAmazingStories

promoted he genreand its practitioners,o John W.Campbell,Jr.,who wrote and spokemanifestoson what science fictionisversus what it is not (in his view a categorybest kept distinctfromfantasy,horror,andspeculativeiction).

Campbell is quoted in Science Fiction and Market Realities

as claiming that "[s]ciencefiction . .. unlike other literatures,as-sumesthatchange s thenaturalorderof things" 16),a boldand

overlyexclusionary tatement f one recognizes hat realistandnaturalistnarrativesmplicitlyor explicitlypromotepoliticalorsocial changeby delineating he humancost of the statusquo,such as HermanMelville's riticismof navaldiscipline n White-Jacket 1850),HarrietBeecherStowe'sof slavery n UncleTomsCabin(1852), Upton Sinclair'sof meatpacking n The Jungle(1906),or feminist iteraturedentifying he pain of patriarchal

oppression,such as Kate Chopin'sTheAwakening 1899) andCharlottePerkinsGilman's"TheYellowWallpaper"1892).Yet







558 Science Fiction in the InformationAge

although other kinds of fiction can be seen as promoting change,I agree with Campbell that only science fiction narratives focus

on change as imagined to have already taken place, as the fiction

is set in some futureperiod or in a past or presentwith a different

history or bearing different technological circumstances from

what the present-day reader knows. The reader can afford to be

retrospectively nostalgic in contemplating what is presumed to

have already happened as successful or not. Or,as Bruce Frank-

lin wrote so elegantly of nineteenth-centuryAmerican examples:

"From the perspective of the present, this science fiction of the

past shows just how much an age determines and displays itself

through what it sees as remote possibilities" (ix). The speculative

capacities of science fiction narrativesacknowledge ever-presentAmerican overlappinginterests in technological progressand re-

gretful optimism about social problems, so it is not surprisingthat in our definitively and defiantly ambivalent age contempo-

rary fictional narratives have incorporated the conventions and

strategies familiar from science fiction of what is bad about thegood or good about the bad.

In the early twentieth century, Campbell's pronouncementsaccounted for science fiction as a distinct genre examining the

possibilities of social change formulatedby scientificand techno-

logical developments in order to develop distinctive publishingvenues for science fiction (SF) and relatedgenres such as fantasy,but today criticswonder whether such a divide, if it exists, is goodfor SF. In 1988 Larry McCaffrey noted, "[I]thas only been dur-

ing the past twenty years that truly major literary talents havebeen drawn to science fiction in the country that produced the

atom bomb and landed on the moon" (1166), and he bemoaned

the fact that "theaccomplishments of science fiction have contin-

ued to remain overlooked by the literary establishment,"likelybecause "it emerged in the United States from the pulp maga-zines" (1167).5While print science fiction may have a limited fan

base (all too often presumedto be adolescent boys and men), the

Hollywood media spectacle has helped to make science fiction a

ubiquitous discourse within futuristic and historical realist fic-

tions because film's technologically enhanced language can now

serve our need to see enormous special effects made possible by

digital video editing, hence Kevin Reynolds's Waterworld1995)and James Cameron's Titanic (1997).6

The science fiction writers and critics representedin the vol-

umes under review (either in their own words or via critical anal-

yses of their novels and short stories) emphasize both classic and

popular culture features of the genre while also explicating itssignificance as a force for political change in Anglo-American








society.Speculationon SF conventions and on the impact ofSF principlesfor society are two intertwining hreadswoven

throughthe fivevolumesunderreview;however, he authors ofthe monographs,n the inevitabledepthand profundity hat isavailablen 200 rather han 20 pages,moresuccessfully xplainlargerculturaldimensionsof the science fictiongenre.Becausetwo of the threeanthologiesunder reviewdeveloped rompro-ceedingsof the annualEatonconferencen California-Immor-tal Engines,from the April 1992 conference, and Science Fiction

and MarketRealities,rom theApril1990conference-while thethird anthology, Political Science Fiction, reprints essays from a

1993specialissue of Extrapolations,heyrepresent significantcrosssection of viewsfromwriters,editors,and criticsthatcanbe readprofitablyby all readers nterested n the past, present,and futureof sciencefictionor in the relationsbetween iteratureand science.The Eaton volumesoffer short pieces bearingthe

signs of theiroriginas oralpresentationsfew footnotes,many

arch okes,andtheappearance f ad libs to otherspeakers) hatfocusrespectively n thetopicsof immortality ndtheeconomicworldof mostlyAmericanSF witha nod towardEuropeanSF,while Political Science Fiction collects longer and more devel-

opedessaysexamining pecificSF classicsproposingutopiasand

dystopiasdelineatedbyclassicandcontemporary F writers,n-

cludinga clusteron Star Trek.7Writtennthe vein of theideologicaland economicanalyses

making up Political Science Fiction, Jane Donawerth's Franken-

stein'sDaughtersadmirably onnectspolitical-social-ethicalal-ues describedby feministcultural heorists o similaraspectsoffictionalnarratives ywomen,but herideologicalcritique,devel-

oped in her university eachingof these narrativesand critical

works,restrictsher analysisin ways offensiveto those leeryofsuchclaims,notablyThomasDisch. Disch has writtenthe most

engagingbook of thisgroup n accounting ortheculturalrami-ficationsof sciencefictionwritingand reading.In additionto

supplying uicytidbitsof sciencefiction

gossip,Disch

supportshis criticalviewsby drawingon hisextensiveknowledgeof texts,writers,and the publishing ndustry,but his views,with the ex-

ceptionof his beingrepelledby what he perceivesas doctrinairefeminism,are not substantiallydifferent rom what his counter-

partsclaim in the other volumes.He acknowledges he market

pressureson writers and the powerof the SF word to inspiregood, in portrayingmulticulturalismn a positive ightand seek-

ing to resolve ethnic fragmentation,or evil, as his analysisof

TimothyMcVeigh's eadingof TheTurnerDiariesas inspirationfor the OklahomaCity bombingsdemonstrates.That Disch's







560 Science Fiction in the InformationAge

book has been printedby a major publishinghouse, been suc-cessfullymarketedo a generalaudience,andreceivedgenerallypositive reviews indicates that his argumentappeals to more

peoplethan fansof his science ictionandchildren's ooksortheattendeesatDragonConorotherscience iction anconventions.

Disch'schildren's ooks,whichhaveinspired he animatedmusical films The Brave Little Toaster (1987) and The Brave

Little Toaster Goes to Mars(1998), are similarlycarefullycrafted

to appealto thebroadestpossibleaudienceby imaging echnol-

ogy according o its humanlikevulnerabilities nd its futuristic

capabilities. f we believethat our applianceshavesentimentalattachments o us, as we have to them,then it is all too easy toshudderat the phrase "plannedobsolescence"when it is dis-cussedbyvariousappliances. t is not surprisinghatcontempo-rary ictionreflectsandrefractsourcontinuing ngagementwithold and newmedia,or to putthe situation n BraveLittleToaster

terms,wecannotthrowout ourappliances ven f theyaresuper-

sededbynewer,bettermodelsbecauseour old friendshave beengoodto us. AsWallStreetanalysts rack heapproachingonver-

genceof old andnewchannelsof information-telephone,tele-vision, and computing-cultural critics inevitablyremark onnovelizationsof films and televisionshows and the increasingtendencyof one medium o alludeto or quoteanother thinkoffilmor postmodern ictionalcharacters efinedby theirviewingof television howsand Internet anzinesdevoted o embellishingon mass media narratives).Media are not thrownaway, onlyabsorbed.

Alvinand Heidi Tofflerhave claimed hatoursis an infor-mationage, the third wavesucceedingpreviouseras formedbythe agricultural evolutionand the industrialrevolution.8n aninformationage, everyonebecomes a critic,for betteror worse,because the proliferationof informationencourages ransmis-sion, reception,sale,andexchangeas the basicmode of humanexistence,but the democratization f information s not neces-

sarilyempoweringor individualsor forsociety.As informationbecomes an availablecommodity,we all "know"whetherwewant/need/demandr not, abouteverything:romtheroyal am-

ily'sdisplayof griefafter PrincessDiana'sdeath to the intimatedetailsdrawn romthe sex livesof publicofficials.Each "factoid"seemspotentially mportant or futureconversation,whether tis relayedover a cellularphone, in an Internetchat room, orwithinproximity o a televisionstudio,in orderto understandthe floatingreferences f ourdayin headlinesand sound bites.

It is our ever-presentanxiety that we might be missingsomething mportant, ome bit of evidence hatmightmake the








whole case clear,that mightidentifywho is responsible or thecrime, ortherealwaysalready s a crime,whether t willbeeven-

tuallypunishedor not. Weare all Scullyand Mulder,of televi-sion's TheX-Files,searchingour familybackgrounds, ealthre-

cords,contemporary vents,andbasicallyeverythingo findtheevidence hatwill supportwhatwe suspectand fear-that thereis evil in the human soul, a looming conspiracy, ome powergreater han us, an alternateuniverse,extraterrestrialife, yourspouse/neighbor/bosswho is an alien. Perhaps ears about the

growingdiversityof our cultureor the loomingpresenceof thegovernmentand mediaintrudingupon the privateand the per-sonal shade our understanding f the future'spossibilities.AsAlexanderStarnotes, in a reviewof Disch'sbook: "Thebug-eyedextraterrestrialasjoinedthe folkloreof American ife,be-

comingone morefigure n the multicultural ageant" 10). Or

perhaps t is the sheerproliferation nd transmission f informa-tion thatgroundsour anxieties. nanycase,whetherdue to polit-

ical ideologyorpsychologicalatigue,we canattestto feelingsofdisorientation ommonto paranoia,drug psychosis,andmediaoverstimulation swe decodewhatevermessagesare availableorthepurposesof survival,recognizinghat all choices are contin-

gentlymade of equalpartsoptimismandanxiety.9Seekingedginessof mood andgenre,popularmedia of the

informationage-sampling in rap and hip-hopmusic, digitalvideonews ransmissionsntheInternet, ndcomputer-animatedspecialeffectsin televisionshows and films-incorporate tech-

nologiesinto existingdiscourses hatarenot quitethe sameforthe supplements,whetherthese be in the form of chemicalsor

computersncorporatednto thedrug-taking,yborgcharacters.0

Narrative ormsare alteredas all stories tend towardhyperme-dia:the readermustbe thoroughly ngagedandexperimentaln

puttingtogetherthe pieces that appearto escape our control.Like the cynicaland confusedCase,cyber-cowboynarratorofWilliamGibson'sNeuromancer1984),who quicklymoves fromconversationo conversation nd triesto

figureout who can be

trusted n an ageof virtualappearances,weyearn,flee,and findthe technologywe use as both attractive ndrepellant n its vio-

lence,andwe areeventually urprisedhat thereis moreto life,but perhapsnothingelse worthwritingabout, as Case'sstoryendsin an uncomplicated omanceandblandsurvival.

Recognizing ciencefictionas an influential enre n its useof linguisticand genericconventions, he texts underreviewde-lineatea tensionbetweenscience fiction'spowerto raise social

andpoliticalconsciousnessandthe economicpowerof themar-ketplace n disseminating ciencefictionworks. Life is difficult







AmericanLiterary History 563

grimmestpossibilitiesenvisionedby fiction,creatinga curiouskind of empowermenthatrefigures ur alienatedoss of controloverever-changingnddemandingdeas andinnovations.12

Nostalgia for the imaginedpresent s what science fictionis all about, says my local science fiction booksellerMarkSte-

phens,a situation hatmy colleagueAnneBalsamohasidentifiedas ourlonging o consider hegenreas "thehistoryof the future."

Althoughthe sciencefictionworldviewmore oftenthan not em-

phasizeshumanestrangement,Mark and Anne find themselvesinvenues nwhicheachis oftenengaged ncommunication boutsciencefictions,sharingreactions o fictionswithcustomers, ol-

leagues,and students,by theorizingabout fictionalparallels oculturalvalues and events.Those human nteractions,ikethoseat conventions, nevitablyadd to one'sappreciationof the textsand encourage he formationof readingcommunities hathelpto make the genrepopularand ubiquitous.Closingas I began,by acknowledginghe expertiseof readerswhose engagements

withsciencefictionrespectivelyeflectwidereadingandinterest-ing perspectives n culture,I realizethat its incredible bilityto

morphfromreality o possibilityand from one styleor ideologyto anotherprovidesscience fiction with its power.Because sci-ence fictionsimultaneouslyeplicates, einvigorates,ndreplacesnarrative trategiesand conventionswhileofferingculturalcri-

tiqueof the presentwrappedsometimeswithina past or future

setting,it speaksto almost anyone regardlessof status,career,age,nationality, thnicity, lass,or gender. n ourdiverse,multi-

cultural world createdby means of scientificpossibilitiesandtechnologicalapplications,any science fiction narrativehelpseventhe lessexpertreadermanagewhatcould be chaosbycreat-

inga seeminglyunmanageableictionalworldwithin he confinesof a book.

Notes

1. "Throughoutthe past fourdecades, both the productivityand performanceof microelectronics have advanced at exponential rates unmatched in techno-

logical history. The number of transistors per microchip has skyrocketedby a

factor of 100 million, while the cost of a chip has remained virtually constant.

And the amount of energy consumed in a binary switchingtransition has been

reduced by more than five decades Consequently,microelectronics has become

the principal driver of the modem Information Revolution" (Meindl 16-17).

2. In this paragraphand that following, I summarizepassages from my essay

"Science and Literature"(1999). Also see the recent textbook anthology The

EnglishLiteraturesof America, 1500-1800, edited by Myra Jehlenand Michael







564 Science Fiction in the Information Age

Warner(1997), which carefully links scientific and technological history in itssurvey.

3. "Hilda Silfverling"appeared in ColumbianLady'sand Gentleman'sMaga-

zine and was reprintedin Fact and Fiction: A Collectionof Stories (1846); Car-

olyn Karcher'sA LydiaMaria ChildReader(1997) includes the story (374-95).

4. Disch reports that the critic Morris Dickstein was somewhat perturbedto

hear George Orwell's 1984 (1949) described as science fiction (4). In the sum-

mer of 1998, the Modern Library list of 100 great novels in English provoked

similarresponses

from some surprisedto see Orwell's work and Aldous Hux-

ley's Brave New World 1932) included.

5. McCaffrey also points out that science fiction is a force for social change in

asserting that "some of the most significantnew directions in American fiction

indicates that our best writingcontinues to evolve in opposition to our culture's

reigning ideologies and its ongoing exploitation of people and language"

(1162).

6. According to the 1998 Market Share Reporter,fiction books account for

about two-thirds of all US book sales; general fiction books represent49% of

all fiction sales, children/youth'sfiction 20%,horror9%,mystery 8%,romance8%, and science fiction 6%. I thank Anne Garrison for her help in finding

this information.

7. See also Lynne Joyrich,Re-viewingReception:Television,Gender,and Post-

modernCulture 1996), and Bonnie Dow, Prime Time Feminism:Television,Me-

dia Culture,and the Women'sMovementsince 1970 (1996).

8. The Tofflers'books include Future Shock (1970), The Third Wave(1980),

and Powershift:Knowledge,Wealth,and Violence n the21st Century(1990).

9. Jodi Dean, Aliens in America: ConspiracyCulturesrom Outerspaceto Cy-

berspace(1998), makes the case more strongly than I do that Americans live in

a paranoid culture.

10. See David Porush, The Soft Machine:CyberneticFiction (1985), for a dis-

cussion of postmodern novels by Joseph McElroy, John Barth, Donald Bar-

thelme, Samuel Beckett, William Burroughs,Thomas Pynchon, and Kurt Von-

negut.

11. I thank my colleague Deborah Grayson for pointing out the significance

of Butler'ssetting Dana's contemporary life in the US bicentennial period.

12. See Winner,esp. chs. 1 and 2.

Works Cited

Colatrella, Carol. "Science and Liter- Franklin, H. Bruce. Future Perfect.

ature."Encyclopediaof AmericanLit- American Science Fictionof the Nine-

erature. Ed. Steven Serafin. New teenth Century. New York: OxfordYork:Continuum, 1999. UP, 1966.







American Literary History 565

Karcher, Carolyn. A Lydia Maria

Child Reader. Durham: Duke UP,

1997.

McCaffrey, Larry. "Fictions of the

Present." Columbia Literary History

of the United States. Ed. Emory El-

liott. New York: Columbia UP, 1988.

Limon, John. The Place of Fiction in

the Time of Science: A Disciplinary

History of American Writing. NewYork:Cambridge UP, 1990.

Meindl, James D. "Beyond a Pro-

found and Pervasive Impact." Re-

search Horizons 15.4 (1998): 16-17.

Negroponte, Nicholas. "Framing the

Future." Leadership Center Forum.

Marietta, Georgia. 28 Jan. 1997.

Pease, Donald. "New Americanists:

Revisionist Interventions into the

Canon:"boundary2 17.1 (1990): 1-37.

Star, Alexander. "The Truth Is Out

There."Rev. of TheDreams OurStuffIs Made Of, by Thomas Disch, and

Aliens in America,by Jodi Dean. New

York Times Book Review 9 Aug.1998:10-11.

Toffler, Alvin, and Heidi Toffler."Framing the Future." LeadershipCenter Forum. Marietta, Georgia. 28

Jan. 1997.

Winner,Langdon. The Whale and the

Reactor:A Search or Limits in an Age

of High Technology. Chicago: U of

Chicago P, 1986.

Science Fiction in the Information Age Carol Colatrella

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