• Re-Evaluating Suvin: Brown Girl in the Ring as Effective Magical Dystopia

    Author(s):
    Lee Skallerup Bessette (see profile)
    Date:
    2008
    Group(s):
    GS Speculative Fiction, LLC 20th- and 21st-Century English and Anglophone, LLC Canadian, Postcolonial Literature, TC Postcolonial Studies
    Subject(s):
    Caribbean literature, Speculative fiction
    Item Type:
    Article
    Tag(s):
    Postcolonial literature
    Permanent URL:
    http://dx.doi.org/10.17613/M6QH0T
    Abstract:
    This paper will begin by looking at the historical theoretical relationship between science fiction and dystopia. It will then proceed to demonstrate how recent theorists have failed to adequately incorporate the practical changes authors have introduced to the genre, which includes the incorporation of aspects of magical realism. Brown Girl in the Ring will be shown to be an example of effective magical dystopia, while also being used to illustrate how the narrative challenges the former norms of the dystopian genre. Finally, this paper will argue that Suvin’s theory of cognitive estrangement must be re-evaluated – particularly in the dystopian genre – as a result of the normalization of the idea of the technological novum; that this normalization has necessarily led to the use of magic in the effective creation of dystopic universes; and that given this proper re-interpretation of Suvin’s theories, magical dystopias are revealed to provide opportunities for new theoretical applications of his concepts.
    Notes:
    Runner-Up, Foundation Essay Prize, 2006, (http://www.sf-foundation.org/essay.html)
    Metadata:
    xml
    Published as:
    Journal article     Show details
    Publisher:
    The Science Fiction Foundation
    Pub. Date:
    2008
    Journal:
    Foundation
    Volume:
    104
    Page Range:
    67 - 87
    ISSN:
    0306-4964258
    Status:
    Published
    Last Updated:
    6 years ago
    License:
    All Rights Reserved
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