In 15 all-new essays, this volume explores how science fiction and fantasy draw on materials from ancient Greece and Rome, 'displacing' them from their original settings-in time and space, in points of origins and genre-and encouraging readers to consider similar 'displacements' in the modern world. Modern examples from a wide range of media and genres-including Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials and the novels of Helen Oyeyemi, the Rocky Horror Picture Show and Hayao Miyazaki's Spirited Away, and the role-playing games Dungeons and Dragons and Warhammer 40K-are brought alongside episodes from ancient myth, important moments from history, and more. All together, these multifaceted studies add to our understanding of how science fiction and fantasy form important areas of classical reception, not only transmitting but also transmuting images of antiquity. The volume concludes with an inspiring personal reflection from the New York Times-bestselling author of speculative fiction, Catherynne M. Valente, offering her perspective on the limitless potential of the classical world to resonate with experience today.
Author(s): Brett M. Rogers, Benjamin Eldon Stevens
Series: Bloomsbury Studies In Classical Reception
Publisher: Bloomsbury Academic/Bloomsbury Publishing
Year: 2019
Language: English
Pages: 249
Tags: Science Fiction: Classical Influences, Classical Literature: Influence
Cover page......Page 1
Halftitle page......Page 2
Series page......Page 3
Title page......Page 4
Copyright page......Page 5
CONTENTS......Page 6
ILLUSTRATIONS......Page 8
CONTRIBUTORS......Page 10
PREFACE......Page 12
INTRODUCTION DISPLACING ANTIQUITIES IN SCIENCE FICTION AND FANTASY......Page 14
Outline of volume......Page 15
Notes......Page 19
PART I DISPLACING POINTS OF ORIGIN......Page 20
CHAPTER 1 MORE ‘T’ VICAR? REVISITING MODELS AND METHODOLOGIES FOR CLASSICAL RECEPTIONS IN SCIENCE FICTION......Page 22
Revisiting the original post......Page 23
Methodological challenges......Page 24
Notes......Page 28
Introduction......Page 31
Gradiva and its readers: the archaeologist, the psychoanalyst, and the witch......Page 32
Archaeological fantasies......Page 36
A place for fantasy?......Page 39
Notes......Page 42
CHAPTER 3 TIME TRAVEL AND SELF-REFLEXIVITY IN RECEPTIONS OF HOMER’S ILIAD......Page 45
“Watch the scanners”: Doctor Who and the televised Trojan War......Page 46
“Meanwhile, on another dimensional plane at the self-same time”: Marvel’s Thor Annual #8: Thunder Over Troy......Page 50
Travelling through time: classical reception as science fiction......Page 57
Notes......Page 58
CHAPTER 4 MONUMENTS AND TRADITION IN JACK MCDEVITT’S THE ENGINES OF GOD......Page 61
Exo-archaeology and the monuments......Page 62
The decipherment of Linear C......Page 65
‘Hercules’ versus the Monument-Makers......Page 67
Conclusion......Page 69
Notes......Page 70
PART II DISPLACED IN SPACE......Page 74
‘Lyra’s Odyssey’......Page 76
Echoes of the Telemachy......Page 82
Homecoming and displacement......Page 84
Notes......Page 87
Off the path and into Greek myth......Page 89
Miyazaki’s connection to Greek myth......Page 90
Reading the Odyssey in Spirited Away......Page 92
Complicated characters......Page 95
Greek Underworld myths in Spirited Away......Page 97
Chihiro and Orpheus......Page 99
Conclusion......Page 100
Notes......Page 101
Introduction......Page 103
The Icarus Girl and other Icarian doubles......Page 105
Persephone in The Opposite House......Page 108
White is for Witching and Eurydice’s haunted-house tale......Page 110
Conclusion: Mr. Fox and an Ovidian Oyeyemi?......Page 112
Notes......Page 113
PART III DISPLACED IN TIME......Page 118
Introduction......Page 120
Atlas in Greco-Roman antiquity......Page 122
“Yours in perfect manhood”: (Charles) Atlas in the twentieth century......Page 124
Body building/building bodies: Frankenstein......Page 127
Atlas(es) in the Rocky Horror Picture Show......Page 129
Notes......Page 133
Introduction......Page 136
Acquiring and preparing the blood......Page 137
The blood and the dead......Page 138
Drinking the blood......Page 140
Between life and death......Page 145
Notes......Page 146
CHAPTER 10 FINDING CASSANDRA IN SCIENCE FICTION: THE SEER OF AGAMEMNON AND THE TIME-TRAVELLING PROTECTOR OF CONTINUUM......Page 148
Empowered: “What if she digs deeper?”......Page 150
Knowledge and identity: “That is need to know”......Page 152
Suffering: “Are you really going to roll the dice with her life?”......Page 153
Conclusion: “Clarity is a luxury in this business”......Page 156
Notes......Page 157
PART IV DISPLACING GENRE......Page 160
Level 1: A wandering monster......Page 162
Level 2: The nature of RPG narrative......Page 164
Level 3: Monster Manuals......Page 166
Level 4: The blood of Medusa......Page 171
Level 5: Deities and demigods......Page 177
Notes......Page 181
CHAPTER 12 THE GODS PROBLEM IN GENE WOLFE’S SOLDIER OF THE MIST......Page 185
Notes......Page 192
CHAPTER 13 THE DIVINE EMPEROR IN VIRGIL’S AENEID AND THE WARHAMMER 40K UNIVERSE......Page 196
The Divine Emperor of Virgil......Page 197
Making the God-Emperor of mankind: The Horus Heresy......Page 200
Fast forward: The God-Emperor long after the Horus Heresy......Page 202
Future imperfect: Spinning the web of 40K......Page 203
Notes......Page 206
PART V EPILOGUE: FINDING A PLACE IN DISPLACEMENT......Page 210
CHAPTER 14 JUST YOUR AVERAGE TUESDAY-MORNING MINOTAUR......Page 212
WORKS CITED......Page 217
INDEX......Page 242
