Publications [#384757] of N. Katherine Hayles

Books

1. Slusser, G; Westfahl, G; Hayles, NK; Benford, G. Science Fiction: Toward a World Literature. January, 2022. 1-353 pp.
   (last updated on 2026/01/18)

   Abstract:
   In what N. Katherine Hayles describes as "this enormously ambitious posthumous volume, " renowned scholar George Slusser offers a definitive version of the argument about the history of science fiction that he developed throughout his career: that several important ideas and texts, routinely overlooked in other critical studies, made significant contributions to the creation of modern science fiction as it developed into a truly global literature. He explores how key thinkers like René Descartes, Benjamin Constant, Thomas DeQuincey, Guy du Maupassant, J.D. Bernal, and Ralph Waldo Emerson influenced and are reflected in twentieth-century science fiction stories from the United States, Great Britain, France, Germany, Poland, and Russia. The conclusion begins with Slusser's overview of global science fiction in the twenty-first century and discusses recent developments in countries like China, Romania, and Israel. Hayles's foreword provides a useful summation of the book's contents, while science fiction writer Gregory Benford contributes an afterword providing a personal perspective on the life and thoughts of his longtime friend. The book was edited by Slusser's former colleague Gary Westfahl, a distinguished scholar in his own right.