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The Emergence of Latin American Science Fiction
Early Classics of Science Fiction
Sales Date: 2011-07-01
A fantastic voyage through the early science fiction of Latin America
Early science fiction has often been associated almost exclusively with Northern industrialized nations. In this groundbreaking exploration of the science fiction written in Latin America prior to 1920, Rachel Haywood Ferreira argues that science fiction has always been a global genre. She traces how and why the genre quickly reached Latin America and analyzes how writers in Argentina, Brazil, and Mexico adapted science fiction to reflect their own realities. Among the texts discussed are one of the first defenses of Darwinism in Latin America, a tale of a time-traveling history book, and a Latin American Frankenstein. Latin American science fiction writers have long been active participants in the sf literary tradition, expanding the limits of the genre and deepening our perception of the role of science and technology in the Latin American imagination. The book includes a chronological bibliography of science fiction published from 1775 to 1920 in all Latin American countries.
List of Illustrations
Acknowledgments
Introduction: Latin American Science Fiction Discovers Its Roots
DISPLACEMENT IN SPACE AND TIME: THE LATIN AMERICAN UTOPIA AND DYSTOPIA
Fósforos-Cerillos, "Mexico in the Year 1970"
Joaquim Felício dos Santos, Pages from the History of Brazil Written in the Year 2
Eduardo Ladislao Holmberg, The Marvelous Journey of Mr. Nic-Nac . . .
Eduardo de Ezcurra, In the Thirtieth Century
Godofredo Barnsley, Sao Paulo in the Year 2 . . .
Eduardo Urzaiz, Eugenia
THE IMPACT OF DARWINISM: CIVILIZATION AND BARBARISM MEET EVOLUTION AND DEVOLUTION
Augusto Emílio Zaluar, Doctor Benignus
Eduardo Ladislao Holmberg, Two Factions Struggle for Life
Leopoldo Lugones, "Essay on a Cosmogony in Ten Lessons," "The Origin of the Flood," "Yzur"
Joaquim Manuel de Macedo, "The End of the World"
Aluísio Azevedo, "Demons"
Amado Nervo, "The Last War"
Martín Luis Guzmán, "How the War Ended in 1917"
STRANGE FORCES: EXPLORING THE LIMITS OF SCIENCE
Eduardo Ladislao Holmberg, Two Factions Struggle for Life [coda]
Carlos Olivera, "Death at a Fixed Hour"
Leopoldo Lugones, "The Omega Force," "Psychon," "An Inexplicable Phenomenon," "Viola Acherontia," "Metamusic"
Miguel Cané, "The Harmonies of Light"
Juana Manuela Gorriti, "He Who Listens May Hear—To His Regret: Confidence of a Confidence"
Pedro Castera, "A Celestial Journey," Querens
Amado Nervo, The Soul-Giver, "The Sixth Sense"
THE DOUBLE: FROM SCIENCE TO TECHNOLOGY
Eduardo Ladislao Holmberg, "Horacio Kalibang or The Automatons"
Alejandro Cuevas, "The Apparatus of Doctor Tolimán"
Horacio Quiroga, The Artificial Man, "The Portrait," "The Vampire"
Conclusion: A Global Genre in the Periphery
Chronology: Latin American Science Fiction through 1920
Notes
Bibliography
Primary Texts
Secondary Sources
Index
RACHEL HAYWOOD FERREIRA is an associate professor of Spanish and Portuguese at Iowa State University. Her articles on early and golden age Latin American science fiction have appeared in Science Fiction Studies, Hispania, Journal of the Fantastic in the Arts, and Extrapolation.
"...an engrossing, readable history of the genesis of modern Latin American sf. ... Haywood Ferreira recounts this intellectually exciting literary adventure with skill and verve."
~Michael A. Morrison, World Literature Today
""In the arena of Latin American sf studies there are previous few books that match the caliber of Rachel Haywood Ferreira's for its thoroughness of scholarship, penetrating historical and theoretical discussions, thematic organization, and accessibility to a wide audience.... For scholars of sf in general looking to broaden their understanding of non-European and non-North American early sf, this book will undoubtedly be a welcome addition to their libraries.""
~Aaron Dziubinskyj, SFRA Review
""Writing in a clear, readable style, Haywood Ferreira shows science fiction's usefulness in Latin America as a vehicle for examining national identities and modernization, particularly civilization and barbarity. Recommended.""
~A.A. Edwards, Choice
""of great use to general scholars of Latin American literatures in drawing attention to fictions that reveal the connections between themselves as texts and those contemporary and future similar explorations of science, technology, identity and possible societies. But certainly, for its act of retro-labeling so many fictions as science fictions, it deserves to be read by anyone interested in the history and formation of the genre, showing as it does that sf is not a simple matter of genre-labeling or "influence" but is a fundamental toolkit for understanding the world. It offers a model and an example for similar works, exploring other continents, but it is entirely successful at establishing that the early works of sf in Latin America are essentially parts of the conversation.""
~Andy Sawyer, Extrapolation
""...a much-needed, well-written account of the origins of the genre in Mexico, Argentina, and Brazil from 1850 to 1920...a pleasure for both the Latin Americanist and the sf researcher.""
~Juan C. Toledano Redondo, Science Fiction Studies
""Free of academic cant and jargon, sure to appeal to any reader with a cosmopolitan bent, this book restores a collateral branch of the global SF family to its North American and European relatives, engineering a reunion that can only benefit everyone, north and south, east and west.""
~Paul Di Filippo, Locus
""an engrossing, readable history of the genesis of modern Latin American sf. Haywood Ferreira recounts this intellectually exciting literary adventure with skill and verve.""
~Michael A. Morrison, World Literature Today
""This fascinating exploration of Latin American SF prior to 1920 points to a parallel tradition to the much better-known North American one.""
~Jeff VanderMeer, Omnivoracious
"The Emergence of Latin American Science Fiction brings to life an array of literary works and places a nascent genre squarely within the exciting social and artistic debates of the time."
~Andrea Bell, editor of Cosmos Latinos
"The Emergence of Latin American Science Fiction brings to life an array of literary works and places a nascent genre squarely within the exciting social and artistic debates of the time."
~Andrea Bell, editor of Cosmos Latinos
"This tour-de-force is extraordinarily thorough and innovative, bringing both canonical and little-known works from Spanish America and Brazil into a different light—that of the science fiction genre.""
~Mary Elizabeth Ginway, author of Brazilian Science Fiction: Cultural Myths and Nationhood in the Land of the Future
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