Imagining Outer Space: European Astroculture in the Twentieth Century(Palgrave Studies in the History of Science and Technology)

Imagining Outer Space makes a captivating advance into the cultural history of outer space and extraterrestrial life in the European imagination. How was outer space conceived and communicated? What promises of interplanetary expansion and cosmic colonization propelled the project of human spaceflight to the forefront of twentieth-century modernity? In what way has West-European astroculture been affected by the continuous exploration of outer space? Tracing the thriving interest in spatiality to early attempts at exploring imaginary worlds beyond our own, the book analyzes contact points between science and fiction from a transdisciplinary perspective and examines sites and situations where utopian images and futuristic technologies contributed to the omnipresence of fantasmatic thought. Bringing together state-of-the-art work in this emerging field of historical research, the volume breaks new ground in the historicization of the Space Age.

Table of Contents:
Figures Abbreviations Acknowledgments Contributors Introduction European Astrofuturism, Cosmic Provincialism Historicizing the Space Age; A.C.T.Geppert PART I: NARRATING OUTER SPACE Space, Time and Aliens:The Role of Imagination in Outer Space; S.J.Dick Heaven on Earth: Tunguska, 30 June 1908; C.Schmölders Imagining Inorganic Life: Crystalline Aliens in Science and Fiction; T.Brandstetter PART II: PROJECTING OUTER SPACE Projecting Landscapes of the Human Mind onto Another World: Changing Faces of an Imaginary Mars; R.Eisfeld 'Smash the Myth of the Fascist Rocket Baron': East German Attacks on Wernher von Braun in the 1960s; M.J.Neufeld Transcendence of Gravity: Arthur C. Clarke and the Apocalypse of Weightlessness: T.Bjørnvig PART III: VISUALIZING OUTER SPACE Per Media Ad Astra?: Outer Space in West Germany's Media, 1957-87; B.Mütter Balloons on the Moon: Visions of Space Travel in Francophone Comic Strips; G.de Syon 'A Stumble in the Dark': Contextualizing Gerry and Sylvia Anderson's Space: 1999; H.Keazor PART IV: ENCOUNTERING OUTER SPACE Life as We Don't Yet Know It: An Anthropologist's First Contact with the Science of 'Weird Life'; D.Battaglia A Ghost in the Machine: How Sociology Tried to Explain (Away) American Flying Saucers and European Ghost Rockets, 1946-47; P.Lagrange Seeing the Future of Civilization in the Skies of Quarouble: UFO Encounters and the Problem of Empire in Postwar France; J.Miller PART V: INSCRIBING OUTER SPACE Self-Reproducing Automata and the Impossibility of SETI; G.Munévar Inscribing Scientific Knowledge: Interstellar Communication, NASA's Pioneer Plaque, and Contact with Cultures of the Imagination, 1971-72; W.R.Macauley Alien Spotting: Damien Hirst's Beagle 2 , Mars Lander'S Calibration Target and the Exploitation of Outer Space; T.Weddigen Epilogue Look Up: Art in the Age of Orbitization; P.Pocock Bibliography Index

About the Author :
Alexander C.T. Geppert is Associate Professor of History and European Studies and Global Network Associate Professor at New York University Shanghai, as well as NYU’s Center for European and Mediterranean Studies in New York City. From 2010 to 2016 he directed the Emmy Noether Research Group `The Future in the Stars: European Astroculture and Extraterrestrial Life in the Twentieth Century’ at Freie Universität Berlin.

Review :
"As a whole, the volume succeeds in demonstrating the relevance and importance of these three threads and arguments. Each from a different author, each of whom stems from a different disciplinary background, the 15 chapters that follow the introduction emphasise and reflect each of the threads to different degrees. Together, the chapters survey an excellent variety of topics that fall under the 'astroculture' umbrella. Further research into European astroculture would be a valuable contribution to other social and cultural histories of Europe and to wider understandings of human engagements with outer space. [This book] is a giant leap in that direction." (Jason Beery, European Review of History/Revue europeenne d'histoire) "This volume's fifteen diverse essays, substantive introduction, and valuable epilogue all examine various aspects of 'astroculture' by considering and configuring the cultural and social significance of the Space Age both to and within the Atomic Age. … The diverse voices and visions … provide ample opportunities for interested readers to change-out comfortable disciplinary lenses and linguistic and conceptual toolboxes for unfamiliar optics and methodological approaches to outer space and space exploration that must surely transcend transnational and transdisciplinary boundaries. … Fascinating." (Pamela Gossin, Isis) "Revelatory . . . It certainly fills a gap." (Jon Agar, British Journal for the History of Science) "Imagining Outer Space offers rich potential in explaining the infatuation of spaceflight by Europeans of many different nationalities and cultures. It may well jump-start a new approach to the history of spaceflight, something beyond the well-worn space-policy and geopolitical studies that are so much a part of the field. Without question, astrocultural investigation is one of the more interesting and original efforts to restructure spaceflight history in the early twenty-first century." (Roger D. Launius, Technology and Culture) "With its emphasis on multidisciplinarity, and its wide variety of contributions, topics, and themes, Imagining Outer Space demonstrates the rich potential that astrocultural studies holds for the field of the history of spaceflight, while at the same time, it truly contains something for everyone." (Janet Vertesi, Quest) "Offers an interdisciplinary and transnational approach to the cultural and social history of the space age in Europe. While it offers fascinating insights into the European context, it is its redrawing of the disciplinary boundaries of space history that should be most applauded . . . Highly recommended." (Anke Ortlepp, H-Soz-u-Kult) "This is clearly an important contribution to the literature and a stimulus to ongoing and future debates and endeavours in the intertwining realms of culture, space and technology." (Derek Hall, Space Policy) "Europe too has a history of imagining outer space, distinct from yet inextricably linked with global cultures of perceiving and experiencing the universe. This splendid volume offers a fascinating panorama of visions of the future. Anyone interested in the complex relationship between technology, space, and culture will garner much from this groundbreaking work." (Helmuth Trischler, Deutsches Museum) "Imagining Outer Space . . . takes a step in the right direction by defining the concept of astroculture and offering some interesting examples of relevant research." (The Space Review)