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.
Table of Contents:
Preface
List of Contributors
List of Illustrations
Introduction: Displacing Antiquity in Science Fiction and Fantasy (Brett M. Rogers, University of Puget Sound, USA; Benjamin Eldon Stevens, Trinity University, USA)
Displacing Points of Origin
1. More ‘T,’ Vicar? Revisiting Models and Methodologies for Classical Receptions in Science Fiction (Tony Keen, Open University, UK)
2. Saxa loquuntur?: Archaeological Fantasies in Wilhelm Jensen’s Gradiva (Jesse Weiner, Hamilton College, USA)
3. Time Travel and Self-Reflexivity in Receptions of Homer’s Iliad (Claire Kenward, Oxford University, APGRD, UK)
4. Monuments and Tradition in Jack McDevitt’s The Engines of God (Laura Zientek, University of Washington, USA)
Displaced in Space
5. Lyra’s Odyssey in Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials (Ortwin Knorr, Willamette University, USA)
6. Displacing Nostos and the Ancient Greek Hero in Hayao Miyazaki's Spirited Away (Suzanne Lye, Dartmouth College, USA)
7. “The nearest technically impossible thing”: Classical Antiquity in the Novels of Helen Oyeyemi (Benjamin Eldon Stevens, Trinity University, USA)
Displaced in Time
8. Dynamic Tensions: The Figure(s) of Atlas in The Rocky Horror Picture Show (Stephen B. Moses and Brett M. Rogers, University of Puget Sound, USA)
9. Drinking Blood and Talking Ghosts in Diana Wynne Jones’s The Time of the Ghost (Frances Foster, Cambridge University, UK)
10. Finding Cassandra in Science Fiction: The Seer of Agamemnon and the Time-Traveling Protector of Continuum (Jennifer Ranck, Independent Scholar)
Displacing Genre
11. Classical Reception and the Half-Elf Cleric (C. W. Marshall, University of British Columbia, Canada)
12. The Gods Problem in Gene Wolfe’s Soldier of the Mist (Vincent Tomasso, Trinity College, USA)
13. The Divine Emperor in Virgil’s Aeneid and the Warhammer 40K Universe (Alexander McAuley, University of British Columbia, Canada)
Epilogue: Finding a Place in Displacement
14. Just Your Average Tuesday-Morning Minotaur (Catherynne M. Valente)
Works Cited
Index
About the Author :
Brett M. Rogers is Associate Professor of Classics at the University of Puget Sound, USA.
Benjamin Eldon Stevens is Visiting Assistant Professor of Classics at Trinity University, USA.
Review :
Reading this new volume from Bloomsbury is to experience the breadth of classical reception in the contemporary world. Hints and allusions to Greek and Roman antiquity abound in texts as diverse as Hayao Miyazaki's animated Studio Ghibli classic Spirited Away and Games Workshop's table top strategy game Warhammer 40K. This volume takes an expansive approach to appreciating and analysing different styles and modes of reception … Readers considering reception studies will find an encouraging array of examples and ways into approaching the subject.
This book would be at home in any secondary school Classics library – not only because of its reasonable price ... but because it demonstrates the wide array of interactions the classical past has with modern entertainment.
A pioneering, creative and insightful work. Rogers and Stevens' collection of essays offers active, engaging dialogue on how SF&F continually reinvent humankind’s future by turning to the past, through exploring themes of ‘displacement.’
This book, often with original content, will interest all those who work to give Antiquity an unexpected image so as to make it - today more than ever - more alive.
