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The volume is inspired by Gilles Deleuze's philosophical project, which builds on the critique of European Humanism and opens up inspiring new perspectives for the renewal of the field.
Science fiction has always challenged readers with depictions of the future. Can the genre actually provide glimpses of the world of tomorrow? This collection of fifteen international and interdisciplinary essays examines the genre's predictions and breaks new ground by considering the prophetic functions of science fiction films as well as SF literature. Among the texts and topics examined are classic stories by Murray Leinster, C. L. Moore, and Cordwainer Smith; 2001: A Space Odyssey and its sequels, Japanese anime and Hong Kong cinema; and electronic fiction.
World Weavers is the first ever study on the relationship between globalization and science fiction. Scientific innovations provide citizens of different nations with a unique common ground and the means to establish new connections with distant lands. This study attempts to investigate how our world has grown more and more interconnected not only due to technological advances, but also to a shared interest in those advances and to what they might lead to in the future. Science fiction has long been both literally and metaphorically linked to the emerging global village. It now takes on the task of exploring how the cybernetic revolution might transform the world and keep it one step ahead of the real world, despite ever-accelerating developments. As residents of a world that is undeniably globalized, science-fictional and virtual, it is incumbent on us to fully understand just how we came to live in such a world, and to envisage where this world may be heading next. World Weavers represents one small but significant step toward achieving such knowledge.
How should we regard the contemporary proliferation of images? Today, visual information is available as projected, printed and on-screen imagery, in the forms of video games, scientific data, virtual environments and architectural renderings. Fearful and anti-visualist responses to this phenomenon abound. Spread by digital technologies, images are thought to threaten the word and privilege surface value over content. Yet as they multiply, images face unprecedented competition for attention. This book explores the opportunities that can arise from the ubiquity of visual stimuli. It reveals that 'technovisuality' - the fusion of digital technology with the visual - can work 'wonders'; not so much dazzling audiences with special effects as reviving our enchantment with popular culture. Introducing a new term for an entirely new field of academic study, this book reveals the centrality of 'technovisuality' in 21st century life.
In this timely and insightful book, Yiu-Wai Chu takes stock of Hong Kong's culture since its transition to a Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China in 1997. Hong Kong had long functioned as the capitalist and democratic stepping stone to China for much of the world. Its highly original popular culture was well known in Chinese communities, and its renowned film industry enjoyed worldwide audiences and far-reaching artistic influence. Chu argues that Hong Kong's culture was "lost in transition" when it tried to affirm its international visibility and retain the status quo after 1997. In an era when China welcomed outsiders and became the world's most rapidly developing economy, Hong Kong's special position as a capitalist outpost was no longer a privilege. By drawing on various cultural discourses, such as film, popular music, and politics of everyday life, Chu provides an informative and critical analysis of the impact of China's ascendency on the notion of "One Country, Two Cultures." Hong Kong can no longer function as a bridge between China and the world, writes Chu, and must now define itself from global, local, and national perspectives.
"The collection opens with Harry Levin's "What is Literature if Not COmparative," read in the Second Hong Kong Comparative Literature Conference (1982) and used here to highlight the significance of a comparative outlook in literary studies. It is followed by five constellations of Chinese-Western comparative studies, some of which were read in the same conference and others specifically solicited. The areas studied include classical Chinese drama, Chinese narrative, Chinese influence in modern American literature, Chinese aesthetics and contemporary Chinese literature." --P. [4] of cover.
Experts from five continents provide a thorough exploration of cultural studies, looking at different ideas, places and problems addressed by the field. Brings together the latest work in cultural studies and provides a synopsis of critical trends Showcases thirty contributors from five continents Addresses the key topics in the field, the relationship of cultural studies to other disciplines, and cultural studies around the world Offers a gritty introduction for the neophyte who is keen to find out what cultural studies is, and covers in-depth debates to satisfy the appetite of the advanced scholar Includes a comprehensive bibliography and a listing of cultural studies websites Now available in paperback for the course market.
Through a curated selection of papers written over four decades by one of Australia’s leading philosophers, this collection demonstrates the impact of Continental philosophy on philosophical thought in Australia. The development of specific philosophical problems, over a period of more than forty years by a philosopher whose first training was ‘pre-continental’, shows that it is possible to achieve interaction between ‘continental’ and ‘pre-continental’ methods in philosophy, even while recognizing their distinctiveness. These essays ‘work towards’ continental philosophy in the ways they pay attention to language, to how we experience things and are experienced by others, and to the structures of language and power that frame what it is possible to say and to hear, to write and to read.
Gaming has never been disconnected from reality. When we engage with ever more lavish virtual worlds, something happens to us. The game imposes itself on us and influences how we feel about it, the world, and ourselves. How do games accomplish this and to what end? The contributors explore the video game as an atmospheric medium of hitherto unimagined potential. Is the medium too powerful, too influential? A danger to our mental health or an ally through even the darkest of times? This volume compiles papers from the Young Academics Workshop at the Clash of Realities conferences of 2019 and 2020 to provide answers to these questions.