Kim Stanley Robinson

by Robert Markley

Nonfiction (Adult) | Sci Fi & Fantasy

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Nonfiction (Adult) | Sci Fi & Fantasy

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Award-winning epics like the Mars Trilogy and groundbreaking alternative histories like The Days of Rice and Salt have brought Kim Stanley Robinson to the forefront of contemporary science fiction. Mixing subject matter from a dizzying number of fields with his own complex ecological and philosophical concerns, Robinson explores how humanity might pursue utopian social action as a strategy for its own survival. Robert Markley examines the works of an author engaged with the fundamental question of how we—as individuals, as a civilization, and as a species—might go forward. By building stories on huge time scales, Robinson lays out the scientific and human processes that fuel humanity's struggle toward a more just and environmentally stable world or system of worlds. His works invite readers to contemplate how to achieve, and live in, these numerous possible futures. They also challenge us to see that SF's literary, cultural, and philosophical significance have made it the preeminent literary genre for examining where we stand today in human and planetary history.

Award-winning epics like the Mars Trilogy and groundbreaking alternative histories like The Days of Rice and Salt have brought Kim Stanley Robinson to the forefront of contemporary science fiction...

Advance Praise

"Kim Stanley Robinson crafts scientifically grounded speculative fictions in which the utopian impulse is a matter of thinking deeply about problems that most literary fiction has not yet even bothered to register. Robert Markley has done us readers of KSR an immense service in tracking the evolution of methods and themes across the wounded galaxy of this writer's work. This is the essential guide to the world KSR has made."--McKenzie Wark, author of General Intellects: Twenty-One Thinkers for the Twenty-First Century

"Kim Stanley Robinson's formidable expanse of science fiction leaves many of us wondering where to begin. Begin here. Having studied Kim Stanley Robinson's work for decades, Robert Markley presents a cogent and inviting introduction to one of the most important figures in twentieth century SF. Markley gracefully traces the 'slurry' of Marxism, Buddhism, and ecology running throughout the novels, highlighting the survival strategies Robinson envisions for present and future peoples. For Robinson and for Markley, literature becomes, ideally, a mode of action—as well as an ethical and political intervention for more carefully considered, just, and livable worlds."--Stacy Alaimo, author of Exposed: Environmental Politics and Pleasures in Posthuman Times

"Kim Stanley Robinson crafts scientifically grounded speculative fictions in which the utopian impulse is a matter of thinking deeply about problems that most literary fiction has not yet even...

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ISBN	9780252084584
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Featured Reviews

Ernest L, Reviewer

My Recommendation

Kim Stanley Robinson (Modern Masters of Science Fiction) by Robert Markley 10/30/2019 (University of Illinois Press)

Any discussion of what science fiction is will eventually wind up with someone using Kim Stanley Robinson as the gold standard for real science fiction, or at least the hard sf variant. His Rainbow Mars trilogy alone set the standard for terraforming and his solar system novels encompass a bit of Le Guin and a bit of Star Trek.

Robart Markley’s book makes it clear that there’s much, much, more to Kim Stanley Robinson than the conquest of the high frontier. That, in fact, conquest is the last thing the author preaches, leaning towards eco-economics and developing partnerships between humans and everything around them.

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Geoff U, Educator

My Recommendation

Kim Stanley Robinson never comes to mind as one of my favorite authors, which is strange, since I've loved everything of his that I've read.  The Three Californias, set in my home town, opened my eyes in college to the idea that California (and by extension the world and by extension me) could be something other that it was.  the Mars trilogy is a masterpiece and the Years of Rice and Salt is the most ambitious and thought provoking alternate history that I've read.  This book goes a step further in showing the through-lines in all of KSR's books, particularly the struggle for a sustainable utopia and how humanity might be able to "scuttle sideways" towards something better.  

This is a very readable literary analysis, combining close readings, thematic analyses, and cross-textual connections to create a greater appreciation of the impact and importance of KSR's body of work.  While I wouldn't go so far as the author and call KSR "probably the preeminent writer of our era," I would say that KSR (and more importantly his books and ideas) deserves more prominence in our society.

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