The Aesthetics of Social Science Fiction in the 1960s: Thought Experiment through Subversion

Sohn Nagyung (손나경)

The Aesthetics of Social Science Fiction in the 1960s: Thought Experiment through Subversion

인문논총
2022, 57(), pp.3-25
Publisher : Institute for Human studies, Kyungnam University
Research Area : Humanities > Other Humanities
Received : December 20, 2021
Accepted : February 9, 2022
Published : February 28, 2022

Sohn Nagyung ¹

¹계명대학교

Accredited

ABSTRACT

This study investigates a thought experiment that reverses the dominant space exploration rhetoric of the 1960s in The Moon is a Harsh Mistress (1966) by Robert A. Heinlein and Solaris (1961) by Stanisław H. Lem. These two works show us the 1960s’ space conquest rhetoric of the Cold War era and the opposite movement for liberty. I discuss how these two works reverse the dominant space frontier-ship, speculating a new world in which they are free from the authoritative atmosphere. In The Moon is a Harsh Mistress, Moon Colony succeeds in getting liberated from the Earth’s federal nations, representing both of the space frontier-ship and its subversion. Stanisław Lem’s Solaris shows that space exploration is just geocentricism, a new version of colony expansion, and tries to find a new way of communication with the others.

KEYWORDS

the Cold War era, Social Science Fiction, The Moon is a Harsh Mistress, Solaris, frontier-ship, thought experiment, Robert A. Heinlein, Stanisław H. Lem

Citation status

* References for papers published after 2023 are currently being built.

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This paper was written with support from the National Research Foundation of Korea.

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