Star-Begotten: A Life Lived in Science Fiction by James Gunn

Abstract

175 BOOKS IN REVIEW analyzes their representation in eighteenth- and nineteenth-century European and American fantastic literature. Turning next to Desde Júpiter, Cano compares this work with Nic-Nac for their respective treatments of spiritism and evolutionism and discusses both texts’ relationship to prevailing SpanishAmerican literary and popular aesthetics (Desde Júpiter, Cano argues, is better for having paid heed to the public’s taste for light entertainment, though it does not resist the temptation to lecture). Here is where Cano looks more deeply at how the serialization of popular fiction led to stylistic features such as repetition, cliff-hanger endings, and uniform chapters in early sf works. The last of the three long chapters is primarily interested in how Querens exemplifies early Spanish-American sf’s divergence from that of Europe and Anglo-America by privileging an elitist, socially detached attitude toward art (Latin American Modernism) that for over a half-century kept sf from being intentionally cultivated or widely read and enjoyed. There is one component of Los espíritus de la ciencia ficción, not represented in the book’s subtitle (“Spiritism, journalism and popular culture”), that felt somewhat tacked on and made me curious about why and when Cano decided to make it a subject of study, and that is the role of the female characters in these early Spanish American sf texts. Cano’s analysis of the presence of women in these narratives and how they figure both in the materialism/spiritism debate and in their authors’ visions of national development is certainly laudatory and valuable for future study, but with the exception of the chapter on Querens, these discussions seemed less wellintegrated into the author’s overall project than they could have been. The extensive scholarship evident on virtually every page of Los espíritus de la ciencia ficción rewards the diligent reader; Cano shares such a wealth of information and interpretation and argues his points so convincingly that it is hard to fault him for being a bit formal and wordy. A highly original scholarly work best appreciated by other scholars, I consider Los espíritus de la ciencia ficción to be an essential contribution of great value to anyone interested in the history of Spanish American science fiction and popular culture.—Andrea Bell, Hamline University A Grand Master’s Story. James Gunn. Star-Begotten: A Life Lived in Science Fiction. Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 2017. 233pp. $25 pbk. Noted sf writer, critic, academic, and SFWA Grand Master James Gunn’s autobiography is the author’s working-through and making meaning of ninetyfive years of life. In his brief introduction, after explaining that the book’s title comes from a 1937 novel by H.G. Wells, Gunn clarifies that, although one might assume that autobiographies are written because a specific person’s life is interesting, in fact “all lives are interesting, even unusual and instructive, if you look at them intently enough” (1). Through the minutiae of his everyday life, covered more or less chronologically over thirteen chapters, Gunn traces the web of connections and events that have comprised his life to date. In the last few years, perhaps as a result of entering his nineties and contemplating his mortality, Gunn’s focus has been more often on the social role of science 176 SCIENCE FICTION STUDIES, VOLUME 46 (2019) fiction, summarized in his remarks at his 2015 induction into the Science Fiction Hall of Fame: “It’s the job of science fiction, it’s our job, to observe [the world’s] changes and consider the implications for human lives and maybe even do something to make those lives better, more livable, more human.... Let’s save the world through science fiction” (189). The text of this autobiography, unfortunately printed in miniscule type, is interleaved with comments such as this one, written in a different typeface to differentiate them from the regular text. They include excerpts from various speeches, remembrances written years later and presented at reunions, and summaries of some overseas trips where he acted as an ambassador of sf. They often overlap with previously provided information, but I found that having the complete text of Gunn’s 2007 acceptance...