The Routledge Introduction to the Canadian Fantastic by Allan Weiss

Abstract

606 SCIENCE FICTION STUDIES, VOLUME 48 (2021) resources. Thus “science fiction remains a Janus-faced discourse, equally available as a tool to critique injustices of the present and inspire better futures or deployed to reconcile us to the inevitability of the future as a continuation of our present consisting of technological capitalism and social injustice” (168). Despite this warning, the strongest note in the conclusion is optimism about sf’s present and future usefulness for critical thinking. The contemporary community of sf fans and writers is “far larger, more distributed, and more heterogeneous than First Fandom was,” which Vint takes as “a chance [for sf] to throw off the weight of the past and free the genre from some of its least admirable moments, such as its perpetuation of settler colonial logics, its militaristic space opera, or its Eurocentric notions of technology” (166-67). Now more than ever, then, sf is “good to think with” (166). The after-matter includes a glossary of technical terms and short lists of recommended reading related to each chapter. These are features directed primarily at outsiders to the study of the genre. Terms such as cyberpunk, cognitive estrangement, and Golden Age are unlikely to require explanation for readers of Science Fiction Studies, nor is the technical vocabulary related to finance and Marxist economic theory likely to be unfamiliar to most literary scholars these days. Nonetheless even these short definitions are worth reading for the clarity and concision with which they convey not just the connotation of a term but often something of its history and importance to controversies within the relevant discipline. I suspect the experience of most readers of this journal would be similar to mine—that some chapters and features covered very familiar ground, while others were full of information and references new to me. The takeaway is that everyone from casual fans to accomplished scholars of sf has something to learn from this remarkably well-written, compact, and very affordable book.—John Rieder, University of Hawai’i, Manoa Introducing ... the Canadian Fantastic. Allan Weiss. The Routledge Introduction to the Canadian Fantastic. Routledge, 2021. 228 pp. $160 hc, $42.95 pbk, $38.65 ebk. A steadfast proponent of Canadian science fiction and fantasy, scholar, editor, and sf author Allan Weiss contributes a valuable resource geared toward the textbook market with the Routledge Introduction to the Canadian Fantastic. It meets its stated goal, to introduce “the history, themes, and critical responses to Canadian fantastic literature” with a broadly ranging approach, taking the term “fantastic” as referring to “genres like science fiction and fantasy, as well as a few that are not normally or adequately covered by these terms” (1). Weiss covers both the English- and Frenchlanguage production of genre-related works across Canada. Although content focuses on a single national corpus, his introductory chapter on terminology provides useful definitions for beginning scholars of sf broadly conceived, and he consistently situates Canadian production within international trends. That initial chapter on terminology begins by diplomatically addressing a polemic triggered by Margaret Atwood’s interventions into the “speculative” 607 BOOKS IN REVIEW vs “science” fiction debates. The book is then organized chronologically, each of its five additional chapters addressing a particular period’s production. Chapters share a common structure, first outlining the context of Canadian history (particularly useful for those teaching in the US or UK), then providing the scientific, technological, and cultural contexts for sf’s development in the Anglo-American world beyond the Confederation. Sections address various subgenres, always beginning with science fiction, then fantasy, and adding sections on utopian/dystopian, magical realist/surrealist, horror, poetry and theatre, and children’s and young adult literature, as appropriate. Each chapter concludes with a reading list of its primary corpus; a secondary source bibliography and index close the volume. Weiss shares his encyclopedic knowledge of Canadian sf and f, while carefully acknowledging existing scholarship, citing significant theorists of sf and fantasy in general, and scholars of Canadian sf and f, in particular. Chapter two outlines the Canadian fantastic’s development from the first novels in English and French, published in the first half of the nineteenth century through 1920. This period is Weiss’s particular forte...