The Speculative South

Abstract

In literary studies, “speculative” is an umbrella term for a wide variety of fields and approaches that can include science fiction, fantasy, horror, the gothic, superhero narratives, folklore and fairy tales, magic realism, alternate history, and other subgenres belonging to or overlapping with those fields. Speculative works may intersect with other genres like romance, thrillers, mysteries, or Westerns. Speculative fiction is often contrasted with literary realism, though they can also overlap. Speculative works include high and low art, literature and popular culture, and cover a wide variety of formats, including novels, short stories, poetry, memoir, visual art, television, film, comic books, and more. Its reach is wide and its borders are fuzzy, but use of the term indicates that there is something happening beyond the real: it might be magic, it might be fictional technology, it might be an alternate version of the past, but it is always something other.