Crisis Managed: Forging Postcapitalist Futures in Kim Stanley Robinson’s Recent Political Science Fiction

Anna Gilarek

Abstract


Kim Stanley Robinson uses science fiction as a means of political inquiry and a literary simulator of alternative socioeconomic solutions. In his novels, he frequently refers to the pressing need for a systemic transformation and envisions viable postcapitalist alternatives. The article discusses various aspects of the postcapitalist transition depicted in two of Robinson’s recent novels: "New York" 2140 (2017) and "The Ministry for the Future" (2020).


Keywords


political science fiction; capitalism; postcapitalism; capitalist realism; utopian science fiction

Full Text:

PDF

References


Booker, M. K., & Daraiseh I. (2023). The Political Form of Postmodernism: Bakhtin, Jameson, and Kim Stanley Robinson’s The Ministry for the Future. Science Fiction Studies, 50(2), 251–270.

Cohen, D. A. (2021, November 11). Kim Stanley Robinson on Science Fiction and ReclaimingScience for the Left. Jacobin. https://jacobin.com/2021/11/kim-stanley-robinson-sciencefiction-capitalism

De Vicente, J. L. (2017, October 17). Angry Optimism in a Drowned World: A Conversation with Kim Stanley Robinson. CCCBLAB. https://lab.cccb.org/en/angry-optimism-in-adrowned-world-a-conversation-with-kim-stanley-robinson/

Drucker, P. F. (2013). Post-Capitalist Society. Elsevier Science & Technology Books. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780080938257

Fisher, M. (2009). Capitalist Realism Is There No Alternative? O Books.

Friedman, C. (2013). Critical Theory and Science Fiction. Wesleyan University Press.

Frug, S. S. (2021, January 20). Even This Is Too Good to be True: Review of The Ministry for the Future by Kim Stanley Robinson. Ancillary Review of Books. https://ancillaryreviewofbooks.org/2021/01/20/even-this-is-too-good-to-be-true-review-of-the-ministry-for-the-future-bykim-stanley-robinson/

Grattan, S. A. (2017). Hope Isn’t Stupid. Utopian Affects in Contemporary American Literature. University of Iowa Press. https://doi.org/10.1353/book55238

Jameson, F. (2005). Archaeologies of the Future. The Desire Called Utopia and Other Science Fictions. Verso.

Levitas R., & Sargisson, L. (2003). Utopia in Dark Times: Optimism/Pessimism and Utopia/Dystopia. In R. Baccolini, & T. Moylan (Eds.), Dark Horizons. Science Fiction and the Dystopian Imagination (pp. 13–28). Routledge.

Markley, R. (2019). Kim Stanley Robinson. University of Illinois Press.

Mason, P. (2015). PostCapitalism: A Guide to Our Future. Penguin Books.

Noys, B. (2014). The Untranscendable Horizon of Our Time: Capitalist Crisis and the Ends of Utopia. In H. Feldner, F. Vighi, & S. Žižek, (Eds.), States of Crisis and Post-Capitalist Scenarios (pp. 73–86). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315610726-4

O’Keefe, D. (2020, October 22). Imagining the End of Capitalism With Kim Stanley Robinson. Jacobin. https://jacobin.com/2020/10/kim-stanley-robinson-ministry-future-science-fiction

Robinson, K. S., & Feder, H. (2018). The realism of our time: Interview with Kim Stanley Robinson. Radical Philosophy, 201, 87–98.

Robinson, K. S. (1990). Pacific Edge. Tom Doherty Associates.

Robinson, K. S. (2012). 2312. Hachette Digital.

Robinson, K. S. (2017). New York 2140. Orbit.

Robinson, K. S. (2020). The Ministry for the Future. Orbit.

The Humanities Institute at UCSC. (2011, June 14). Kim Stanley Robinson – What’s After Capitalism? [Video]. Vimeo. https://ekostories.com/2013/10/04/kim-stanley-robinson-post-capitalism/

Vaughan, A. (2021, October 27). Kim Stanley Robinson on how to have a good Anthropocene. New Scientist. https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg25133581-200-kim-stanley-robinson-onhow-to-have-a-good-anthropocene/

Vion-Dury, P. (2022, October 24). Kim Stanley Robinson: We Need Democratic Socialism. Jacobin. https://jacobin.com/2022/10/kim-stanley-robinson-democratic-socialism-science-fictionutopianism-capitalism-climate-crisis

Watkins, E. (2011). Gramscian Politics and Capitalist Common Sense. In M. E. Green (Ed.), Rethinking Gramsci (pp. 105-111). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203825983-16

Žižek, S. (2011, October 11). Occupy Wall Street: the wake-up call. ABCNews. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2011-10-11/zizek-occupy-wall-street-the-wake-up-call/3496710




DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.17951/lsmll.2024.48.2.85-96
Date of publication: 2024-07-10 11:05:41
Date of submission: 2023-07-13 12:37:29


Statistics


Total abstract view - 462
Downloads (from 2020-06-17) - PDF - 137

Indicators



Refbacks

  • There are currently no refbacks.


Copyright (c) 2024 Anna Gilarek

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.