Latin American SF

The Emergence of Latin American Science Fiction
Rachel Haywood Ferreira

Series: Early Classics of Science Fiction

Wesleyan University Press
2011 • 320 pp. 15 illus. 6 x 9"
Latin American & Caribbean Studies / Science Fiction
( Cloth edition is un-jacketed. Cover illustration is for paperback edition only)
$29.95 Paperback, 978-0-8195-7082-6
$80.00 Hardcover, 978-0-8195-7081-9
$23.99 Ebook, 978-0-8195-7083-3



A fantastic voyage through the early science fiction of Latin America

Early science fiction has often been associated almost exclusively with Northern industrialized nations. In this groundbreaking exploration of the science fiction written in Latin America prior to 1920, Rachel Haywood Ferreira argues that science fiction has always been a global genre. She traces how and why the genre quickly reached Latin America and analyzes how writers in Argentina, Brazil, and Mexico adapted science fiction to reflect their own realities. Among the texts discussed are one of the first defenses of Darwinism in Latin America, a tale of a time-traveling history book, and a Latin American Frankenstein. Latin American science fiction writers have long been active participants in the sf literary tradition, expanding the limits of the genre and deepening our perception of the role of science and technology in the Latin American imagination. The book includes a chronological bibliography of science fiction published from 1775 to 1920 in all Latin American countries.

Contents

List of Illustrations
• Acknowledgments
• Introduction: Latin American Science Fiction Discovers Its Roots
• DISPLACEMENT IN SPACE AND TIME: THE LATIN AMERICAN UTOPIA AND DYSTOPIA
• Fósforos-Cerillos, “Mexico in the Year 1970”
• Joaquim Felício dos Santos, Pages from the History of Brazil Written in the Year 2
• Eduardo Ladislao Holmberg, The Marvelous Journey of Mr. Nic-Nac . . .
• Eduardo de Ezcurra, In the Thirtieth Century
• Godofredo Barnsley, S<>o Paulo in the Year 2 . . .
• Eduardo Urzaiz, Eugenia
• THE IMPACT OF DARWINISM: CIVILIZATION AND BARBARISM MEET EVOLUTION AND DEVOLUTION
• Augusto Emílio Zaluar, Doctor Benignus
• Eduardo Ladislao Holmberg, Two Factions Struggle for Life
• Leopoldo Lugones, “Essay on a Cosmogony in Ten Lessons,” “The Origin of the Flood,” “Yzur”
• Joaquim Manuel de Macedo, “The End of the World”
• Aluísio Azevedo, “Demons”
• Amado Nervo, “The Last War”
• Martín Luis Guzmán, “How the War Ended in 1917”
• STRANGE FORCES: EXPLORING THE LIMITS OF SCIENCE
• Eduardo Ladislao Holmberg, Two Factions Struggle for Life [coda]
• Carlos Olivera, “Death at a Fixed Hour”
• Leopoldo Lugones, “The Omega Force,” “Psychon,” “An Inexplicable Phenomenon,” “Viola Acherontia,” “Metamusic”
• Miguel Cané, “The Harmonies of Light”
• Juana Manuela Gorriti, “He Who Listens May Hear—To His Regret: Confidence of a Confidence”
• Pedro Castera, “A Celestial Journey,” Querens
• Amado Nervo, The Soul-Giver, “The Sixth Sense”
• THE DOUBLE: FROM SCIENCE TO TECHNOLOGY
• Eduardo Ladislao Holmberg, “Horacio Kalibang or The Automatons”
• Alejandro Cuevas, “The Apparatus of Doctor Tolimán”
• Horacio Quiroga, The Artificial Man, “The Portrait,” “The Vampire”
• Conclusion: A Global Genre in the Periphery
• Chronology: Latin American Science Fiction through 1920
• Notes
• Bibliography
• Primary Texts
• Secondary Sources
• Index