Science Fiction in India: Parallel Worlds and Postcolonial Paradigms

(Hardback)

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Nominated, 2023 Teaching Literature Book Award Indian Science Fiction has evolved over the years and can be seen making a mark for itself on the global scene. Dalit speculative fiction writer and editor Mimi Mondal is the first SF writer from India to have been nominated for the prestigious Hugo award. In fact, Indian SF addresses themes such as global climate change. Debates around G.C.C are not just limited to science fiction but also permeate in critical discussions on SF. This volume seeks to examine the different ways by which Indian SF narratives construct possible national futures. For this looking forward necessarily germinates from the current positional concerns of the nation. While some work has been done on Indian SF, there is still a perceptible lack of an academic rigor invested into the genre; primarily, perhaps, because of not only its relative unpopularity in India, but also its employment of futuristic sights. Towards the same, among other things, it proposes to study the growth and evolution of science fiction in India as a literary genre which accommodates the duality of the national consciousness as it simultaneously gazes ahead towards the future and glances back at the past. In other words, the book will explore how the tensions generated by the seemingly conflicting forces of tradition and modernity within the Indian historical landscape are realized through characteristic tropes of SF storytelling. It also intends to look at the interplay between the spatio-temporal coordinates of the nation and the SF narratives produced within to see, firstly, how one bears upon the other and, secondly, how processes of governance find relational structures with such narratives. Through these, the volume wishes to interrogate how postcolonial futures promise to articulate a more representative and nuanced picture of a contemporary reality that is rooted in a distinct cultural and colonial past.

Reviews

Science Fiction in India: Parallel Worlds and Postcolonial Paradigms is possibly the first anthology of scholarship to focus exclusively on Indian science fiction. The chapters collected in this volume address not only established authors and works now considered classics of Indian science fiction, but also works less known to the outside world, works that are new, and works both in English and other Indian languages. The editors expertly bind these myriad perspectives together through their nuanced introductions to each chapter. Foregrounding new critical voices and fresh perspectives on existing debates, this book is an important addition to the growing field of scholarship on Indian science fiction. -- Suparno Banerjee, Associate Professor of English, Texas State University and author of Indian Science Fiction: Patterns, History and Hybridity
Shweta Khilnani and Ritwick Bhattacharjee, eds., Science Fiction in India: Parallel Worlds and Postcolonial Paradigms is a valuable addition to the growing corpus of critical writing on Indian science fiction. At a time when a minor renaissance of the genre is taking shape, the editors and essayists engagement with major critical questions regarding science fiction produced in India since the genres inception is timely and pertinent, especially in the light of a paucity of adequate assessments of its significance, only begun to be remedied recently. The varied perspectives brought to bear here on a wide range of texts, from historical SF in the Indian languages to contemporary SF narratives in various subgenres in both English and regional languages, are fresh and analytically rigorous and will certainly stimulate further debate. -- Tarun K. Saint is editor of the series, The Gollancz Book of South Asian Science Fiction (vols. 1 and 2)
This excellent collection of chapters does the much needed and much awaited task of spotlighting the long history and complex traditions of Indian science-fiction writing. Science fiction scholarship predominantly privileges the West-European writers and literary theorists. This book, by contrast, draws our attention to the non-Westalternative political contexts, vernacular imaginations, and the rigours of social change and scientific developments all of which contributed to the making of the Indian science fiction. At a time when the improbable seems routine, and science fiction dominates our global cultural landscape and collective imaginations, this book is a valuable and timely contribution for those interested in expanding their knowledge of the genre beyond Europe. -- Gautam Basu Thakur, Associate Professor in English, Boise State University
A much-needed, brilliantly edited collection [alt. anthology] of pioneering studies in Indian science fiction and fantasy. Rich in original conceptual frameworks and open problems, this work will be of great use for scholars interested in the genre. -- Anil Menon, Author of Half of What I Say

Author Bio

Shweta Khilnani is an Assistant Professor at the Department of English, Sri Guru Tegh Bahadur Khalsa College, University of Delhi. She is a PhD scholar at the Department of English, University of Delhi and her dissertation explores the nexus between the literary, the affective and the political with respect to digital narratives. She is interested in the study of popular cultures and theories of contemporary literature. She is the co-editor of Imagining Worlds, Mapping Possibilities: Select Science Fiction Stories. Ritwick Bhattacharjee is an Assistant Professor at the Department of English, SGTB Khalsa College, University of Delhi. He has done his MPhil from the Department of English, University of Delhi. His research interests are in fantasy studies, phenomenology, continental philosophy, Indian English novels, disability studies and graphic novels. His publications range from academic articles on philosophy, fantasy, politics, disability and translation to journalistic articles and fiction.