Staging the Impossible explores the most recent critical thinking on the relationship between the literary mode of the fantastic and the literary genre of drama with respect to modern theatre. While a few monographs treat a particular dimension of the fantastic in drama, the Gothic or the fairy tale for instance, no other volume provides a critically sophisticated introduction to the diversity of fantastic drama written and performed in this century. The essays here lay to rest the illusion that realism is the only genuine form of theatrical expression and the notion that cinema special effects have rendered science fiction and the stage incompatible. Competing with the realism of the first half of the twentieth century and the "new realism" of the second half have been a range of successful theatrical repertoire, including the absurd, the horrific, the supernatural, the mythic, the dream-vision quest, the postmodern, the hyper-realistic, and the science fictional. Wide ranging in time and space, this volume comprises fourteen essays on the fantastic on the modern stage, assessing dramatic works from the United States, Ireland, England, Western Europe, and the Caribbean. Canonical figures, such as Strindberg, Yeats, Beckett, Ionesco, Cocteau, and Stoppard are studied, along with neglected figures, such as Wassily Kandinsky, better known as an expressionist painter, and Halper Leivick, author of the Yiddish play The Golem, and innovative new performance troupes and individual artists, such as Squat Theatre and Spalding Gray. Concluding essays are devoted to contemporary experimental theatre and postmodern drama. A study of science fiction on stage includes an annotated listing of fortyEnglish-language plays. Concerned with the interstice of theatre and the fantastic, this work will be valuable to students and scholars of both, of genre studies, and of contemporary literature in general.

A groundbreaking contribution to the critical literature, this volume represents the most extensive study of the fantastic in poetry published to date. Designed to serve both as an introduction to and a historical overview of fantastic poetry in the Anglo-American tradition, the authors closely analyze specific periods and poems in order to illuminate more clearly the relationships among fantasty, the fantastic, science fiction, and poetry. The scope of the study is unusually broad and encompasses material from Spenser through the work of a wide range of contemporary American and British poets. Although the contributors focus primarily on English-language authors, their essays provide theoretical and practical criticism relevant to the study of the fantastic in poetry in any language. Among the innovative approaches developed are a feminist-fantastic revisionary reading of Keat's Lamia and a conceptualization of the role of fantasy in the writing of holocaust poetry. In addition, the contributors analyze such works as C.S. Lewis's Dymer, Ed Dorn's Slinger, Victorian women's fantasies, the poetry of Margaret Atwood, Anne Sexton, Ursula K. Le Guin, and many others. Taken together, these essays should not only spark critical debate on the intersection of fantasy and poetry but also become the essential starting point for any new criticism of fantastic poems.

Despite periods of heavy censorship and political opposition, science fiction has emerged in the People's Republic of China as a popular literary genre. This anthology of stories by six major Chinese science fiction writers is the first such collection to be published in English. The stories are enriched by China's ancient tradition of fantastic literature as well as that nation's fascination with futuristic science and technology, and they provide illuminating glimpses of Chinese attitudes, values, and daily life. Wu provides a comprehensive introduction to the history of Chinese science fiction together with a chronological bibliography of stories, novels, and related critical works. This fine anthology of eight stories by six authors shows that, while years behind the west in terms of maturity of the genre, China is catching up as fast as the state will allow. Editor Dingbo Wu's excellent introduction gives a historical overview of SF in China, while detailing the fluctuations of political acceptibility during the past decade.

"Publishers Weekly"

Despite periods of heavy censorship and political opposition, science fiction has emerged in the People's Republic of China as a popular literary genre. This anthology of stories by six major Chinese science fiction writers is the first such collection to be published in English. The stories are enriched by China's ancient tradition of fantastic literature as well as that nation's fascination with futuristic science and technology, and they provide illuminating glimpses of Chinese attitudes, values, and daily life.

Like most Chinese science fiction writers, the authors represented in this volume are engaged in scientific research or the popularization of science. Their work reflects the critical dictum that scientific fiction must be scientifically factual or based on reasonable extrapolations of known fact. Among the themes treated in these stories are people's use of and relationship to robots and clones; peaceful versus military application of technology; futuristic detection and intelligence operations; space exploration and warfare; and personal heroism, patriotism, and responsibility. The stories typically incorporate an optimistic view of science's contribution to the future of humankind. Wu provides a comprehensive introduction to the history of Chinese science fiction together with a chronological bibliography of stories, novels, and related critical works. This collection offers a unique perspective on modern China and a welcome opportunity to explore the Chinese contribution to one of the most popular forms of contemporary fiction.

Chinese popular culture is extremely diverse and richly complex. The 18 chapters in this reference provide the most current and comprehensive bibliographical and descriptive study of Chinese popular culture in English. The chapters, each devoted to a particular topic, are written by expert contributors who offer comprehensive surveys of research materials and discuss the most important points of critical interest. The opening chapters of the book discuss the complexity of the Chinese cultural tradition and the relationship between popular culture and Chinese civilization. The chapters that follow are devoted to particular topics that reflect key elements of Chinese popular culture, such as tea drinking, literature, and religion. The chapters generally discuss the history of the topic, review current research in the field, evaluate available reference sources and research collections, and present bibliographic information.