Starboard Vineyard Tours 4: Metamorphoses of Science Fiction: On the Poetics and History of a Literary Genre, Suvin (Part I: Poetics)

This month, we’re exploring one of the founding texts of Science Fiction studies - Darko Suvin’s Metamorphoses of Science Fiction - On the Poetics and History of a Literary Genre (1979), available on the Internet Archive. In the first half of the book, Poetics, Suvin lays out his full theory of cognitive estrangement as the nature of SF and his own particular goals and hopes for the genre, and it’s that first half we discuss in this episode. We find ourselves pretty sympathetic to Suvin’s stringent approach and goals, as well as enjoying his sometimes bizarre choice of words and extremely fun metaphors. This one’s fundamental to both of our approaches to SF - so come find out why this book is sometimes called “the Suvin Event.”Topics: Cognition, Estrangement, the Novum, the Suvin EventNext month, we’ll continue Suvin with his History, the second half of the book, where he extends the history of SF back towards the very literal dawn of human civilization.Also, Ben recently released probably the only TTRPG to ever quote Darko Suvin: Detect Or Die, a game inspired by Disco Elysium and Bluebeard’s Bride. Check it out here!