
Imagining the Unimaginable
Speculative Fiction and the Holocaust
Glyn Morgan(Author)
Bloomsbury Academic USA (Publisher)
Published on 29. July 2021
Book
Paperback/Softback
222 pages
978-1-5013-7315-2 (ISBN)
Description
Imagining the Unimaginable examines popular fiction's treatment of the Holocaust in the dystopian and alternate history genres of speculative fiction, analyzing the effectiveness of the genre's major works as a lens through which to view the most prominent historical trauma of the 20th century. It surveys a range of British and American authors, from science fiction pulp to Pulitzer Prize winners, building on scholarship across disciplines, including Holocaust studies, trauma studies, and science fiction studies.
The conventional discourse around the Holocaust is one of the unapproachable, unknowable, and the unimaginable. The Holocaust has been compared to an earthquake, another planet, another universe, a void. It has been said to be beyond language, or else have its own incomprehensible language, beyond art, and beyond thought.
The 'othering' of the event has spurred the phenomenon of non-realist Holocaust literature, engaging with speculative fiction and its history of the uncanny, the grotesque, and the inhuman. This book examines the most common forms of nonmimetic Holocaust fiction, the dystopia and the alternate history, while firmly positioning these forms within a broader pattern of non-realist engagements with the Holocaust.
The conventional discourse around the Holocaust is one of the unapproachable, unknowable, and the unimaginable. The Holocaust has been compared to an earthquake, another planet, another universe, a void. It has been said to be beyond language, or else have its own incomprehensible language, beyond art, and beyond thought.
The 'othering' of the event has spurred the phenomenon of non-realist Holocaust literature, engaging with speculative fiction and its history of the uncanny, the grotesque, and the inhuman. This book examines the most common forms of nonmimetic Holocaust fiction, the dystopia and the alternate history, while firmly positioning these forms within a broader pattern of non-realist engagements with the Holocaust.
Reviews / Votes
Morgan's remarkable achievement with Imagining the Unimaginable has been to show that SF Holocaust fiction is not only a real possibility, but a rich subgenre of speculative literature ... a valuable project indeed: the Holocaust is an event that demands repeated evaluation and attempts to make sense of it. * Science Fiction Research Association (SFRA) * A thorough and well-written work of scholarship that turns the myth of silence into a resounding yell and should be a core text for courses that teach SF ... If the Holocaust is impossible to understand except through direct experience, Morgan's book is a timely intervention to remind us that, not only should it be understood in this post-survivor age, but we have a readily available library of texts to set us on the proper path. * Fafnir: The Nordic Journal of Science Fiction and Fantasy * Readers will find this a thoughtful work, full of valuable insights about the texts discussed and a stimulus for thinking about how valuable the tools of science fiction are for imagining the unimaginable. * Science Fiction Studies * This is a compact and useful volume that will be of interest to anyone interested in the complexities of Holocaust fiction. * Foundation: The International Review of Science Fiction * At once theoretically sophisticated and readable, Glyn Morgan's study makes a notable contribution to the field of Holocaust literature by showing how Anglo-American speculative fiction - a genre encompassing science fiction, fantasy, and alternate history - has reflected, as well as shaped, the evolving memory of the Holocaust. * Gavriel D. Rosenfeld, Professor of History, Fairfield University, USA * Expanding the canon and extending the debate about representation, this thoughtful, wide-ranging and critically-aware book charts new territory in our understanding both of the Holocaust and of speculative fiction. * Robert Eaglestone, Professor of Contemporary Literature and Thought, Royal Holloway, University of London, UK *More details
Language
English
Place of publication
New York
United States
Publishing group
Bloomsbury Publishing Plc
Target group
College/higher education
Dimensions
Height: 229 mm
Width: 152 mm
Weight
308 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-5013-7315-2 (9781501373152)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions

E-Book
01/2020
1st Edition
Bloomsbury Academic USA
€36.99
Available for download

E-Book
01/2020
1st Edition
Bloomsbury Academic USA
€36.99
Available for download
Person
Glyn Morgan is a research fellow at the University of Liverpool, UK, and Project Curator at the Science Museum, London.
Content
Acknowledgments
Introduction: Fictionalising the Holocaust
1. Precursors and Early Texts: Swastika Night (1937) and the Myth of Silence
2. Problematizing History: The Man in the High Castle (1962), Fatherland (1992), and Making History (1996)
3. The Damned and the Saved: The Boys from Brazil (1976), The Portage to San Cristobal of A.H. (1981), Hope: A Tragedy (2012), and The Yiddish Policeman's Union (2007)
4. Reimagining Horror: The Plot Against America (2004), Farthing (2006), A Man Lies Dreaming (2014), and J (2014)
Epilogue: Further Fabulation
Notes
Bibliography
Index
Introduction: Fictionalising the Holocaust
1. Precursors and Early Texts: Swastika Night (1937) and the Myth of Silence
2. Problematizing History: The Man in the High Castle (1962), Fatherland (1992), and Making History (1996)
3. The Damned and the Saved: The Boys from Brazil (1976), The Portage to San Cristobal of A.H. (1981), Hope: A Tragedy (2012), and The Yiddish Policeman's Union (2007)
4. Reimagining Horror: The Plot Against America (2004), Farthing (2006), A Man Lies Dreaming (2014), and J (2014)
Epilogue: Further Fabulation
Notes
Bibliography
Index