Estranged Temporality: How Time Tells Stories in Science Fiction

Authors

Phillip H. Howells, University of Nebraska-LincolnFollow

First Advisor

Adrian Wisnicki

Second Advisor

Michael Page

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.)

Department

English

Date of this Version

7-2024

Document Type

Dissertation

Citation

A dissertation presented to the faculty of the Graduate College of the University of Nebraska in partial fulfillment of requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy

Major: English (Literary and Cultural Studies)

Under the supervision of Professors Adrian Wisnicki and Michael Page

Lincoln, Nebraska, July 2024

Comments

Copyright 2024, Phillip H. Howells. Used by permission

Abstract

According to Darko Suvin in his influential critical treatise, Metamorphoses of Science Fiction, estrangement in Science Fiction (SF) gives authors the ability to build worlds related to but distant from our own using specific metaphors. This dissertation takes up this term and applies it to the fulcrum of time in SF as a method of creating possible futures and imaginative pasts in order to illuminate the realities of the present. The realities of the present are congruent with the material circumstances of the past, and this can be seen in the kinds of SF worlds built by members of different communities. Writers of marginalized identities can use the metaphors of estranged temporality to build new timelines in which their political positionalities can be explored without the problem of being polemical. By studying the works of women writers of SF as well as bipoc writers and queer writers, this dissertation argues that SF should be a respected form of literary social commentary which provides advantages to marginalized voices through its didactic nature. SF tells stories that are linguistically complex and entertaining to unpack, but it is important to note that SF also allows writers to play with the expectations of readers in a sometimes activistic idiom. Ultimately, this dissertation argues that SF should be read, written, and taught as a culturally significant form of storytelling as well as political extrapolation.

Advisors: Adrian Wisnicki and Michael Page

Recommended Citation

Howells, Phillip H., "Estranged Temporality: How Time Tells Stories in Science Fiction" (2024). Dissertations and Doctoral Documents from University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 2023–. 169.
https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/dissunl/169