Additional information
by H. Bruce Franklin (Editor)
Winner of the 2008 American Studies Association's Carl Bode-Norman Holmes Pearson Prize "for lifetime of achievement and service"
This selection of unusual storeis by important American writers-Hawthorne, Melville, Poe, Bellamy and Twain-and by less well-known tellers such as Ambrose Bierce, S. Weir Mitchell and Fitz-James O'Brien, challenges the commonly held belief that science fiction is a twenthiethcentury phenomenon, or that it began with Jule Verne and H, . G. Wells. Here are tales of marvelous inventions, automanta, biolgocial and psychological experiments, utopias, extra-sensory perception and time and space travel. Many of them have been out of print since before World War I, but they remain high in intrinsic interest of the general reader and for the specialist. The accompanying critical essays explore the relationships between science fiction and other financial modes, and illuminate the nataure of the bonds betwen science and society and fantasies and social aspirations. Professor Franklin also offers an original, theoretical definition of science ficiton. This book comes as a revelatin. One of the best-edited anthologies I have ever encountered...Mr. Franklin's critical introductions, containing much valuable information about many works not included in this book, are as interesting as the stories he prints.Back Jacket
In this first new edition since 1978, H. Bruce Franklin has made major revisions and additions, including a new section displaying remarkable contributions to science fiction by nineteenth-century American women. Future Perfect now offers a stunning perspective on the relevance of nineteenth-century science fiction in the dawn of the twenty-first century, illustrated by wonderfully enjoyable stories by obscure figures and by well-known authors.
Author Biography
H. BRUCE FRANKLIN is the John Cotton Dana Professor of English and American Studies at Rutgers University in Newark and the author or editor of sixteen books on culture and history. He has been a leading international figure in the teaching and study of science fiction for over three decades.
