Book chapter
Science fiction tourism
The New Routledge Companion to Science Fiction, pp.457-464
Routledge companions to literature series, Routledge, Second edition
2024
DOI: 10.4324/9781003140269-55
Abstract
Science fiction has always been about venturing to new places through imagined and new technologies, clearly a kind of epistemological 'tourism'. The concept of 'sf tourism' has from the earliest examples of the fictional form also been an explicit subject in sf works. Indeed, the history of sf is the history of 'going somewhere else to see the sights', whether through voyages extraordinaires, explicit time travel narratives or the implicit time travel of trips to the future. And now, the possibility of actual space tourism is one of the newest aspects of sf tourism, as are the increasing number of video game, online sites and standalone physical sites that offer virtual visits to science-fictional destinations. The 'technological sublime' long predates these forms of sf tourism; the development of sf literature was always intertwined with material cultural events and locations that aspired to the technological 'sense of wonder' and emphasis on change central to that literature. Accordingly, the history of sf tourism includes not only sf narratives in literature, film and television but also historical physical sites including P.T. Barnum's American Museum, spectacular mass cultural events such as world's fairs and the early years of Coney Island, and contemporary experiences offered at Disneyland, Disney World, Epcot Center, NASA's Johnson Space Center, The Smithsonian's Air and Space Museum and numerous other sites around the world offering interactive and immersive experiences in space travel and astronomy.
Details
- Title: Subtitle
- Science fiction tourism
- Creators
- Brooks Landon
- Contributors
- Mark Bould (Editor)Andrew M. Butler (Editor)Sherryl Vint (Editor)
- Resource Type
- Book chapter
- Publication Details
- The New Routledge Companion to Science Fiction, pp.457-464
- Edition
- Second edition
- Publisher
- Routledge; Abingdon, Oxon
- Series
- Routledge companions to literature series
- DOI
- 10.4324/9781003140269-55
- Alternative title
- Science fiction tourism
- Language
- English
- Date published
- 2024
- Academic Unit
- English
- Record Identifier
- 9984654501302771
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