Relativism, Alternate History, and the Forgetful Reader
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A01=Derek Thiess
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alternate history
Author_Derek Thiess
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Category1=Non-Fiction
Category=DSK
COP=United States
counterfactual
Delivery_Delivery within 10-20 working days
eq_bestseller
eq_biography-true-stories
eq_isMigrated=2
eq_nobargain
eq_non-fiction
history
Language_English
PA=Available
philosophy of history
philosophy of science
postmodernism
Price_€50 to €100
PS=Active
science fiction
softlaunch
specualtive fiction
Product details
- ISBN 9780739196175
- Weight: 431g
- Dimensions: 169 x 247mm
- Publication Date: 25 Nov 2014
- Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing Plc
- Publication City/Country: US
- Product Form: Hardback
- Language: English
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The writer of alternate history asks “what if?” What if one historical event were different, what would the world look like today? In a similar way, the postmodern philosopher of history suggests that history is literature, or that if we read certain historical details differently we would get a distinctly different interpretation of past events. While the science fiction alternate history means to illuminate the past, to increase our understanding of past events, however, the postmodern approach to history typically suggests that such understanding is impossible. To the postmodern philosopher, history is like literature in that it does not offer the reader access to the past, but only an interesting story. Building on criticism that suggests personal psychological reasons for this obscuring the past, and using a literary theory of readership, this book challenges the postmodern approach to history. It channels the speculative power of science fiction to read the works of postmodern philosophy of history as alternate histories themselves, and to map the limits and pathology of their forgetful reading of the past.
Derek Thiess teaches in the department of English at Georgia Gwinnet College.
