Gendering Domes between Pulp Era and New Wave

Research output: Contributions to collected editions/worksChapter

Authors

Transparent domes are an essential trope in science fiction (SF) and come in various forms and scales, sheltering (or constricting) whole cities or single persons. Tracing the genealogies of SF’s “dome cultures” from early works inspired by the Crystal Palace with its colonialist implications to their heyday during the Pulp Era and the New Wave, this chapter argues that SF domes are spaces for exploring experimental sociopolitical orders, explicitly addressing mechanisms of inclusion and exclusion. Often they are hostile, hermetic environments, especially for women. However, they can also serve as poetological metaphors for establishing “spaces of one’s own,” as a critical reading of core texts by authors like Marlen Haushofer and Ursula K. Le Guin reveals.
Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationThe Routledge Companion to Gender and Science Fiction
EditorsLisa Yaszek, Sonja Fritzsche, Keren Omry, Wendy Gay Pearson
Number of pages11
PublisherRoutledge Taylor & Francis Group
Publication date25.02.2023
Pages332-342
ISBN (print)9780367537012
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 25.02.2023

    Research areas

  • Science fiction, Transparency, Gender, ecocriticism, Marlen Haushofer, Glass culture, cybernetics

DOI