In his paper, "Science Fiction, Forbidden Planet, and Shakespeare's The Tempest," Simone Caroti illustrates the way in which Cyril Hume and Fred Wilcox's 1956 science fiction movie Forbidden Planet -whose plot is inspired by Shakespeare's Tempest -reconfigures in Shakespeare's play. Caroti begins by defining the genre of science fiction and explaining its attraction for modern audiences. Follow...

SF functions in contemporary life as a form of myth creation. Myth has a gnoseological function for archaic societies; it creates a whole world-picture by complementing accumulated empirical knowledge with analogies drawn from familiar experience. Thus world-models are structurally similar to myths, combining cognition and fiction. All writing that explains scientific knowledge at the level of ...

nathaniel hawthorne's art of writing marks a specific point in the history of american literature. the revolution brought with it libertine outcomes from adherence to strict puritanical creeds of life. a little later, romanticism intensified this break even further by glorifying the individuality of the author and his role in creating a novel american voice. writing within such context, on...