The Literary Studies Shelf

The Stuff of Science Fiction
Gary Westfahl
McFarland & Company
PO Box 611, Jefferson NC 28640
https://mcfarlandbooks.com
9781476686592, $49.95, PB, 297pp

https://www.amazon.com/Stuff-Science-Fiction-Hardware-Characters/dp/1476686= 599

Synopsis: While students and general readers typically cannot relate to eso= teric definitions of science fiction, they readily understand the genre as =
a literature that characteristically deals with subjects such as new invent= ions, space, robot and aliens. With the publication of "The Stuff of Scienc=
e Fiction: Hardware, Settings, Characters", Professor Gary Westfahl looks a=
t science fiction in precisely this manner, with twenty-one chapters that e= ach deal with a subject that is repeatedly addressed in science fiction of = recent centuries.

Based on a packet of original essays that Professor Westfahl had assembled = for his classes, "The Stuff of Science Fiction: Hardware, Settings, Charact= ers" could well serve as a supplemental textbook in science fiction classes=
, but it also contains material of interest to science fiction scholars and=
others devoted to the genre.

In some cases, chapters offer thorough surveys of numerous works involving = certain subjects, such as imagined vehicles, journeys beneath the Earth and=
undersea adventures, discovering intriguing patterns in the ways that vari= ous writers developed their ideas. When comprehensive coverage of ubiquitou=
s topics such as robots, aliens and the planet Mars is impossible, chapters=
focus on major themes referencing selected texts. A conclusion discusses o= ther science fiction subjects that were omitted for various reasons, and a = bibliography lists additional resources for the study of science fiction in=
general and the topics of each chapter.

Critique: Impressively enhanced for the reader with the inclusion of an inf= ormative Introduction and Conclusion, "The Stuff of Science Fiction: Hardwa= re, Settings, Characters" also features a sixteen page Bibliography and a t= hirty-four page Index. Comprised of an inherently fascinating and thought-p= rovoking series of articles deftly organized into three major sections, "Th=
e Stuff of Science Fiction: Hardware, Settings, Characters" is available fo=
r personal reading lists in a digital book format (Kindle, $29.99) and is u= nreservedly recommended as a significant and fascinating addition to commun= ity, college, and university library Literary Studies collections in genera=
l, and Science Fiction supplemental curriculum studies lists in particular.

Editorial Note: Gary Westfahl (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gary_Westfahl)=
, is a Professor Emeritus at the University of La Verne, California, and ha=
s authored, edited, or co-edited 27 books about science fiction and fantasy=
, as well as hundreds of articles and reviews. In 2003, he received the Sci= ence Fiction Research Association's Pilgrim Award for his lifetime contribu= tions to science fiction and fantasy scholarship.

Ovid's "Heroides" and the Augustan Principate
Megan O. Drinkwater
University of Wisconsin Press
728 State Street, Suite 443, Madison, WI 53706-1418
www.uwpress.wisc.edu
9780299337803, $79.95, HC, 192pp

https://www.amazon.com/Ovids-Heroides-Augustan-Principate-Drinkwater/dp/029= 9337804

Synopsis: 43 BCE, the year after the assassination of Julius Caesar. While = the Roman republic had seen many conflicts, it was this civil war, headed b=
y the vengeful triumvirate of Mark Anthony, Marcus Lepidus, and Octavian, t= hat irrevocably transformed Rome with its upheaval. What followed was years=
of fighting and the eventual ascendancy of Octavian, who from 27 BCE onwar=
ds would be best known as Caesar Augustus, founder of the Roman Principate.

It was in this era of turmoil and transformation that Ovid, the Roman poet = best known for Metamorphoses, was born. The Heroides, one of his earliest a=
nd most elusive works, is not written from the first-person perspective tha=
t so often characterizes the elegiac poetry of that time but from the perso= nae of tragic heroines of classical mythology.

With the publication of "Ovid's "Heroides" and the Augustan Principate", Pr= ofessor Megan O. Drinkwater illustrates how Ovid used innovations of litera=
ry form to articulate an expression of the crisis of civic identity in Rome=
at a time of extreme and permanent political change. The letters are not d= ivorced from the context of their composition but instead elucidate that co= ntext for their readers and expose how Ovid engaged in politics throughout = his entire career. Their importance is as much historical as literary.

Professor Drinkwater makes a compelling case for understanding the Heroides=
as a testament from one of Rome's most eloquent writers to the impact that=
the dramatic shift from republic to empire had on its intellectual elites.

Critique: A seminal work of outstanding scholarship, "Ovid's "Heroides" and=
the Augustan Principate" is informatively enhanced for the reader with the=
inclusion of an eleven page Coda (Hindsight and the Double Herodes), a ten=
page bibliographic listing of Works Cited, thirty-two pages of Notes, a si=
x page Index Locorom, and a six page Index. Exceptionally well written, org= anized, and presented, "Ovid's "Heroides" and the Augustan Principate" is a=
n extraordinary and unreservedly recommended addition to personal, communit=
y, college, and community library Roman Literature/Culture collections and = supplemental curriculum studies lists.

Editorial Note: Megan O. Drinkwater is a professor and chair of the departm= ent of classics at Agnes Scott College. She has previously published severa=
l articles on different aspects of Ovid's work and has contributed to The C= ambridge Companion to Latin Love Elegy. She has a web page at https://www.a= gnesscott.edu/directory/faculty/drinkwater-megan.html

Pierre Macherey and the Case of Literary Production
Warren Montag, editor
Audrey Wasser, editor
Northwestern University Press
629 Noyes Street, Evanston, IL 60208
www.nupress.northwestern.edu
9780810145122, $99.95, HC, 232pp

https://www.amazon.com/Pierre-Macherey-Case-Literary-Production/dp/08101451=
2X

Synopsis: Collaboratively compiled and co-edited by Warren Montage and Audr=
ey Wasser, the contributors to "Pierre Macherey and the Case of Literary Pr= oduction" show how Pierre Macherey's remarkable (and still provocative) ear=
ly work can contribute to contemporary discussions about the act of reading=
and the politics of formal analysis.

Across a series of historically and philosophically contextualized readings=
, the volume's contributors interrogate Macherey's work on a range of press= ing issues, including the development of a theory of reading and criticism,=
the relationship between the spoken and the unspoken, the labor of poetic = determination and of literature's resistance to ideological context, the li= terary relevance of a Spinozist materialism, the process of racial subjecti= fication and the ontology of Blackness, and a theorization of the textual s= urface.

"Pierre Macherey and the Case of Literary Production" also includes three n=
ew texts by Macherey, presented here in English for the first time: his pos= tface to the revised French edition of A Theory of Literary Production; "Re= ading Althusser," in which Macherey analyzes the concept of symptomatic rea= ding; and a comprehensive interview in which Macherey reflects on the histo= rical conditions of his early work, the long arc of his career at the inter= section of philosophy and literature, and the ongoing importance of Louis A= lthusser's thought.

Recent translations of Macherey's work into English have introduced new rea= ders to the critic's enduring power and originality. Timely in its question=
s and teeming with fresh insights, "Pierre Macherey and the Case of Literar=
y Production" demonstrates the depths to which his work resonates, now more=
than ever.

Critique: Informative enhanced with the inclusion of a fourteen page biblio= graphy listing Works by Pierre Macherey, a two pager listing of the Contrib= utors and their credentials, and a seven page Index, "Pierre Macherey and t=
he Case of Literary Production" is an ideal introduction to the literary wo=
rk of Pierre Macherey (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pierre_Macherey). Whil=
e especially recommended for college and university library Literary Critic= ism & Theory collections, it should be noted for the personal reading lists=
of students, academia, and non- specialist general readers with an interes=
t in the subject that "Pierre Macherey and the Case of Literary Production"=
is also available in a paperback edition (9780810145115, $34.95) and in a = digital book format (Kindle, $30.90).

EDITOR'S NOTE:

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James A. Cox, Editor-in-Chief
Midwest Book Review
278 Orchard Drive
Oregon, WI 53575-1129

To submit reviews of any fiction or non-fiction books, email them to Frugal= muse (at) aol (dot) com (Be sure to include the book title, author, publish= er, publisher address, publisher website/phone number, 13-digit ISBN number=
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James A. Cox, Editor-in-Chief
Midwest Book Review

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