Table of Contents Proceedings

New Directions in the European Fantastic

ed. v. Sabine Coelsch-Foisner and Sarah Herbe, in collaboration with Eva-Maria Kubin

University Press Winter, Heidelberg: 2012. 215 pages.

Proceedings of EUROFAN conference.

Since the end of the Cold War a significant number of fantastic texts, films, artworks and new media practices across Europe have raised social and political questions. The fantastic typically works to disrupt the mimetic through supernatural, magical and visionary means. In this sense it breaks through boundaries of genre, space and identity. This volume explores a variety of contemporary fantastic literature and films, television, comics and cultural practices, ranging from new trends in European cinema over Polish fantasy novels to the role of the fantastic in contemporary European paganisms. The contributions show how the fantastic is used to comment on, and come to terms with, traumatic events; how it renegotiates the good-versus-evil opposition as well as the figure of the hero in texts produced after the end of the Cold War and in the wake of 9/11. A special focus is given to genre developments and to major themes such as the formation of national, cultural and personal identities or the blurring and redefinition of boundaries. 'New Directions in the European Fantastic' is an invaluable contribution both to the study of the traffic of the fantastic across genres, cultures and media and to critical debates about post-Cold-War and post-9/11 culture.

Table of Contents:

SABINE COELSCH-FOISNER
EUROFAN – New Directions of the European Fantastic: Introduction …. vii

ROGER LUCKHURST
The Weird Rewired: Genres, Borders and the New Europe…. 1

EDWARD JAMES
The New Space Opera, 1991-2011: The European Contribution…. 13

MARK BOULD
Other Worlds Are Possible: Some Trends in European Fantastic Film after the Cold War …. 29

JOE GRIXTI
The Intrigue of the Liminal: Fantastic Explorations of the Shadow Self…. 41

KATHRYN ROUNTREE
The Role of the Fantastic in Contemporary European Paganisms…. 53

SONJA KLIMEK
Illusion, Immersion and Identification: Storytelling Role-Playing Games as Interactive Media Practice …. 67

FRANS MAYRA
The Global and Local in Fantastic New Media: The Case of Finland…. 81

CHRISTIAN KNÖPPLER
Unexploded Bombs and Superpowers: Global Threats and Solutions in Warren Ellis's The Authority and Global frequency ... Xnumx

STEFANIE KREUZER
Constellations of a Postmodern Fantastic…. 111

MARLEEN S. BARR
The Sound of Music Portrays an Alternative Universe Salzburg and Reflects Social Dialogue between an Unreal Austria and the United States…. 119

BEATRIX HESSE
A New Variation on the Alien Invasion Theme: Neill Blomkamp's District 9 ... Xnumx

STEFAN RABITSCH
Rule, Britannia! Britannia, Rule(s) the Space in Star Trek! Maritime Histories, Transatlantic Anglophone Hegemonies and Science Fiction TV …. 139

INKEN FROST
Doctor Who in the Twenty-First Century: The Doctor after the (Cold) War …. 153

MRS. BODE
Trauma and the Fantastic: Marcelo Figueras' The battle of the hot weather and Guillermo del Toro's Pan's Labyrinth ... Xnumx

AJ DRENDA
Geralt of Rivia: The Old and New Hero in Andrzej Sapkowski's The Witcher Cycle…. 179

STEFANIE GIEBERT
A Place for the Silver Horde or No Country for Old Men? Age and Aging in Fantasy and Science Fiction…. 187

BRIAN STABLEFORD
The Misdiagnosis of Madness in Science and Science Fiction…. 197

LIST OF AUTHORS…. 211