New Perspectives on Contemporary German Science Fiction

Acknowledgements
Contents
Notes on Contributors
List of Figures
Chapter 1: Introduction: New Perspectives
	A Brief History of German SF
	A Renaissance of German SF
	The German Contribution to SF
	New Perspectives Explained
	References
Part I: New Inspirations
	Chapter 2: Going Round in Cycles: Time Travel and Determinism in the Netflix Show Dark
		Time Travel as ‘Novum’: Mysterious Passages and Ancient Symbols
		Theoretical Discussions: Wormholes, Dimensions, Paradoxes
		Cyclical Time: The Lunar-Solar Cycle and Eternal Recurrence
		Family Ties: Personal Connections as a Motor of Time Travel
		Changing the Past: Determinism, Free Will, and Desire
		Becoming What You Are: Destiny, Continuity of Self, and Technological Evolution
		Conclusion
		References
	Chapter 3: Popular German Science Fiction Film and European Migration
		Migration in Popular Discourses
		Migration and German Science Fiction Film and Television
			Volt
			Aufbruch ins Ungewisse
			Immigration Game
		Reception
		References
	Chapter 4: White German Agency in the Science Fiction Films Transfer (2010), Die kommenden Tage (2010), Hell (2011)
		German SF Cinema at the Intersection of Race, Politics, and Finance
		Transfer’s Body-Swapping Hell
		Hell’s Hellish Hell
		The Coming Days’ White Teutonic Hell
		And On and On
		References
Part II: New Criticism
	Chapter 5: Apocalyptic Greeneries: Climate, Vegetation, and the End of the World
		Broken Promises
		Stone Age (Ransmayr)
		Ice Age (Kracht)
		There Is No “Back” to Nature (Fritsch)
		References
	Chapter 6: The Language of Ice in the Anthropocene: German Science Fiction and Eco-Literature
		Historical Background
		Dominating Nature: Ice in Eiszeit in Europa?
		Ice as Home: EisTau and “Der Gletscher”
		Ice as a Way to Redefine Identity: Ins Nordlicht blicken
		Conclusion
		References
	Chapter 7: Environmental Destruction and Misogyny in Karen Duve’s Novel Macht
		Karen Duve’s Criticism of Modern Society
		Climate Change, Violence, and Power Relations
		Unequal Power in Gender Relations
		Conclusion
		References
Part III: New Identities
	Chapter 8: The Paradoxes of Illness and Health in Juli Zeh’s Corpus Delicti
		The Health Dictatorship
		Mia: Emotion Work
		Moritz: Fear and Loss
		Mia: Quest and Voice
		Conclusion
		References
	Chapter 9: Coming to Terms with the Present: Critical Theory and Critical Posthumanism in Contemporary German Science Fiction
		Critical Posthumanism, Critical Theory, and Dystopia
		From Dystopia to Utopia in Dath’s Die Abschaffung der Arten
		Stasis and “Eternal Return”: Jirgl’s Nichts von euch auf Erden
		References
	Chapter 10: The End of Humanity’s Monotony: Posthumanism and Artificial Life in Dietmar Dath’s The Abolition of Species and Venus’ Victory
		Augmented Posthumanism
		Continued Thought Experiments
		Imagination Prevails in Science and Social Fiction
		“The Doing, not the Things”
		References
	Chapter 11: Optimizing the Human: A Posthuman Taxonomy in the Works of Theresa Hannig
		Automation and the State
		Biological Humanity
		Digital Humanity
		Posthumanity
		References
Part IV: New Boundaries
	Chapter 12: Marc-Uwe Kling’s QualityLand: “Funny Dystopia” as Social and Political Commentary
		Peter’s Problem
		Critical Dystopia, Satire, Anxiety
		Critique of Capitalism
		Conclusion: Defining the Funny Dystopia
		References
	Chapter 13: Beyond the ‘Last Man’ Narrative: Notes on Thomas Glavinicʼs Night Work (2008)
		Genre Tradition, End-Time Poetry, or Philosophical SF?
		Identity, Worldliness, and Time
		References
	Chapter 14: A Utopianism That Transcends Books: Dirk C. Fleck’s Ecological Science Fiction
		Literary Utopianism
		Utopian Politics
		Equilibrism
		References
	Chapter 15: Conclusion: Dark Mirrors? German Science Fiction in the Twenty-First Century
		The Apocalyptic Desire
		German Science Fiction at the Crossroads
		Toward a Concrete Utopia
		Artificial Intelligence to the Rescue?
		A Human Post-Humanity?
		Conclusion
		References
Index