SANTA BARBARA — The UCSB Library’s speaker series will present Carl Gutierrez-Jones discussion on “Science Fiction and Creative Self-Destruction” at 4 p.m. Tuesday, April 12 at the Pacific View Room, Library, Ocean Side, 8th Floor.
A reception will follow the free event.
Carl Gutiérrez-Jones is Professor of English and Comparative Literature, and Associate Vice Chancellor and Dean of Undergraduate Education at UCSB.
In 2015 Gutiérrez-Jones published the book Suicide and Contemporary Science Fiction. Contemporary science fiction is noteworthy for its fascination with suicidal transformation, he says. This interest in creative self-destruction is seen in recent films (Looper, Inception, Prometheus), as well as a range of canonical science fiction works (The Island of Doctor Moreau, Solaris, Ender’s Game, Neuromancer, “Bloodchild,” The Handmaid’s Tale).
Suicidal crises, Gutiérrez-Jones believes, represent opportunities for the characters to break with destructive or stultifying habits of thought that prove inadequate in the face of significant scientific, technological, and social change. The passage through suicidal crisis offers a chance to reboot in fundamental ways what it means to be human.
This lecture will trace the rich engagement with creative self-destruction found in a variety of science fiction texts.
Click here for more information.