July, 2009

Rosny manifesto 1887

Submitted by JJ Pierce on Mon, 07/27/2009 - 12:27
in

A friend did a somewhat rough translation of the preface by J.H. Rosny to his first collection of storiies, L'Immolation (1887), which included his first sf story "Les Xipehuz" (translated 80 years later by Damon Knight as "The Shapes"). No doubt Brian Stableford will do a better translaton of the preface as part pf his Rosny projecft for Black Coat Prss. But even in this version, it strikes me that it anticipates the attitude, as opposed to the dialectic of Zamytain's "On Synthetism" (1923).

--J.J.P.

PREFACE

(Response to an anonymous letter regarding Le Bilateral)

Arthur O. Lewis, Jr., 1920-2009

Arthur O. Lewis, Jr., the second president of the Science Fiction Research Association (1977-1978) and recipient of the Thomas D. Clareson Award for Distinguished Service (2000), passed away on July 18, 2009 in State College, Pennsylvania. He was an eminent SF studies and utopian scholar whose professional work and personal efforts significantly expanded those fields within the academy. His obituary may be found here:

http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/centredaily/obituary.aspx?n=arthur-o-le...

Student Paper Award Replaces Grad Student Award

The SFRA is proud to announce a change to one of its most important awards to more accurately reflect the involvement of a variety of students in the organization. Due to increased undergraduate participation in the SFRA as demonstrated at the 2009 conference in Atlanta, Georgia, the executive committee has decided to open the award for the most outstanding student paper at the annual meeting to both undergraduate and graduate students. Thus, the Graduate Student Paper Award will now be called the Student Paper Award to reflect this inclusiveness.

Reference: 
Student Paper Award

2009-2010 Awards Committees

Pilgrim Award:

Elizabeth Hull (c)
Gary Wolfe
Marleen Barr

Pioneer Award:

Larissa Koroleva (c)
Sherryl Vint
De Witt Kilgore

Clareson Award:

Doug Davis (c)
Paul Kincaid
Andy Sawyer

Mary Kay Bray Award:

Patrick Sharp (c)
Jason Ellis
Susan George

Graduate Student Paper Award:

Jim Davis (c)
David Mead
Alfredo Suppia

The EC greatly encourages interested SFRA members to volunteer for these committees. Any interested members should contact the current SFRA president at President@sfra.org.

Optional Journal Subscriptions and Membership Renewal

Submitted by Mholtmeier on Mon, 07/13/2009 - 17:15

Hello SFRA Members!

Connecting the Dots between Texts and Current Situation

Submitted by Bruce Rockwood on Sun, 07/05/2009 - 21:18
in

I will be using Card, "Ender's Game," Yolen, "Briar Rose," and P. K. Dick, "The Man in the High Castle," among other texts in my fall law and literature class. I'd like to share what I am hoping to do with them in this context, and hear from others who have worked with any or all of these in an undergraduate setting. The course is "culturally diverse" within general education, and also part of our legal studies minor, which I advise. Themes I want to address include war, genocide, the other, gay rights, and how we govern ourselves.

Early Lasswitz: Blogging, Jesting

Submitted by JJ Pierce on Wed, 07/01/2009 - 13:18

I've just read Kurd Lasswitz' "To the Absolute Zero of Existence" (1871), which was translated last year for Franz Rottensteiner's THE BLACK MIRROR & OTHER STORIES, an anthology of German and Austrian sf. I'd read about this story in secondary sources, but those accounts centered in the whimsicality of the characters and plot.

SFRA Travel Grant

The Executive Board of the Science Fiction Research Association invites travel grant proposals to attend and present at the annual conference of Science Fiction Research Association.

The application has been attached as both a .doc and .pdf file.

SFRA Scholarship Grant

The Executive Board of the Science Fiction Research Association invites research proposals to significant issues and questions in science fiction studies.

The application has been attached as both a .doc and .pdf file.

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