Carl Freedman (writer)

Carl Freedman
Carl Freedman
Born	1951 (age 72–73); North Carolina, U.S.
Occupation	Writer, academic
Notable works	Critical Theory and Science Fiction (2000)
Notable awards	Pilgrim Award (2018)
Title	William A. Read Professor of English Literature
Academic background
Alma mater	Yale University
Academic work
Institutions	Louisiana State University
Website	www.cfreedman.com

Carl Howard Freedman (born 1951) is an American writer, literary theorist and professor of English literature at Louisiana State University. He is best known for the non-fiction book Critical Theory and Science Fiction, and his scholarly work on the writer Philip K. Dick. Freedman's other works include a series of books on Isaac Asimov, Ursula K. Le Guin and Samuel R. Delany, and several essays and a book on China Miéville. In 2018, he won the Pilgrim Award for lifetime contribution to science fiction and fantasy scholarship.

Life and career

Carl Freedman was born in North Carolina in 1951.^[1] He received his BA in English from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Oxford University, and his PhD from Yale University.^[2] He is currently the William A. Read Professor of English literature at Louisiana State University, where he was named a distinguished research master in 2013.^[3]^[4]

Freedman's most highly cited work is his 2000 book, Critical Theory and Science Fiction,^[1] where he examines the analytical potential of SF. He places science fiction above all other genres in terms of "historical concreteness and rigorous self-reflectiveness",^[5] and thus as the most sound genre for academic study.^[6] The book focuses on novels from five authors:^[7]

The Dispossessed by Ursula K. Le Guin
The Man in the High Castle by Philip K. Dick
Solaris by Stanisław Lem
Stars in My Pocket Like Grains of Sand by Samuel R. Delany
The Two of Them by Joanna Russ

It presents the case that the above works constitute the "aesthetic and political core" of SF (per Gerlach and Hamilton).^[8] Freedman employs the notion of science fiction as "cognitive estrangement", an idea popularized by academic Darko Suvin.^[9]^[10] This has been described as a Marxist and utopian approach to SF: by placing readers in a world different from their own, it challenges them to imagine alternatives to the status quo.^[11]^[1]

Freedman is also known for his essays on the writer Philip K. Dick,^[1] where he studies the prevalence of paranoia in Dick's works.^[12] His Literary Conversations series of books (2005–09) contain extended interviews with Isaac Asimov, Ursula K. Le Guin, and Samuel R. Delany.^[1] Freedman has also authored essays on Marxism and China Miéville. His 2015 book, Art and Idea in the Novels of China Miéville, studies six of his novels: King Rat; the three Bas-Lag books, Perdido Street Station, The Scar and Iron Council; The City and the City; and Embassytown. It has been described as "essential reading" for discussion of Miéville's work.^[13]^[14]

Other writers that have been the subject of Freedman's work include Robert A. Heinlein and Kim Stanley Robinson, with focus on their authorship of utopian SF. Freedman has also written books on U.S. electoral politics, and on film.^[1]

Recognition

Freedman received the 1999 Pioneer Award for Excellence in Scholarship for his essay "Kubrick's 2001 and the Possibility of a Science-Fiction Cinema". In 2018, he was awarded the Pilgrim Award for Lifetime Achievement by the Science Fiction Research Association.^[15]

Bibliography

As author

George Orwell: A Study in Ideology and Literary Form, 1988
Critical Theory and Science Fiction, 2000
The Incomplete Projects: Marxism, Modernity, and the Politics of Culture, 2002
The Age of Nixon: A Study in Cultural Power, 2012
Versions of Hollywood Crime Cinema: Studies in Ford, Wilder, Coppola, Scorsese, and Others, 2013
Art and Idea in the Novels of China Miéville, 2015

As editor

Conversations with Isaac Asimov, 2005
Conversations with Ursula K. Le Guin, 2008
Conversations with Samuel R. Delany, 2009

References

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f Clute, John; Pak, Chris (August 31, 2018). "Freedman, Carl". In Clute, John; et al. (eds.). The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction (3rd ed.). Gollancz. Archived from the original on October 4, 2021. Retrieved October 4, 2021.
^ "Dr. Carl Freedman". LSU Comparative Literature. Louisiana State University. Archived from the original on October 4, 2021. Retrieved October 1, 2021.
^ "Carl Freedman". LSU English. Louisiana State University. Archived from the original on October 4, 2021. Retrieved October 1, 2021.
^ "In Focus: Distinguished Scholars". LSU Alumni Magazine. Vol. 90, no. 1. LSU Alumni Association. March 5, 2014. p. 36. Archived from the original on October 4, 2021. Retrieved October 4, 2021.
^ Freedman, Carl (2000). "Preface". Critical Theory and Science Fiction. Wesleyan University Press. p. xvi. ISBN 978-0-8195-6399-6.
^ Menadue, Christopher Benjamin; Cheer, Karen Diane (August 3, 2017). "Human Culture and Science Fiction: A Review of the Literature, 1980–2016". SAGE Open. 7 (3). doi:10.1177/2158244017723690. S2CID 149043845.
^ Bould, Mark (2002). "On Carl Freedman's Critical Theory and Science Fiction". Historical Materialism. 10 (4): 297–305. doi:10.1163/15692060260474503.
^ Gerlach, Neil; Hamilton, Sheryl N. (2003). "Introduction: A History of Social Science Fiction". Science Fiction Studies. 30 (2): 161–173. JSTOR 4241163.
^ Erlich, Richard D. (2001). "Review: Critical Theory and Science Fiction". Utopian Studies. 12 (1): 180–182. JSTOR 20718262.
^ Stableford, Brian M.; Clute, John; Nicholls, Peter (June 15, 2020). "Definitions of SF". In Clute, John; et al. (eds.). The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction (3rd ed.). Gollancz. Archived from the original on July 11, 2021. Retrieved October 4, 2021.
^ Booker, M. Keith, ed. (2013). "The Critical Reception of Speculative Fiction" (PDF). Critical Insights: Contemporary Speculative Fiction. Salem Press. ISBN 978-1-4298-3820-7. Archived (PDF) from the original on October 4, 2021. Retrieved October 4, 2021.
^ Enns, Anthony (2006). "Media, Drugs, and Schizophrenia in the Works of Philip K. Dick". Science Fiction Studies. 33 (1). Archived from the original on October 4, 2021. Retrieved October 4, 2021.
^ Williams, Rhys (2016). "Weird Counsels: The Critic & the Critics" (PDF). Foundation. 45 (124): 92–98. Archived (PDF) from the original on October 4, 2021. Retrieved October 4, 2021.
^ Bronson, Zak (January 13, 2018). "Thinking Weirdly with China Miéville". Los Angeles Review of Books. Archived from the original on October 4, 2021. Retrieved October 4, 2021.
^ "Carl Freedman Awards". Science Fiction Awards Database. Locus Science Fiction Foundation. Archived from the original on October 4, 2021. Retrieved October 1, 2021.