(1951- ) American academic and critic. After receiving a PhD in English from Claremont Graduate University in 1986, he worked until 2011 at the University of California, Riverside, and is now an Adjunct Professor at the University of La Verne. His first major project was a series of contentious articles in Foundation: The Review of Science Fiction, based on research from his dissertation, which were eventually revised and expanded as The Mechanics of Wonder: The Creation of the Idea of Science Fiction (1998). Its argument that the true origins of science fiction lie in the writings and editorial career of Hugo Gernsback, expanded upon in a later book, Hugo Gernsback and the Century of Science Fiction (2007), is usually regarded as his most noteworthy contribution to sf scholarship, though he has also written extensively on such subjects as Hard SF, Space-Opera, Space Stations, and sf Cinema. His numerous articles and reviews have appeared in Science Fiction Studies, Extrapolation, Science Fiction Eye, SFRA Newsletter, Journal of the Fantastic in the Arts, Monad: Essays on Science Fiction, and other magazines, critical anthologies, and reference works.
Early in his career, while writing two other books, Cosmic Engineers: A Study of Hard Science Fiction (1996) and Islands in the Sky: The Space Station Theme in Science Fiction Literature (1996; rev 2009), Westfahl also began serving as one coordinator of Riverside's annual Eaton Conferences, associated with its the J Lloyd Eaton Collection, and eventually co-edited nine volumes of conference essays, beginning with Immortal Engines: Life Extension and Immortality in Science Fiction and Fantasy (anth 1996) [see Checklist for further volumes]. He has edited one volume of essays from an Eaton-related conference, Space and Beyond: The Frontier Theme in Science Fiction (anth 2000); co-edited two others, World Weavers: Globalization, Science Fiction, and the Cybernetic Revolution (anth 2005) and Science Fiction and the Prediction of the Future: Essays on Foresight and Fallacy (anth 2011), both with Wong Kin Yuen and Amy Kit-sze Chan; and edited a volume of Eaton essays by Frank McConnell, The Science of Fiction and the Fiction of Science: Collected Essays on SF Storytelling and the Gnostic Imagination (coll 2009).
In the late 1990s, Westfahl became a regular columnist for Interzone, producing thirty-six columns (one in collaboration with David Pringle) until its change in editorship; wrote another book, Science Fiction, Children's Literature, and Popular Culture: Coming of Age in Fantasyland (2000); and served as a Consultant Editor for The Encyclopedia of Fantasy. He then edited two massive projects: The Greenwood Encyclopedia of Science Fiction and Fantasy: Themes, Works, and Wonders (encyclopedia 2005 3vols), with an editorial board that included John Clute and David Langford; and Science Fiction Quotations: From the Inner Mind to the Outer Limits (anth 2005). In 2001 he began to contribute film reviews and essays to the website Locus Online (> Locus); one commentary, written in the wake of the Columbia disaster, which lambasted science fiction for inappropriately promoting space travel, aroused a brief storm of controversy. He has also published online essays for other websites like The Internet Review of Science Fiction, Salon Futura, and Strange Horizons. Recent books include The Other Side of the Sky: An Annotated Bibliography of Space Stations in Science Fiction, 1869-1993 (2009), which examines examples of artifacts that – for pragmatic reasons – are dealt with in this Encyclopedia under two headings: Space Habitats and Space Stations; and a Cinema study, The Spacesuit Film: A History, 1918-1969 (2012) (> Spacesuit Films).
Westfahl received the Pilgrim Award in 2003 for lifetime contributions to sf and fantasy scholarship. Voluminous, contrarian, methodical and learned, he is a central figure in sf criticism. [GW/JC]
Gary Wesley Westfahl
born Washington, District of Columbia: 7 May 1951
died
works
- Cosmic Engineers: A Study of Hard Science Fiction (Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press, 1996) [nonfiction: Hard SF: hb/]
- Islands in the Sky: The Space Station Theme in Science Fiction Literature (San Bernardino, California: Borgo Press, 1996) [nonfiction: preface by Gregory Benford: Space Stations: hb/]
- The Mechanics of Wonder: The Creation of the Idea of Science Fiction (Liverpool: Liverpool University Press, 1998) [nonfiction: hb/]
- Science Fiction, Children's Literature, and Popular Culture: Coming of Age in Fantasyland (Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press, 2000) [nonfiction: hb/]
- Hugo Gernsback and the Century of Science Fiction (Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland Publishers, 2007) [nonfiction: Hugo Gernsback: pb/]
- The Other Side of the Sky: An Annotated Bibliography of Space Stations in Science Fiction, 1869-1993 (Rockville, Maryland: Wildside Press/Borgo Press, 2009) [nonfiction: Space Stations: pb/Innovari]
- The Spacesuit Film: A History, 1918-1969 (Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland Publishers, 2012) [nonfiction: with foreword by Michael Cassutt: Cinema: Spacesuit Films: pb/]
works as editor
series
Eaton Conference Papers
- Immortal Engines: Life Extension and Immortality in Science Fiction and Fantasy (Athens, Georgia: University of Georgia Press, 1996) with George Slusser and Eric S Rabkin [nonfiction: anth: Immortality: Eaton Conference Papers: hb/]
- Science Fiction and Market Realities (Athens, Georgia: University of Georgia Press, 1996) with George Slusser and Eric S Rabkin [nonfiction: anth: Eaton Conference Papers: hb/]
- Foods of the Gods: Eating and the Eaten in Fantasy and Science Fiction (Athens, Georgia: University of Georgia Press, 1996) with George Slusser and Eric S Rabkin [nonfiction: anth: Eaton Conference Papers: hb/]
- Nursery Realms: Children in the Worlds of Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror (Athens, Georgia: University of Georgia Press, 1999) with George Slusser [nonfiction: anth: Children in SF: Eaton Conference Papers: hb/]
- Science Fiction, Canonization, Marginalization, and the Academy (Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press, 2002) with George Slusser [nonfiction: anth: Eaton Conference Papers: hb/]
- Unearthly Visions: Approaches to Science Fiction and Fantasy Art (Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press, 2002) with George Slusser and Kathleen Church Plummer [nonfiction: anth: Eaton Conference Papers: hb/]
- No Cure for the Future: Disease and Medicine in Science Fiction and Fantasy (Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press, 2002) with George Slusser [nonfiction: anth: Medicine: Eaton Conference Papers: hb/]
- Worlds Enough and Time: Explorations of Time in Science Fiction and Fantasy (Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press, 2002) with George Slusser and David Leiby [nonfiction: anth: Time: Eaton Conference Papers: hb/]
- Science Fiction and the Two Cultures: Essays on Bridging the Gap between the Sciences and the Humanities (Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland Publishers, 2009) with George Slusser [nonfiction: anth: Eaton Conference Papers: pb/]
individual titles
- Space and Beyond: The Frontier Theme in Science Fiction (Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press, 2000) [nonfiction: anth: hb/]
- Science Fiction Quotations: From the Inner Mind to the Outer Limits (New Haven, Connecticut: Yale University Press, 2005) [nonfiction: anth: with foreword by Arthur C Clarke: pb/]
- The Greenwood Encyclopedia of Science Fiction and Fantasy: Themes, Works, and Wonders (Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press, 2005) [encyclopedia: published in three volumes: foreword by Neil Gaiman: hb/]
- World Weavers: Globalization, Science Fiction, and the Cybernetic Revolution (Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press, 2005) with Wong Kin Yuen and Amy Kit-sze Chan [nonfiction: anth: hb/]
- Frank McConnell. The Science of Fiction and the Fiction of Science: Collected Essays on SF Storytelling and the Gnostic Imagination (Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland Publishers, 2009) [nonfiction: coll: foreword by Neil Gaiman: pb/]
- Science Fiction and the Prediction of the Future: Essays on Foresight and Fallacy (Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland Publishers, 2011) with Wong and Chan [nonfiction: anth: Futures Studies; Prediction: pb/]
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