Judith Merril

Dianne Newell is a professor of history and former director of the Peter Wall Institute for Advanced Studies at the University of British Columbia. A historian of technology, she has authored or coauthored many articles on women and science fiction. Victoria Lamont is an associate professor of English literature at the University of Waterloo, in Ontario, Canada. Her research and publication areas include western American frontier mythology, American popular culture, and American women writers.

“well-researched...Newell and Lamont achieve their goal of preventing Merril’s erasure from science fiction by making well-researched, theoretically grounded arguments about the significance of her fiction and non-fiction writing”—SFRA Review; “Newell and Lamont’s study should do much to restore Merril’s reputation, and is greatly welcomed”—Foundation: The International Review of Science Fiction; “a critical examination...Merril was indeed far ahead of her time...her writing as well as her editorial work are covered here in some detail...interesting...a good bibliography”—Critical Mass; “a literary biography and critical commentary on the work of science fiction writer, editor, and anthologist Judith Merril...[the authors] apply the theory of American science fiction as a form of frontier mythology to her works”—Reference & Research Book News; “undertaken by two well-qualified academic writers...I cannot imagine it will be bettered”—Canadian Literature.

• Table of ContentsAcknowledgments      viiiNote on Archival Sources      Introduction      Part One. The Postwar Fiction1. Judith Merril and the Myth of the Frontier      2. Atomic Frontier and the Advent of a Writer      3. The Space Stories      4. Alien Encounters      5. Psychology and “Primary Communication”      Part Two. Shifting the Dimensions of Speculative Fiction6. Merril in Dialogue      7. New Waves and New Communities      8. The Memoir      Epilogue: The Future of Judith Merril      Bibliography      Index