Arabic Science Fiction

Ian Campbell is Associate Professor of Arabic and Comparative Literature at Georgia State University, USA. He has published articles in major science fiction journals on Arabic science fiction and also undertakes research in postcolonial Moroccan fiction. He is the author of Labyrinths, Intellectuals and the Revolution: The Arabic-Language Moroccan Novel, 1957–72 (2013).

“For the scholar, Campbell’s study does an excellent job of exploring how works of ASF from a range of different countries (Kuwait, Egypt, Syria) have approached the literary demands and political risks of writing speculative fiction meant to critique the existing regimes and cultural programs. … scholars who want to understand the specific challenges of the emergence of science fiction in postcolonial settings would do well to explore Campbell’s volume.” (Steven Holmes, SFRA Review, Vol. 50 (1), 2020)“Arabic Science Fiction responds to the growing in­terest that both readers and scholars have been ex­perimenting towards for the last two decades of non-Western science-fiction. … Arabic Science Fiction constitutes a valu­able contribution to the growing field of science fic­tion postcolonial studies, opening the path for more widespread exploration of the genre, and perhaps eventually encouraging the translation of a body of fiction unheard of in the West.” (Erica Couto-Ferreira, Journal of Science Fiction, Vol. 3 (3), December, 2019)“Arabic Science Fiction remains a significant pioneering work. It contains many interesting analyses and genuinely insightful arguments. Along with earlier research, it definitely sets the stage for further engagement in the field. And for this reason, I think it should be on the bookshelf of anyone interested in the topic.” (Musab Bajaber, Science Fiction Studies, Vol. 46, 2019)

• Chapter 1:Introduction.- Chapter 2: Postcolonial Literature and Arabic SF.- Chapter 3: Arabic SF: Definitions and Origins.- Chapter 4: Criticism and Theory of Arabic SF.- Chapter 5: Double Estrangement in Nihād Sharīf’s The Conqueror of Time.- Chapter 6: Continuity Within Rupture in Two Novels by Muṣṭafā Maḥmūd.- Chapter 7: “Utopia” as a Critique of Utopia in Ṣabrī Mūsā’s The Gentleman from the Spinach Field.- Chapter 8: Male Gaze as Colonial Gaze in ’Aḥmad ‘Abd al-Salām al-Baqqāli’s The Blue Flood.- Chapter 9: Mysticism and SF in Ṭālib ‘Umrān’s Beyond The Veil of Time.- Chapter 10: Inheritance and Intertextuality in a Three-Novel Series by Ṭība ’Aḥmad Ibrāhīm.- Chapter 11: Conclusion.