Amy J. Ransom - Böcker

This first book-length study of French-language science fiction from Canada provides an introduction to the subgenre known as "SFQ" (science fiction from Quebec). In addition, it offers in-depth analyses of SFQ sagas by Jacques Brossard, Esther Rochon, and Elisabeth Vonarburg. It demonstrates how these multivolume narratives of colonization and postcolonial societies exploit themes typical of postcolonial literatures, including the denunciation of oppressive colonial systems, the utopian hope for a better future, and the celebration of tolerant pluralistic societies. A bibliography of SFQ available in English translation is included.

Over the decades, Richard Matheson’s 1954 novel I Am Legend has spawned a series of iconic horror and science-fiction films, including The Last Man on Earth (1964) starring Vincent Price, The Omega Man (1971) featuring Charlton Heston, and I Am Legend (2007) with Will Smith. Its compelling narrative about the last man on earth struggling to survive a pandemic that has transformed the rest of humanity into monsters has arguably become an American myth. While its core story remains intact, filmmakers have transformed its details over time, their often mixed messages reflecting changing attitudes about race and masculinity in the United States. This reexamination of Matheson’s original novel situates its tale of a man’s conflicted attitude about killing racialized others within its post-World War II context, engaging the question of post-traumatic stress disorder. It then analyzes in turn the novel’s several film adaptations, focusing in particular on producers’ choice of actor to bring to life Robert Neville, the last man on earth. Released respectively during the Cold War and the Civil Rights Movement, the Vietnam War, and then much later in the post-9/11 era, these films reveal America’s ongoing struggle with racial conflict and the construction of masculinity.

Since the year 2000, Quebec’s film industry has burgeoned with a parabolic increase in the number of films released and the production of a wide array of film genres. Building on the notion of ‘Quebec national cinema’ outlined by Bill Marshall, this book analyses French-language fiction features that construct images of the past. Scholar of Quebec cultural studies, Amy J. Ransom, explains how the studied films participate in the nation’s ‘historical imaginary’, revisiting and revisioning the past for present-day audiences and constructing new ‘sites of memory’ for twenty-first-century Québécois viewers. Each chapter examines a film genre explicitly engaged in representing the past: the historical film per se, the historical fantasy, the literary adaptation, the biopic and memoir, and the period film. The Historical Imaginary offers analyses of significant films and filmmakers while also providing a broader overview of these genres’ development in Quebec. From examining rigorous historical documents like Le 15 février, 1839 (2001) to quirky fantasies like Je me souviens (2009), and from the heritage films Nouvelle France (2004) and Maria Chapdaleine (2021) to the biopics Louis Cyr, l’homme le plus fort du monde (2013) and La Bolduc (2018), Ransom’s analyses travel across time, space, and genres.In this insightful cultural investigation, three generations of filmmakers are brought together to highlight their influence upon the construction of a Québécois national identity.

Canadian Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror: Bridging the Solitudes exposes the limitations of the solitudes concept so often applied uncritically to the Canadian experience.