TY - JOUR

T1 - Frederik Pohl

T2 - a working man's science fiction

AU - Baker, Brian

PY - 2014/6

Y1 - 2014/6

N2 - This article is a retrospective consideration of the late Frederik Pohl, and in particular the critical reception of his work and the relation of his science fiction to the 1950s. It offers a counter-reading of Pohl's importance, suggesting that the insistent masculinism of Pohl and the 'wiseacre' mid-century American male voice he adopts throughout his fiction, should be more profitably understood in terms of his political formation in the 1930. Through a reading of Michael Denning's The Cultural Front, the article proposes that Pohl's work, as well as that of his fellow Futurian writers, can be read as a form of proletarian literature.

AB - This article is a retrospective consideration of the late Frederik Pohl, and in particular the critical reception of his work and the relation of his science fiction to the 1950s. It offers a counter-reading of Pohl's importance, suggesting that the insistent masculinism of Pohl and the 'wiseacre' mid-century American male voice he adopts throughout his fiction, should be more profitably understood in terms of his political formation in the 1930. Through a reading of Michael Denning's The Cultural Front, the article proposes that Pohl's work, as well as that of his fellow Futurian writers, can be read as a form of proletarian literature.

KW - science fiction

KW - proletarian literature

KW - Masculinity

M3 - Journal article

JO - Foundation

JF - Foundation

SN - 0306-4964

IS - 117

ER -