Acknowledgements
Introduction
Part One: Contexts
Chapter One: Living In the Imagination
Chapter Two: Delight without Delusion: The New Romance, Spectacular
Texts, and Public Spheres
Part Two: Cases
Chapter Three: Clap If You Believe in Sherlock Holmes: Arthur Conan
Doyle and Animistic Reason
Chapter Four: From "Virtual Unreality" to Virtual Reality: H.P.
Lovecraft and Public Spheres of the Imagination
Chapter Five: The Middle Positions of Middle-earth: J.R.R. Tolkien
and Fictionalism
Envoi
Bibliography
Index
Michael Saler is Professor of History at the University of California, Davis.
"Saler's argument is clearly laid out and readily accessible: he
finds a wide range of sources and delivers them cogently to the
reader. ... As If is a very welcome contribution to the unfolding
challenge of seeing how our newfound age of vituality changes what
we notice about the potential and actual virtuality woven into
earlier forms of realist and fantastical fiction, in all their
multifariousness." --Victorian Studies
"This is the best cultural study of fantasy I have ever read. A
powerful, liberating argument, woven together from an impressive
array of sources, all treated well and fairly. Saler routs the
assumption that enchantment and reason oppose one another."
--Edward Castronova, author of Synthetic Worlds: The Business and
Culture of Online Games
"If modernity can be called an 'iron cage,' as it was by Max Weber,
the para-modernity explored by Michael Saler is an Escher
staircase. Composed of oxymoronic juxtapositions--animistic reason,
detached immersion, ironic faith, and enchanted disenchantment--it
transports us nowhere, but the journey is filled with such wonders
that we keep moving along. As If is itself a triumph of imagination
and wit, as well as an exemplary exercise in cultural
history." --Martin Jay, author of Songs of Experience: Modern
American and European Variations on a Universal Theme
"Michael Saler's dazzling book adds a new historical dimension to
our understanding of imaginary worlds and literature; through As If
a surprising illumination of our modernity becomes possible."
--Simon During, author of Modern Enchantments: The Cultural Power
of Secular Magic
"Saler's book uncovers and identifies precursors to the shared
imaginary worlds of our time. His argument is clear, his examples
entertaining; the cumulative effect is startling and ultimately
very useful, in that we are given a new and positive way to
understand not only several currently emerging art forms, but also
our entire cultural moment. I now see my kids' activities in a new
light; it even seems as if our future could be good." --Kim Stanley
Robinson,
author of Galileo's Dream
"[Saler's] book should be essential reading in every graduate
school of the humanities. But it's much more fun than that
recommendation suggests...Mr. Saler's insights could be developed
in many directions." --Wall Street Journal
"Brilliant...'As If' reminds us that, through real play in
imaginary gardens, we can enhance the lives we lead in this
alienated modern world." --Washington Post
"Riveting stuff...Open[s] up a new vision not just of the
literature of the fantastic, but of us as well."
--Bookotron.com
"[A] thoughtful book." --Reason
"Demonstrates that such imaginative spaces are not merely
aesthetically pleasing but culturally important." --Science Fiction
Studies
"A rich, densely packed cultural study that distills a remarkable
amount of literary criticism and aesthetic, psychological, and
sociological theory into its arguments...You will find much in its
pages to enjoy." --LOCUS
"This wonderfully enlightening and terrifically well-written book
finally makes the philosophical point that the practice of
indulging in fictional worlds 'as if' they were real is not a mere
act of escapism but also the consideration of the ever-changing,
contingent, and subjective nature of the 'real' world that
constantly eludes the attempt to describe it as 'just so." --The
American Historical Review
"With its accessible but equally authoritative prose, Saler's book
enriches discussions of fan cultures, media technologies, and
public pedagogies across the periods he discusses, from the
Victorian era to our own. Those working with fandoms and
convergence culture will want a copy for their own bookshelves, and
all scholars of the fantastic will find the book a useful resource
in their own work and in their classrooms." --Journal of the
Fantastic in the
Arts
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