The Earthward Gaze and Self-reflexivity in Anglophone Novels of the 1970s

Title data

Klaeger, Florian:
The Earthward Gaze and Self-reflexivity in Anglophone Novels of the 1970s.
In: Geppert, Alexander C. T. (ed.): Limiting Outer Space : Astroculture after Apollo. - London : Palgrave Macmillan , 2018 . - pp. 131-154 . - (Palgrave Studies in the History of Science and Technology )
ISBN 978-1-137-36915-4
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-36916-1_6

Official URL:

Abstract in another language

As icons of the ‘one earth’ and ‘one world’ movements, the Apollo images of earth became emblematic of a self-reflexive turn in the 1970s, redirecting attention from outer space back home. This chapter examines how the phenomenon of cultural self-reflexivity was treated by English-language novelists from non-spacefaring nations. Offering renditions of ‘the Earthward gaze’ in novels not otherwise concerned with space exploration, Doris Lessing, A.S. Byatt and John Banville presented self-reflection as an anthropological constant and perennial concern of the novel genre, rather than an effect of spaceflight. The chapter shows how these authors appropriated the imagery of astroculture for valorizations of the novel genre in opposition to a contemporary ‘culture of narcissism,’ situating their work in the context of metafictional and critical writing of the 1970s.

Further data

Item Type:	Article in a book
Refereed:	Yes
Institutions of the University:	Faculties > Faculty of Languages and Literature Faculties > Faculty of Languages and Literature > Professor English Literature Faculties > Faculty of Languages and Literature > Professor English Literature > Professor English Literature - Univ.-Prof. Dr. Florian Klaeger Profile Fields > Emerging Fields > Cultural Encounters and Transcultural Processes Faculties Profile Fields Profile Fields > Emerging Fields
Result of work at the UBT:	Yes
DDC Subjects:	800 Literature > 800 Literature, rhetoric, criticism 800 Literature > 820 English and Old English literatures 900 History and geography > 940 History of Europe
Date Deposited:	26 Apr 2018 08:49
Last Modified:	08 Aug 2018 07:04
URI:	https://eref.uni-bayreuth.de/id/eprint/32087