Working from the observation that 'outer space has a history too' (p. 3), three core questions drive the content of this interesting, cross-disciplinary work (p. 6): 1. How did the idea of outer space, spaceflight and especially exploration, develop in the 20th century as a central element of the Western European project and particularly that of European modernity? 2. How was outer space represented and communicated, imaged, popularised and perceived in a variety of media? 3. In what ways have these conceptions of the cosmos and extraterrestrial life been affected by the continual exploration of outer space, and vice versa: 'fictionalizing science, scientizing fiction' (p. 13)?
展开▼
