Science Fiction in Colonial India, 1835-1905

The five stories in Science Fiction in Colonial India, 1835-1905 speculate about utopian and dystopian futures. They represent the earliest Indian science fiction, imagining futures ranging from an end-of-the-world deluge to violent revolution to feminist utopia. The stories, written by both Indian and British authors, respond to the rapid political, cultural and technological change that shaped nineteenth-century India. The authors range from an East India Company...
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The five stories in Science Fiction in Colonial India, 1835-1905 speculate about utopian and dystopian futures. They represent the earliest Indian science fiction, imagining futures ranging from an end-of-the-world deluge to violent revolution to feminist utopia. The stories, written by both Indian and British authors, respond to the rapid political, cultural and technological change that shaped nineteenth-century India. The authors range from an East India Company official and poet who imagined a post-deluge world to a British doctor who celebrated egalitarian democracy and imagined high-speed trains, complete with ice-water fountains. Two young Indian students projected revolution forward, imagining both failure, on the one hand, and a utopian republic, on the other. The final story, by a Muslim educator of girls, imagines a country ruled by women who excel at scientific invention. The introduction to the collection sets the stage for these stories and reflects on the connections among science fiction, modernity and empire. Each story is accompanied by a biographical and critical discussion of its author and contextual annotation.