American and Indigenous Studies, Asian Studies, Experimental Humanities, the Literature Program, and the Division of Languages and Literature Presents

Korean Science Fiction and the Boundaries of the Imaginable

This lecture examines the overlooked history of Korean science fiction and what it reveals about the political limits of imagination. Tracing the genre from early twentieth-century translations of Jules Verne and H. G. Wells to contemporary popular Korean film, television, and popular media such as K-pop Demon Hunters, the talk challenges Western-centered narratives of science fiction’s origins.

Focusing on Korea’s experience of colonialism, Cold War geopolitics, and national division, the lecture argues that science fiction is a privileged site for understanding not only what futures were imagined, but what futures remained impossible to imagine. By situating Korean science fiction within a global framework, the talk rethinks science fiction as a politically embedded, transnational genre rather than a purely Western one.

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For more information, call 845-758-6822, or e-mail [email protected].

Time: 5:00 pm EST/GMT-5

Location: Preston Theater

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