AUC Philologica (Acta Universitatis Carolinae Philologica) is an academic journal published by Charles University. It publishes scholarly articles in a large number of disciplines (English, German, Greek and Latin, Oriental, Romance and Slavonic studies, as well as in phonetics and translation studies), both on linguistic and on literary and cultural topics. Apart from articles it publishes reviews of new academic books or special issues of academic journals.
The journal is indexed in CEEOL, DOAJ, EBSCO, and ERIH PLUS.
AUC PHILOLOGICA, Vol 2022 No 2 (2022), 93–106
The State at Play: Iain M. Banks’s Gaming Galactic Empires
Mirka Horová
DOI: https://doi.org/10.14712/24646830.2022.40
published online: 16. 03. 2023
abstract
This article sets out to explore the dynamics of play in three selected science-fiction novels by the contemporary Scottish author Iain M. Banks. Drawing on the typology of literary play designed by the German theoretician Wolfgang Iser, the article focuses particularly on Banks’s second novel from the Culture series, The Player of Games (1988), concentrating on the ludic dynamics that inform and form these texts in narrative, discursive and thematic terms. Highlighting the author’s complex conceptual critique of empire and civilisation and their contested relationship with the individual, the article is especially interested in uncovering the intricacies of power paradigms in the context of Banks’s bespoke, ever-ambivalent vision of a cosmic utopia and its counterparts, where the interconnectedness of being and playing is performed on key levels.
keywords: Iain M. Banks; the Culture; science fiction; play theory; Wolfgang Iser; The Player of Games; empire; utopia; games
references (15)
1. Banks, Iain M. Consider Phlebas. London: Orbit, 1987.
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12. Miller, Gavin. "Games without competition: Iain M. Banks's 'play ethic'", in Playing the Universe: Games and Gaming in Science Fiction. Edited by David Mead and Pawel Frelik. Lublin: Maria Curie-Skłodowska University Press, 2007. 55-65.
13. Palmer, Christopher. "Galactic Empires and the Contemporary Extravaganza: Dan Simmons and Iain M. Banks". Science Fiction Studies, 26.1 (March 1999): 73-90.
14. Waddell, Calum. "Iain M. Banks: Heroes and Inspirations". SFX (24 July 2012). https://www.gamesradar.com/iain-m-bankse28099-heroes-and-inspirations/ (accessed 20 December 2021).
15. Walter, Damien. "30 years of Culture: what are the top five Iain M. Banks novels?", The Guardian (6 February 2017), https://www.theguardian.com/books/booksblog/2017/feb/06/30-years-of-culture-what-are-the-top-five-iain-m-banks-novels (accessed 20 December 2021).
The State at Play: Iain M. Banks’s Gaming Galactic Empires is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
230 x 157 mm
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ISSN: 0567-8269
E-ISSN: 2464-6830
