The State at Play: Iain M. Banks’s Gaming Galactic Empires
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...
| Main Author: | |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | ces |
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Karolinum Press
2023-03-01
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| Series: | Acta Universitatis Carolinae: Philologica |
| Online Access: | http://www.karolinum.cz/doi/10.14712/24646830.2022.40 |
| _version_ | 1797869328302866432 |
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| author | Mirka Horová |
| author_facet | Mirka Horová |
| author_sort | Mirka Horová |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | 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. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-10T00:09:49Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-51fd572b2a6c4d1889c50992a2ce6d02 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 0567-8269 2464-6830 |
| language | ces |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-10T00:09:49Z |
| publishDate | 2023-03-01 |
| publisher | Karolinum Press |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Acta Universitatis Carolinae: Philologica |
| spelling | doaj.art-51fd572b2a6c4d1889c50992a2ce6d022023-03-16T09:52:08ZcesKarolinum PressActa Universitatis Carolinae: Philologica0567-82692464-68302023-03-01202229310610.14712/24646830.2022.40The State at Play: Iain M. Banks’s Gaming Galactic EmpiresMirka HorováThis 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.http://www.karolinum.cz/doi/10.14712/24646830.2022.40 |
| spellingShingle | Mirka Horová The State at Play: Iain M. Banks’s Gaming Galactic Empires Acta Universitatis Carolinae: Philologica |
| title | The State at Play: Iain M. Banks’s Gaming Galactic Empires |
| title_full | The State at Play: Iain M. Banks’s Gaming Galactic Empires |
| title_fullStr | The State at Play: Iain M. Banks’s Gaming Galactic Empires |
| title_full_unstemmed | The State at Play: Iain M. Banks’s Gaming Galactic Empires |
| title_short | The State at Play: Iain M. Banks’s Gaming Galactic Empires |
| title_sort | state at play iain m banks s gaming galactic empires |
| url | http://www.karolinum.cz/doi/10.14712/24646830.2022.40 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT mirkahorova thestateatplayiainmbankssgaminggalacticempires AT mirkahorova stateatplayiainmbankssgaminggalacticempires |