50
Used, New, and Out of Print Books - We Buy and Sell - Powell's Books
Cart |
|  my account  |  wish list  |  help   |  800-878-7323
Hello, | Login
MENU
  • Browse
    • New Arrivals
    • Bestsellers
    • Featured Preorders
    • Award Winners
    • Audio Books
    • See All Subjects
  • Used
  • Staff Picks
    • Staff Picks
    • Picks of the Month
    • 50 Books for 50 Years
    • 25 PNW Books to Read Before You Die
    • 25 Books From the 21st Century
    • 25 Memoirs to Read Before You Die
    • 25 Global Books to Read Before You Die
    • 25 Women to Read Before You Die
    • 25 Books to Read Before You Die
  • Gifts
    • Gift Cards & eGift Cards
    • Powell's Souvenirs
    • Journals and Notebooks
    • socks
    • Games
  • Sell Books
  • Blog
  • Events
  • Find A Store

Don't Miss

  • Spring Sale: 25 Select Fiction and Nonfiction Books
  • Powell's Staff Top Fives
  • Powell's Author Events
  • Oregon Battle of the Books
  • Audio Books

Visit Our Stores


Keith M.: Powell's Picks Spotlight: Jacqueline Woodson and Leo Espinosa's 'The World Belonged to Us' (0 comment)
I’m a nostalgia skeptic. I say that as someone in the final days of his thirties, an age when all the normal human inclinations — pushed along by Big Culture — are driving many of us elder millennials to remember just how good things — especially products — used to be...
Read More»
  • Ayun Halliday: The Symbiotic Relationship Between Used Bookstores and Small Potatoes (0 comment)
  • Kelsey Ford: Celebrate Short Story Month: 9 Craft Books to Help You Write Your Collection (0 comment)

{1}
##LOC[OK]##
{1}
##LOC[OK]## ##LOC[Cancel]##
{1}
##LOC[OK]## ##LOC[Cancel]##

The Meaning of Star Trek: An Excursion Into the Myth and Marvel of the Star Trek Universe

by Thomas Richards
The Meaning of Star Trek: An Excursion Into the Myth and Marvel of the Star Trek Universe

  • Comment on this title
  • Synopses & Reviews
  • Read an Excerpt

ISBN13: 9780385484398
ISBN10: 0385484399



All Product Details

View Larger ImageView Larger Images
Ships free on qualified orders.
Add to Cart
$15.00
New Trade Paperback
Available at a Remote Warehouse. Ships separately from other items. Additional shipping charges may apply. Not available for In Store Pickup. More Info
Add to Wishlist
QtyStore
20Remote Warehouse

Synopses & Reviews

Publisher Comments

"Where does Star Trek come from? Why is it so popular? How does it go about creating a coherent world? Literary critics may take literature seriously, but they often look down on popular forms such as television shows.

"I feel differently. I think the meaning of the series can best be captured by looking at how it successfully creates a coherent universe. Like any great work of art or literature, the Star Trek universe has an integrity and a resonance all its own, a completeness unrivaled by any other kind of science fiction, whether movie, television show, or novel. The unique character of the series, taken not as a group of loosely connected stories but as a viable whole, is the subject of this book."

--From the Introduction to The Meaning of  Star Trek

Star Trek has no equal. Easily the most cerebral show on television, it brought a literary sophistication to the raw material of science fiction and confounded all the formulas of television. By taking classic stories and placing them in strange new contexts, Star Trek became a modern Odyssey in outer space, a set of stories so basic to our culture that they can be told over and over again.

The Meaning of Star Trek captures the essence of this timeless television masterpiece by linking the parallel universes of classical literature and popular culture. Thomas Richards examines its portrayals of contact and conflict with other species and other cultures; its deep explorations of character and identity, and its complex conception of the idea of the individual self; its remarkably rich and varied use of story and myth; and its profound appeal to our shared sense of wonder, a reverence and awe for that which science cannot explain.

Enlightening, provocative, and enormously entertaining, The Meaning of Star Trek is essential reading for even the most casual admirer of the Star Trek universe, as well as a brilliant introduction to the worlds of literature, myth, and science fiction.

This book was not prepared, approved, licensed, or endorsed by any entity involved in creating or producing the Star Trek television series or films.

Synopsis

Before "The X-Files" there was "Star Trek." Unrivaled in the fanaticism and devotion of its fans, it was easily the most cerebral show of its age. "Star Trek" brought a literary sophistication to the raw material of science fiction and confounded all the formulas of television.

The Meaning of Star Trek captures the essence of this timeless television masterpiece by examining it in the context of literary and social history, anthropology, myth, and religion: how it grew from the tradition of great science fiction writing; how the history of the show's Federation reconfigures our own; how its stories relate to classic myths; and how its tales of magic, marvel, and miracles appeal to our sense and suspicion of Western religion. By creating a universe with its own coherent nature and consistent set of rules, Richards argues that the series has the same integrity as a work of great literature or art, and should be judged as such. No other of the score of "Star Trek" books has dared explore what the series really means -- where it comes from, and why it is so popular.

Truly the book to read while sipping coffee at the cafe at the end of the universe, The Meaning of Star Trek is the first to give the television series the analysis that proves it to be a vital bridge between the disparate worlds of classical literature and popular culture.


About the Author

Thomas Richards is a former associate professor of English and American Literature at Harvard University. He is the author of two works of nonfiction as well as a novel, Zero Tolerance. A Guggenheim fellow, he lives in California.

What Our Readers Are Saying

Be the first to share your thoughts on this title!




Product Details

ISBN:
9780385484398
Binding:
Trade Paperback
Publication date:
08/01/1999
Publisher:
Doubleday Books
Language:
English
Pages:
208
Height:
.55IN
Width:
5.50IN
Thickness:
.55 in.
LCCN:
9706845
Number of Units:
1
Copyright Year:
1997
UPC Code:
2800385484390
Author:
Thomas Richards
Subject:
Film and Television-Media Studies
Subject:
Star trek television programs

Ships free on qualified orders.
Add to Cart
$15.00
New Trade Paperback
Available at a Remote Warehouse. Ships separately from other items. Additional shipping charges may apply. Not available for In Store Pickup. More Info
Add to Wishlist
QtyStore
20Remote Warehouse
Used Book Alert for book Receive an email when this ISBN is available used.
{1}
##LOC[OK]##
{1}
##LOC[OK]## ##LOC[Cancel]##
{1}
##LOC[OK]## ##LOC[Cancel]##
{1}
##LOC[OK]##
{1}
##LOC[OK]## ##LOC[Cancel]##
{1}
##LOC[OK]## ##LOC[Cancel]##
{1}
##LOC[OK]##
{1}
##LOC[OK]## ##LOC[Cancel]##
{1}
##LOC[OK]## ##LOC[Cancel]##
{1}
##LOC[OK]##
{1}
##LOC[OK]## ##LOC[Cancel]##
{1}
##LOC[OK]## ##LOC[Cancel]##
  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Pinterest
  • Instagram

  • Help
  • Guarantee
  • My Account
  • Careers
  • About Us
  • Security
  • Wish List
  • Partners
  • Contact Us
  • Shipping
  • Sitemap
  • © 2022 POWELLS.COM Terms

{1}
##LOC[OK]##
{1}
##LOC[OK]## ##LOC[Cancel]##
{1}
##LOC[OK]## ##LOC[Cancel]##
{1}
##LOC[OK]##
{1}
##LOC[OK]## ##LOC[Cancel]##
{1}
##LOC[OK]## ##LOC[Cancel]##
{1}
##LOC[OK]##
{1}
##LOC[OK]## ##LOC[Cancel]##
{1}
##LOC[OK]## ##LOC[Cancel]##
{1}
##LOC[OK]##
{1}
##LOC[OK]## ##LOC[Cancel]##
{1}
##LOC[OK]## ##LOC[Cancel]##