Darko Suvin

Darko Ronald Suvin, FRSC (born July 19, 1930) is a Yugoslav-born academic and critic of Jewish descendance, who became a Professor at McGill University in Montreal — now emeritus.^[1] He was born in Zagreb, Yugoslavia (now capital of Croatia), and after teaching at the department for comparative literature at Zagreb University, moved to Canada in 1968.

He is best known for several major works of criticism and literary history devoted to science fiction. He was editor of Science-Fiction Studies (later respelled as Science Fiction Studies) from 1973 to 1980. After his retirement from McGill in 1999, he has lived in Lucca, Italy. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada (Academy of Humanities and Social Sciences).

In 2009, he received Croatian SFera Award for lifetime achievement in science fiction. Also, he is member of both Croatia's writers association, Croatian Writers Society (HDP),^[2] and Croatian Writers' Association (DHK).^[3]

Recently, he published the series of his memoirs on his youth as member of the Young Communist League of Yugoslavia during the Nazi occupation of Croatia and Yugoslavia, and first years of Josip Broz Tito's Yugoslavia, in the Croatian cultural journal Gordogan.

Works

• Dva vida dramaturgije: eseji o teatarskoj viziji (Zagreb 1964) — "Two aspects of dramaturgy: essays on theatrical vision", in Croatian language
• Od Lukijana do Lunjika (Zagreb 1965) — "From Lucian to Lunik", in Croatian, anthology and theory of science fiction. Major parts of this book and other early essays, published in the 1960s in Croatian language, were later reworked for Metamorphoses of Science Fiction.
• Other Worlds, Other Seas: Science-Fiction Stories from Socialist Countries (1970) and later editions — editor, with preface
• Uvod u Brechta (Zagreb 1970) — "Introduction into Brecht", in Croatian language
• Russian Science Fiction, 1956-1970: A Bibliography (1971) and later editions
• Andere Welten, andere Meere (1972) and later editions — German translation of Other Wolds, Other Seas
• Autres mondes, autres mers (1973) — French translation of Other Worlds, Other Seas
• Science-Fiction Studies: Selected Articles on Science Fiction, 1973-1975 (1976) — editor with R. D. Mullen
• Dramatika Iva Vojnovića: geneza i struktura (Dubrovnik, Vol. 20, 1977, issue 5-6) — "Ivo Vojnovic's Dramatics: Genesis and Structure", the whole issue of the magazine printed Suvin's PhD from University of Zagreb; often wrongly cited as the book
• Pour une poétique de la science-fiction : études en théorie et en histoire d'un genre littéraire (Montreal 1977) — first world edition of Metamorphoses of Science Fiction; although in French, it seems it was translated from English manuscript
• H. G. Wells and Modern Science Fiction (1977) — edited by Darko Suvin, with Robert M. Philmus
• Science-Fiction Studies: Selected Articles on Science Fiction, 1976-1977 (1978) — editor with R. D. Mullen
• Metamorphoses of Science Fiction: On the Poetics and History of a Literary Genre (1979)
• Poetik und Science Fiction. Zur Theorie einer literarischen Gattung (1979) — German translation of Metamorphoses of Science Fiction
• Victorian Science Fiction in the UK: The Discourses of Knowledge and of Power (1983)
• To Brecht and Beyond: Soundings in Modern Dramaturgy (1984)
• Metamorfosis de la ciencia ficción (Mexico 1984 and 1987) - Spanish edition of Metamorphoses of Science Fiction
• Le Metamorfosi della fantascienza (Bologna 1985) - Italian translation of Metamorphoses of Science Fiction
• The Long March, Notes on the Way 1981-1984, Poems (1987)
• Positions and Presuppositions in Science Fiction (1988) — essays
• Armirana Arkadija (Zagreb 1990) — poems in Croatian
• SF no hen'yô (Tokyo 1991) - Japanese translation of Metamorphoses of Science Fiction
• Lessons of Japan: Assayings of Some Intercultural Stances (1997)
• Learning from Other Worlds: Estrangement, Cognition, and the Politics of Science Fiction and Utopia (Liverpool University Press, 2001) - edited by Patrick Parrinder, collection of essays on science fiction and utopian literature honouring the work of Darko Suvin, with Suvin's full and detailed bibliography in all languages
• US Science Fiction and War/Militarism (Fictions, Studi sulla narrativita, Anno III, Pisa 2004, issue 3: 1-166) — guest editor, with Salvatore Proietti, special issue in English
• Gdje smo? Kuda idemo? Za političku epistemologiju spasa: eseji za orijentaciju i djelovanje u oskudnom vremenu (Zagreb 2006) — "Where are we? What are we getting to? For a political epistemology of salvation: essays for the orientation and doing in time of needs", in Croatian language (translated from English manuscript with author's supervision)
• ""Of Starship Troopers and Refuseniks: War and Militarism in US Science Fiction", Part 2 ("1975-2001: Post-Fordism, and Some Conclusions") printed in Extrapolation, 48.1 (2007): 9-34; Part 1 ("1945-1974: Fordism"), in D.M. Hassler and C. Wilcox (eds.), New Boundaries in Political Science Fiction, University of South Carolina Press, 2008, 115-144; integrally printed (in Croatian language, authorised translation from the manuscript) in Ubiq, Zagreb 2009, No. 5
• "Spoznaja, sloboda, The Dispossessed kao klasik" (In: Ubiq, Zagreb 2008, No. 2) — "Cognition, Freedom, The Dispossessed as a Classic"; major work on Ursula K. Le Guin's novel, in Croatian translation with author's supervision, English version partially printed in Paradoxa (2008, No. 21, Ursula K. Le Guin Issue)
• Naučna fantastika, spoznaja, sloboda (Belgrade 2009) — "Science fiction, cognition, freedom", in Croatian and Serbian language, selected essays on science fiction translated from English manuscripts or printed in Croatian, from 1960s to 2000s; selection from Yugoslav, Croatian and Serbian journals
• Defined by a Hollow: Essays on Utopia, Science Fiction and Political Epistemology (Peter Lang Verlagsgruppe, 2010) — preface by Phillip Wegner
• Kje smo? Kam gremo? Za politično ekonomijo odrešitve (Ljubljana: Založba Sophia, 2010) — "Where are we? What are we getting to?" in Slovenian translation
• Metamorfoze znanstvene fantastike (Zagreb: Profil 2010) — Croatian version of Metamorphoses of Science Fiction, translated from English edition, with translated text adapted and proofed by author himself, with preface by Carlo Proietti and Suvin's commentary
• Darko Suvin, a Life in Letters (Washington 2011) — edited by Phillip E. Wegner, Paradoxa, No. 23, selected writings and poems
• Preživjeti Potop: fantasy, po-robljenje i granična spoznaja (Ubiq, 2011, forthcoming) — "Surviving the Deluge: fantasy, commodification and liminal cognition", in Croatian, the book which collects Suvin's recent writings on fantasy

References

• Darko R. Suvin, F.R.S.C., Short Profesional Resume (2006)

Notes

1. ^ http://www.mcgill.ca/reporter/33/05/convocation/
2. ^ http://www.hdpisaca.org/clan.asp?clan_id=289
3. ^ http://www.dhk.hr/Clanovi/Clanovi.aspx?prez=S List of members, letter S

Persondata
Name	Suvin, Darko
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Date of birth	July 19, 1930
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Date of death
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