Aldiss and Ecology
To celebrate the centenary of Aldiss's birth in 2025, 'Aldiss and Ecology' presents the author's fiction through the lens of ecology. Aldiss viewed science fiction to be at its core about the interaction of people and their environment. In his influential history of science fiction Billion Year Spree (1973) he wrote that at its best the genre explores humanity 'in relation to [its] changing surroundings and abilities: what might loosely be called environmental fiction.' Aldiss's fiction returns again and again to this theme; to the complex and fragile relationship between humans and the natural world. In a time of impending climate catastrophe Aldiss's work speaks to us of the bonds that tie us to the world around us and reminds us of the need to care for, protect, and maintain the environment as much for our own survival as for the survival of the ecosystems that sustain us.
The exhibition traces Aldiss's ecological thinking in four sections each of which looks at a different era of the author's life and career: beginning with his engagement with the natural world in his formative years (Early Environments); before moving to his early novels that centred ecology (Green Fictions) and his mid-career reframing of nature through experimental language (Experimental Nature); then ending with his later works that dealt with ecologies on a planetary scale (Planetary Organisms).
The items in the exhibition are drawn from the Science Fiction Collections held in the Special Collections and Archives department at the University of Liverpool and include materials from the Brian W. Aldiss Library, archival items from the section of the Brian W. Aldiss archive held at the University of Liverpool, and books and magazines from the Science Fiction Foundation Collection.
Image credit: photograph of Brian W. Aldiss by Wendy Aldiss.
Aldiss and Ecology
To celebrate the centenary of Aldiss's birth in 2025, 'Aldiss and Ecology' presents the author's fiction through the lens of ecology. Aldiss viewed science fiction to be at its core about the interaction of people and their environment. In his influential history of science fiction Billion Year Spree (1973) he wrote that at its best the genre explores humanity 'in relation to [its] changing surroundings and abilities: what might loosely be called environmental fiction.' Aldiss's fiction returns again and again to this theme; to the complex and fragile relationship between humans and the natural world. In a time of impending climate catastrophe Aldiss's work speaks to us of the bonds that tie us to the world around us and reminds us of the need to care for, protect, and maintain the environment as much for our own survival as for the survival of the ecosystems that sustain us.
The exhibition traces Aldiss's ecological thinking in four sections each of which looks at a different era of the author's life and career: beginning with his engagement with the natural world in his formative years (Early Environments); before moving to his early novels that centred ecology (Green Fictions) and his mid-career reframing of nature through experimental language (Experimental Nature); then ending with his later works that dealt with ecologies on a planetary scale (Planetary Organisms).
The items in the exhibition are drawn from the Science Fiction Collections held in the Special Collections and Archives department at the University of Liverpool and include materials from the Brian W. Aldiss Library, archival items from the section of the Brian W. Aldiss archive held at the University of Liverpool, and books and magazines from the Science Fiction Foundation Collection.
Image credit: photograph of Brian W. Aldiss by Wendy Aldiss.
Copyright Information
All of the items featured in the Aldiss and Ecology exhibition are physical artefacts cared for by the Science Fiction Collections. Descriptions and images of the items are provided here for purposes of illustration in support of the exhibition of said items for non-commercial public benefit and education. Images are provided sufficient to enable understanding of the accompanying text but their usage seeks to remain proportional, insubstantial, and fair. The exhibition features contributions which examine and analyse the items in detail. Limited quotation is provided for the purposes of criticism and review, as permitted by Section 30 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act (1988). If you are a rights holder and feel copyright has been infringed, please refer to our Takedown Statement and Procedure.
Copyright Information
All of the items featured in the Aldiss and Ecology exhibition are physical artefacts cared for by the Science Fiction Collections. Descriptions and images of the items are provided here for purposes of illustration in support of the exhibition of said items for non-commercial public benefit and education. Images are provided sufficient to enable understanding of the accompanying text but their usage seeks to remain proportional, insubstantial, and fair. The exhibition features contributions which examine and analyse the items in detail. Limited quotation is provided for the purposes of criticism and review, as permitted by Section 30 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act (1988). If you are a rights holder and feel copyright has been infringed, please refer to our Takedown Statement and Procedure.