How colonialism and politics shaped Indian science fiction with Suparno Banerjee
How colonialism and politics shaped Indian science fiction with Suparno Banerjee
Interview Timeline
Suparno Banerjee has been a life long fan of science fiction. He studied science fiction and now teaches it as an associate professor of English at Texas State University. He recently wrote a book on the development of Indian science fiction. We discussed the book and his science fiction interests. Indian Science Fiction: Patterns, History and Hybridity (University of Wales Press, 2021)
(Note: The sound recording for my speaking portions is lower quality than the majority of the audio and I apologize to listeners for that.)
0:53 – Suparno talks about why he wrote a book on Indian science fiction.
3:33 – Suparno talks about how much science fiction translation exchanges there have been within India.
5:08 – Suparno talks about going back to 1835 in his study.
9:29 – Suparno talks about politics within Indian science fiction.
11:40 – Suparno talks about the emergence of Indian science fiction during the colonial period.
19:56 – Suparno talks about Indian pulp science fiction in the early 20th century.
23:24 – Suparno talks about the Bangla tradition.
27:19 – Suparno talks about his approach to Pakistani science fiction prior to 1947.
29:09 – Suparno talks about he researched the book.
33:41 – Suparno talks about the different types of science fiction he covered.
34:35 – Suparno touches on Indian sci-fi video games.
35:04 – Suparno talks about the Indian publishing business and translations into English.
36:53 – Suparno talks about the people writing Indian science fiction.
38:43 – Suparno talks about his enjoyment in the project.
39:31 – Suparno talks about speaking with some Indian sci fi creators.
40:13 – Suparno talks about Indian diaspora authors.
41:44 – Suparno talks about Indian religion and Indian sci-fi.
44:08 – Suparno talks about Indian sci fi and the West.
46:51 – Suparno talks about diaspora writers.
47:39 – Suparno was surprised by how much Indian sci-fi was produced.
48:54 – Suparno talks about the layout of the book.
52:18- Suparno talks about the amount of sci fi being produced.
54:18 – Suparno talks about whether Indian publishers specialize in sci fi.
55:17 – Suparno talks about getting the book published.
57:40 – Suparno talks about how he studies works he enjoys. He also talks about his favorite sci fi.
1:00:56 – Suparno can be found on the Texas State University website.
Links of interest
https://www.uwp.co.uk/book/indian-science-fiction/
https://faculty.txstate.edu/profile/1921972
Contact Information
For more “Full Contact Nerd” please follow me at crisalvarez.com, on Facebook at CrisAlvarezFCN, on youtube at Cris Alvarez on twitter @CrisAlvarezFCN, on Instagram @crisalvarezscifi, and on Apple Podcasts / Google Podcasts / Stitcher / Spotify for the podcast. Please see historyrabbithole.com for a list of my dozen or so blogs and podcasts. You’re sure to find something you like.
Guests: Suparno Banerjee
Host: Cris Alvarez
Tags: Books, audio interviews, author, academic, podcast, University of Wales Press, science fiction,
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