Byzantium in Speculative Fiction
Sunday, July 30th, 2017
Science fiction and fantasy have borrowed liberally from just about every mythology and history — but among the most conspicuous elisions is Byzantium (a lacuna that reflects a similar erasure in first-world history, though for somewhat different reasons). The attempts to portray Byzantium in SFF can be counted on the fingers of one hand, and most are best passed over in silence.
On August 4-6, there will be a conference at Uppsala University titled “Reception Histories of the Future: Byzantinisms, Speculative Fiction and the Literary Heritage of Medieval Empire” organized by Dr. AnnaLinden Weller that will attempt to address this wrinkle (you can see the program here).
Dr. Weller invited me to contribute, so I’ll be giving a talk by proxy that is a variation on my thoughts of the Akrítai and their unsung songs — with a brief sidebar about the millennia-long (and also fashionably erased) history of Hellenism in Asia Minor and the Black Sea. I’ll leave this entry open for comments, questions, etc. from anyone who attends my talk (or is interested in aspects of this matter). After the conference is over, I will mount the Powerpoint presentation here if it’s feasible, or post a download link.
Relevant related posts:
Being Part of One’s Furniture; or, Appropriate Away!
Who Will Be Companions to Female Kings?
Yes, Virginia, Romioí are Eastern European
If I Forget Thee, O My Grandmother’s Lost Home
Mediterranean Diasporans: Dúrin’s Folk
Image: A Byzantine wandering singer, the equivalent of a troubadour (6th century mosaic, Constantinople).