Full Contact Nerd Interviews

Full Contact Nerd Interviews


How colonialism and politics shaped Indian science fiction with Suparno Banerjee

April 19, 2021

How colonialism and politics shaped Indian science fiction with Suparno Banerjee
Check the book out here https://amzn.to/2Q7IMVH
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://amzn.to/2Q7IMVH
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