Lesley Nnekah Arimah: The Breadth and Purpose of Speculative Fiction (January 2020)

Speculative fiction has often gotten the short end of the stick in serious literary study, even as well-respected works of fiction teem with characters and scenarios that are ostensibly out of this world. Arimah’s lecture considers a range of examples of speculative fiction by Diane Cook, Victor LaValle, and others—and posits a distinct and important literary purpose speculative fiction fulfills that realistic fiction does not.