Kim Stanley Robinson

Kim Stanley Robinson (born March 23, 1952) is an American science fiction writer, probably best known for his award-winning Mars trilogy. He has been widely acclaimed by readers and critics since the beginning of his career, and is considered by many to be one of the finest living writers of science fiction or of any genre.

Major themes

Ecological sustainability

Virtually all of Robinson's novels have an ecological component; it is undoubtedly his primary theme. The Orange County Trilogy is about the way in which the technological intersects with the natural, highlighting the importance of keeping the two in balance. In the Mars Trilogy, one of the principal divisions among the population of Mars is based upon dissenting views on terraforming; whether or not the seemingly barren Martian landscape has the same ecological or spiritual value of a living ecosphere like Earth's is heavily debated. Forty Signs of Rain is entirely ecologically themed, taking as it does global warming for its principal theme.

Related Topics:
Terraforming - Forty Signs of Rain - Global warming

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Economic and social justice

Robinson's work often explores alternatives to modern capitalist society. In the Mars Trilogy, it is argued that capitalism is an outgrowth of feudalism which could be replaced in the future by a more democratic economic system. Worker-ownership and cooperatives figure prominently in Green Mars and Blue Mars as a replacement for traditional corporations. The Orange County Trilogy explores similar arrangements; Pacific Edge includes the idea of attacking the legal framework behind corporate domination to promote social egalitarianism.

Related Topics:
Capitalist - Cooperatives - Corporations

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The environmental and economic/social themes in Robinson's books stand in marked contrast to the Libertarian streak prevalent in much of science fiction (Robert Heinlein, Poul Anderson, Larry Niven, and Jerry Pournelle being prominent examples) and his work has been called "the most successful attempt to reach a mass audience with an anti-capitalist utopian vision since Ursula K. Le Guin's 1974 novel, The Dispossessed." http://www.raintaxi.com/online/2001summer/robinson.shtml In this sense, Robinson could be said to work within the paradigm of Green politics.

Related Topics:
Libertarian - Streak - Robert Heinlein - Poul Anderson - Larry Niven - Jerry Pournelle - Ursula K. Le Guin - Green politics

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