The Idea of Empire in Mid-Century Science Fiction of the United States of America (Critical Essay‪)‬

Science fiction texts emanating from the United States of America in the mid-twentieth century often take as a premise the existence of a human-led intergalactic empire. These texts imagine space as the 'final frontier', investigating meetings of humans with extraterrestrial indigenes in neocolonialist settings. This article examines the ideas of empire and indigenous resistance as they are constructed in three such texts. It shows that this genre actively engaged with the ideas of colonialism and the expansion of American borders well before critiques of such projects, such as those found in contemporary post-colonial theory, found common currency. Colonial activity has been a key element in dominant European countries' pursuit of national glory. Not content with the power wielded within their own borders, nations such as England, France and Holland expanded into 'unknown' territories, capturing land, enslaving and re-educating' indigenous peoples, exploiting natural resources, and thereby creating empires such as those celebrated (ironically perhaps) by Marlow in Conrad's Heart of Darkness.