Kim Stanley Robinson | |
|---|---|
 Robinson in 2025 | |
| Born | (1952-03-23)March 23, 1952 (age 73) Waukegan, Illinois, U.S. |
| Occupation | Writer |
| Education | University of California, San Diego (BA,PhD) Boston University (MA) |
| Genre | Science fiction |
| Academic background | |
| Thesis | The Novels of Philip K. Dick (1982) |
| Doctoral advisor | Donald Wesling |
| Other advisors | Frederic Jameson |
| Academic work | |
| Discipline | English and American literature |
| Sub-discipline | Science fiction |
| Institutions | |
| Notable works | Mars trilogy |
Kim Stanley Robinson (born March 23, 1952) is an Americanscience fiction writer best known for hisMars trilogy of novels. Many of his novels and stories have ecological, cultural, and political themes, featuring scientists as heroes. Robinson has won numerous awards, including theHugo Award for Best Novel, theNebula Award for Best Novel, and theWorld Fantasy Award.The Atlantic magazine has called Robinson's work "the gold standard of realistic, and highly literary, science-fiction writing."[1] According to an article inThe New Yorker magazine, Robinson is "generally acknowledged as one of the greatest living science-fiction writers."[2]
Robinson was born inWaukegan, Illinois. He moved toSouthern California as a child.[3]
In 1974, he earned a BA in literature from theUniversity of California, San Diego (UC San Diego).[4] In 1975, he earned an MA in English fromBoston University. In 1978, Robinson moved toDavis, California, to take a break from graduate studies at UC San Diego. During this period, he worked as a bookseller for Orpheus Books. He also taught freshman composition and other courses at theUniversity of California, Davis.[5]
In 1982, Robinson earned a PhD in English from UC San Diego.[4] His original PhD advisor was literary critic andMarxist scholarFredric Jameson,[6] who had pointed Robinson toward works by science fiction authorPhilip K. Dick. Jameson described Dick to his student as "the greatest living American writer".[4] Jameson moved to theUniversity of California, Santa Cruz (UC Santa Cruz), so Robinson finished his doctoral thesis under the scholar Donald Wesling.[7] Robinson's dissertation was titledThe Novels of Philip K. Dick.[8]
In 2009, Robinson was an instructor at theClarion Workshop for science fiction and fantasy writing.[9] In 2010, he was the guest of honor at the 68thWorld Science Fiction Convention, held inMelbourne.[10] In April 2011, Robinson presented at the second annual Rethinking Capitalism conference, held at UC Santa Cruz.[11] Among other topics, his talk addressed the cyclical nature ofcapitalism.[12]
Robinson was appointed as a Muir Environmental Fellow in 2011 byJohn Muir College at UC San Diego.[13]
The artistSheldon Brown described Robinson's novels as ways to explore how nature and culture continuously reformulate one another:
Virtually all of Robinson's novels have an ecological component; sustainability is one of his primary themes. (A strong contender for the primary theme would be the nature of a plausible utopia.) TheOrange County trilogy is about how the technological realm intersects with the natural realm, highlighting the importance of keeping the two in balance. In theMars trilogy, one of the principal divisions among the Mars population arises from dissenting views onterraforming. Colonists debate whether the barren Martian landscape has a similar ecological or spiritual value when compared with a livingecosphere such as Earth's. The novelForty Signs of Rain has an entirely ecological thrust, takingglobal warming as its principal subject.[citation needed]
Robinson's work often explores alternatives to moderncapitalism.[15] In theMars trilogy, it is argued that capitalism is an outgrowth offeudalism, which could be replaced in the future by a moredemocratic economic system.Worker ownership andcooperatives figure prominently in the novelsGreen Mars andBlue Mars as replacements for traditional corporations. TheOrange County trilogy explores similar arrangements;Pacific Edge includes the idea of attacking the legal framework behind corporate domination to promote socialegalitarianism. Tim Kreider writes in theNew Yorker magazine that Robinson may be the greatest American political novelist, and he describes how Robinson uses theMars trilogy as a template for a credible utopia.[2] His works have referred to real-world examples of economic organization that have been mentioned as alternatives to conventional capitalist structures; these examples include theMondragon Corporation and theKerala model.[16]
Robinson's writing also reflects an interest in economic models ofdegrowth (which rejects the growth-oriented basis of capitalism).Robert Markley has identified the work of the social theoristMurray Bookchin as an influence on Robinson's thinking, in addition tosteady-state economics.[16]
Robinson's work often portrays characters struggling to preserve and enhance the world around them, in an environment characterized byindividualism andentrepreneurialism, often facing the political and economic authoritarianism of corporate power acting in this environment. Robinson has been described as anti-capitalist, and his work often portrays a form offrontier capitalism that promotes egalitarian ideals closely resemblingsocialist systems, but faced with a capitalism that is maintained by entrenched hegemonic corporations. In particular, his fictional Martian Constitution draws uponsocial democratic ideals explicitly emphasizing a community-participation element in political and economic life.[17]
Robinson's works often portray the worlds of tomorrow similarly to the mythologizedAmerican frontier (or Old West), showing a sentimental affection for the freedom and wildness of the frontier. This aesthetic includes a preoccupation with competing models of political and economic organization.[citation needed]
The environmental, economic, and social themes in Robinson'soeuvre stand in marked contrast to theright-libertarian science fiction prevalent in much of the genre. (Robert A. Heinlein,Poul Anderson,Larry Niven, andJerry Pournelle offer prominent examples.) Robinson has been described as "one of America's best-selling […] left-wing novelists", and his work has been called "probably the most successful attempt to reach a mass audience with an anti-capitalist utopian vision sinceUrsula K. Le Guin's 1974 novel,The Dispossessed".[18]
Robinson's work often features scientists as heroes. They are portrayed in a mundane way compared to most work featuring scientists: rather than being adventurers or action heroes, Robinson's scientists become essential because of research discoveries; networking and collaboration with other scientists; political lobbying; or becoming public figures. Robinson captures the joy of scientists as they work on projects that they care about.[19] Robert Markley has argued that Robinson "views science as the model for a utopian politics... Even in Robinson's novels that don't seem to be sci-fi, likeShaman, the inductive method, the collective search for greater knowledge about the world that can be put to use for the good for all, is front and center".[16] TheMars trilogy and the novelThe Years of Rice and Salt rely heavily on the idea that scientists must take responsibility for ensuring public understanding and responsible use of their discoveries. Robinson's scientists often emerge as the best people to direct public policy on important environmental and technological questions, about which politicians are often ignorant.[citation needed]
Other themes in Robinson's work reflect his focus on the environment: the imminent catastrophe ofglobal warming and the need to limitgreenhouse gas emissions in the present day. His 2012 novel2312 explores the detrimental,long-term effects of climate change, which include food shortages, global instability,mass extinction, and a 7-meter (23-foot)sea level rise that has drowned many major coastal cities.[1] The novel condemns the people of the period it calls "the Dithering", from 2005 to 2060, for failing toaddress climate change, thereby causing mass suffering and death in the future.[1] Robinson and his work accuse global capitalism of a failure to address climate change.[1] In his 2017 novelNew York 2140, Robinson explores the themes of climate change and global warming; the novel is set in the year 2140, when the New York City that he imagines is overwhelmed by a 50-foot (15 m) sea level rise that submerges half of the city.[20] Climate change is also the focus of hisScience in the Capital series[1] and his 2020 novelThe Ministry for the Future.
The asteroid72432 Kimrobinson, discovered by astronomerDonald P. Pray in 2001, was named in Robinson's honor.[21] The officialnaming citation was published by theMinor Planet Center on April 22, 2016 (M.P.C. 99892).[22]
In 2008,Time magazine named Robinson a "Hero of the Environment" for his optimistic focus on the future.[19]
Robinson and his wife have two sons. Robinson has lived in Washington, D.C.; California; and Switzerland (during some of the 1980s). At times, Robinson was astay-at-home dad.[6] He later moved toDavis, California, in acohousing community.[6]
Robinson has described himself as an avid backpacker, with theSierra Nevada mountains serving as his home range and a significant influence on his worldview.[5]
Politically, Robinson identifies as ademocratic socialist; in a February 2019 interview, he mentioned that he is a dues-paying member of theDemocratic Socialists of America (an American political organization).[26] He has also commented thatlibertarianism never "[made] any sense to me, nor sounds attractive as a principle."[27]
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