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China Miéville

China Miéville at Piccadilly Waterstones, April 26, 2006
Born September 6, 1972 (1972-09-06) (age 35)
Norwich, England
Occupation Novelist
Genres Weird fiction, New Weird
Influences

China Tom Miéville (IPA: /ˈtʃɑinɑ ˈmieɪˌvɪl/) (born September 6, 1972 in Norwich) is an award-winning English "fantastic fiction" writer. Events 1467 - The miraculous image in Our Lady of Good Counsel appear in Genazzano, Italy. Year 2006 ( MMVI) was a Common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. Events 3114 BC - According to the Proleptic Julian calendar the current era in the Maya Long Count Calendar started Year 1972 ( MCMLXXII) was a Leap year starting on Saturday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. History Roman The Romans had their regional capital at Venta Icenorum on the river to the south which is near modern-day Caistor St Edmund England is a Country which is part of the United Kingdom. Its inhabitants account for more than 83% of the total UK population whilst its mainland Employment is a Contract between two parties, one being the employer and the other being the employee. A literary genre is a category of literary composition Genres may be determined by Literary technique, tone, Content, or even (as in the case of fiction Weird fiction is a subgenre of Speculative literature written in the late 19th and early 20th century The New Weird is an Avant-garde Literary movement or Literary genre that began nascent and unnamed in the 1990s and culminated in a series of novels James Graham Ballard (born 15 November in the International Settlement in Shanghai, China) is a British Novelist and Short Michael de Larrabeiti ( August 18, 1934 – April 18, 2008) was an English Novelist and Travel writer. Thomas Michael Disch ( February 2 1940 – c July 4 2008) was an American Science fiction author and Poet Michael John Harrison (born July 26, 1945) who writes as M John Harrison, is a British author of Science fiction, Fantasy Howard Phillips Lovecraft ( August 20, 1890 – March 15, 1937) was an American author of horror, fantasy Michael John Moorcock (born 18 December 1939, in London) is an English writer primarily of Science fiction and fantasy who has also Biography Mervyn Peake was born of British parents in Kuling ( Lushan) in Jiangxi Province of central China in 1911 only three months before the revolution Gene Wolfe (born May 7, 1931, New York New York) is an American Science fiction and Fantasy writer Events 3114 BC - According to the Proleptic Julian calendar the current era in the Maya Long Count Calendar started Year 1972 ( MCMLXXII) was a Leap year starting on Saturday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. History Roman The Romans had their regional capital at Venta Icenorum on the river to the south which is near modern-day Caistor St Edmund England is a Country which is part of the United Kingdom. Its inhabitants account for more than 83% of the total UK population whilst its mainland He is fond of describing his work as "weird fiction" (after early 20th century pulp and horror writers such as H. P. Lovecraft), and belongs to a loose group of writers sometimes called New Weird who consciously attempt to move fantasy away from commercial, genre clichés of Tolkien epigons. Weird fiction is a subgenre of Speculative literature written in the late 19th and early 20th century Pulp magazines (or pulp fiction; often referred to as "the pulps" were inexpensive Fiction magazines Horror fiction is broadly Fiction in any medium intended to scare unsettle or horrify the audience Howard Phillips Lovecraft ( August 20, 1890 – March 15, 1937) was an American author of horror, fantasy The New Weird is an Avant-garde Literary movement or Literary genre that began nascent and unnamed in the 1990s and culminated in a series of novels Fantasy is a Genre that uses magic and other Supernatural forms as a primary element of plot, theme, and/or setting He is also active in left-wing politics as a member of the Socialist Workers Party. The Socialist Workers Party ( SWP) is the largest political party of the Far left in Britain that stands in the revolutionary socialist tradition He has stood for the House of Commons for the Socialist Alliance, and published a book on Marxism and international law. The House of Commons' is the Lower house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, which also comprises the Sovereign and the House of Lords The Socialist Alliance was a Left-wing Electoral alliance operating in England in existence between 1992 and 2005 and is currently (after being refounded Marxism is the political philosophy and practice derived from the work of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. International law is the term commonly used for referring to the system of implicit and explicit agreements that bind together nation-states in adherence to recognized values and standards

Contents

Early life and education

Miéville was born in Norwich and brought up in Willesden, a neighbourhood in northwest London, and has lived in the city since early childhood. London ( ˈlʌndən is the capital and largest urban area in the United Kingdom. He grew up with his sister and his mother, a teacher; his parents separated soon after his birth, and he has said that he "never really knew" his father. He is an alumnus of the public school Oakham School. The term public school has two distinct (and virtually opposite meanings depending on the location of usage in the United States, Australia and Oakham School is an English public school in the market town of Oakham in Rutland, accepting around 1000 students aged from 10 to 18 both male and When he was eighteen, in 1990, he lived in Egypt teaching English for a year, where he developed an interest in Arab culture and Middle Eastern politics. This article is about the country of Egypt For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Egypt topics. English is a West Germanic language originating in England and is the First language for most people in the United Kingdom, the United States Miéville acquired a B. A. in social anthropology from Cambridge in 1994, and a Master's with distinction and PhD in International Relations from the London School of Economics, the latter in 2001. Social anthropology is the branch of Anthropology that studies how currently living human beings behave in social groups The University of Cambridge (often Cambridge University) located in Cambridge, England, is the second-oldest university in the The London School of Economics and Political Science, more commonly referred to as The London School of Economics or LSE, is a specialist college of the Miéville has also held a Frank Knox fellowship at Harvard. The Frank Knox Memorial Fellowships program is a scholarship program which funds students from Australia Canada New Zealand and the United Kingdom to undertake graduate study at [1] A book version of his PhD thesis, titled Between Equal Rights: A Marxist Theory of International Law, was published in the UK in 2005 by Brill in their "Historical Materialism" series, and in the U. Founded in 1683 in Leiden, The Netherlands, Brill (known as E S. in 2006 by Haymarket Books. This article is about the US publisher which should not be confused with Haymarket Cafe Books a worker-owned co-operative bookstore and anarchist infoshop located in Calgary Alberta

Politics

Miéville is a member of the British Socialist Workers Party, a Trotskyist organization, and stood unsuccessfully for the British House of Commons in the 2001 General Election as a candidate for the Socialist Alliance, gaining 459 votes, i. Trotskyism is the theory of Marxism as advocated by Leon Trotsky. The House of Commons' is the Lower house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, which also comprises the Sovereign and the House of Lords Results |} Total votes cast 26368204 All parties with more than 500 votes shown e. 1. 2%,[2] in Regent's Park and Kensington North, a Labour constituency. Regent's Park and Kensington North is a Constituency in Central London and West London represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament [3] He became a Marxist at university, after becoming unsatisfied with the ability of postmodern and feminist theories to explain history and political events.

In Between Equal Rights, his only major political writing, Miéville advocates a revised version of the legal theory of the Russian Marxist Evgeny Pashukanis, as applied to international law and synthesized with ideas drawn from the Critical Legal Studies movement, particularly Martti Koskenniemi, as well as U. Evgeny Bronislavovich Pashukanis ( February 23, 1891 – 1937 was a Soviet legal scholar best known for his work The General Theory of Law and Marxism For more on the abbreviation "Crit" see Crit (disambiguation Critical legal studies refers to a movement in legal thought Martti Koskenniemi (born 1953 is an international lawyer and a former Finnish Diplomat. S. international legal theorist Myres McDougal. Miéville argues that the form taken by the law, a process of deciding disputes between abstract, formally equal subjects, can only be explained as essentially related to capitalism's system of generalized commodity exchange, which requires participants with equal rights to property. Capitalism is the Economic system in which the Means of production are owned by private Persons and operated for Profit and where A commodity is anything for which there is demand but which is supplied without qualitative differentiation across a market However, he argues, just as the symmetry of commodity exchange conceals class division and exploitation, the symmetry of law conceals violent power relations. Social class refers to the hierarchical distinctions (or stratification) between individuals or groups in Societies or Cultures. The term " exploitation " may carry two distinct meanings The act of utilizing something for any purpose Law is structurally indeterminate as applied to particular cases, and so the interpretation which becomes official is always a matter of force; the stronger of the contesting parties in each legal dispute will ultimately obtain the sanction of law. International law, therefore, is not only genuine law despite the lack of an overarching sovereign, but is a more basic type than domestic law, with states taking the role of individuals, with "property rights" in their territory. This analysis leads Miéville to be skeptical that international law can ever live up to its promises; rather, he concludes, "The attempt to replace war and inequality with law is not merely utopian but is precisely self-defeating. A world structured around international law cannot but be one of imperialist violence. The chaotic and bloody world around us is the rule of law. "[4]

Literary influences

Miéville's style is influenced by pulp science fiction, ranging from early 20th century serials to modern television shows and movies, as well as by a number of writers of fantasy and horror. He has listed M. John Harrison, Michael de Larrabeiti, Michael Moorcock, Thomas Disch, Charles Williams, Tim Powers, and J.G. Ballard as "heroes"; he has also frequently discussed as influences H. P. Lovecraft, Mervyn Peake, and Gene Wolfe. Michael John Harrison (born July 26, 1945) who writes as M John Harrison, is a British author of Science fiction, Fantasy Michael de Larrabeiti ( August 18, 1934 – April 18, 2008) was an English Novelist and Travel writer. Michael John Moorcock (born 18 December 1939, in London) is an English writer primarily of Science fiction and fantasy who has also Thomas Michael Disch ( February 2 1940 – c July 4 2008) was an American Science fiction author and Poet Charles Walter Stansby Williams ( September 20, 1886 – May 15, 1945) was a British Poet, Novelist, Theologian Timothy Thomas Powers (born February 29, 1952) is an American Science fiction and fantasy author James Graham Ballard (born 15 November in the International Settlement in Shanghai, China) is a British Novelist and Short Howard Phillips Lovecraft ( August 20, 1890 – March 15, 1937) was an American author of horror, fantasy Biography Mervyn Peake was born of British parents in Kuling ( Lushan) in Jiangxi Province of central China in 1911 only three months before the revolution Gene Wolfe (born May 7, 1931, New York New York) is an American Science fiction and Fantasy writer He has said that he would like his novels "to read for [his imagined city] New Crobuzon as Iain Sinclair does for London. Iain Sinclair is a British Writer and Film maker Much of his work is rooted in London most recently within the influences of Psychogeography " Miéville played a great deal of Dungeons & Dragons and similar roleplaying games in his youth, and includes a specific nod to characters interested "only in gold and experience" in Perdido Street Station as well as a general tendency to systematization of magic and technology which he traces to this influence. Dungeons & Dragons (abbreviated as D&D or DnD) is a Fantasy Role-playing game (RPG originally designed by In fact, in the February 2007 issue of Dragon Magazine, the world presented in his books was interpreted into Dungeons & Dragons rules and on February 19, 2008 it was announced that Adamant Entertainment will be developing an RPG based on the Bas-Lag universe [5]

Miéville has explicitly attempted to move fantasy away from JRR Tolkien's influence, which he has criticized as stultifying and reactionary (he once described Tolkien as "the wen on the arse of fantasy literature"[6]). Dragon is one of the two official Magazines for source material for the Dungeons & Dragons Role-playing game and associated products Dungeons & Dragons (abbreviated as D&D or DnD) is a Fantasy Role-playing game (RPG originally designed by This project is perhaps indebted to Michael de Larrabeiti's Borrible Trilogy, which Miéville has cited as one of his biggest influences and for which Miéville wrote an introduction for the trilogy's 2002 reissue. Michael de Larrabeiti ( August 18, 1934 – April 18, 2008) was an English Novelist and Travel writer. The Borrible Trilogy is a series of young adult books written by English writer Michael de Larrabeiti. The introduction was eventually left out of the book, but is now available on de Larrabeiti's website. [7] Miéville's position on the genre is also indebted to Moorcock, whose essay "Epic Pooh" Miéville has cited as the source off of which he is "riffing" or even simply "cheerleading" in his critique of Tolkien-imitative fantasy. Epic Pooh is a 1978 article by the British Science fiction writer Michael Moorcock, originally written for the British Science Fiction Association

Miéville's left-wing politics are evident in his writing (particularly in Iron Council, his third Bas-Lag novel) as well as his theoretical ideas about literature; several panel discussions at conventions about the relationship of politics and writing which set him against right-wingers ended up in heated arguments. Iron Council (2004 is the fourth novel by China Miéville, set in the same universe as his previous books Perdido Street Station (2000 Bas-Lag is the Fictional world in which several of China Miéville 's Novels are set A convention, in the sense of a meeting is a gathering of individuals who meet at a arid place and time in order to discuss or engage in some common interest In Politics, right-wing, the political right, and the Right are positions that uphold traditional values and/or authorities He has, however, stated that:

"I’m not a leftist trying to smuggle in my evil message by the nefarious means of fantasy novels. I’m a science fiction and fantasy geek. I love this stuff. And when I write my novels, I’m not writing them to make political points. I’m writing them because I passionately love monsters and the weird and horror stories and strange situations and surrealism, and what I want to do is communicate that. But, because I come at this with a political perspective, the world that I’m creating is embedded with many of the concerns that I have. . . I’m trying to say I’ve invented this world that I think is really cool and I have these really big stories to tell in it and one of the ways that I find to make that interesting is to think about it politically. If you want to do that too, that’s fantastic. But if not, isn’t this a cool monster?"[8]

Awards

Bibliography

Novels

† denotes novels set in the Bas-Lag universe. King Rat is the 1998 debut Novel by China Miéville. Plot introduction It is a dark Urban fantasy set in Perdido Street Station is the second novel written by China Miéville, and the first set in New Crobuzon. The Scar is the third novel written by China Miéville, a self-described " Weird fiction " writer from London England Iron Council (2004 is the fourth novel by China Miéville, set in the same universe as his previous books Perdido Street Station (2000 Un Lun Dun is a young adult fantasy novel by China Miéville, released in 2007. Bas-Lag is the Fictional world in which several of China Miéville 's Novels are set

Short fiction

Collections

Nonfiction

References

  1. ^ Joan Gordon - Reveling in Genre: An Interview with China Miéville
  2. ^ BBC NEWS | VOTE 2001 | RESULTS & CONSTITUENCIES | Regent's Park & Kensington North
  3. ^ Ansible 168, July 2001.
  4. ^ Miéville, China (2006). Between Equal Rights. Haymarket Books. ISBN 1931859337.   Pg. 319.
  5. ^ "Adamant Entertainment & China Miéville Present: TALES OF NEW CROBUZON", gamingreport. com
  6. ^ "Mieville on Tolkien", boing boing Website.
  7. ^ China Miéville, "'The Borribles'. An Introduction".
  8. ^ The Believer - Interview with China Miéville
  9. ^ Collapse: Journal of Philosophical Research and Development vol. iv, Falmouth: Urbanomic, 2008, ISBN 978-0-9553087-3-4, pp. 105-128
  10. ^ The Borribles: An Introduction

External links


Persondata
NAME Miéville, China
ALTERNATIVE NAMES
SHORT DESCRIPTION English writer
DATE OF BIRTH September 6, 1972
PLACE OF BIRTH Norwich, England
DATE OF DEATH
PLACE OF DEATH
Crooked Timber is a widely-read Political blog run by a group of (mostly academics from and working in several different nations including the USA, the UK Events 3114 BC - According to the Proleptic Julian calendar the current era in the Maya Long Count Calendar started Year 1972 ( MCMLXXII) was a Leap year starting on Saturday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. History Roman The Romans had their regional capital at Venta Icenorum on the river to the south which is near modern-day Caistor St Edmund England is a Country which is part of the United Kingdom. Its inhabitants account for more than 83% of the total UK population whilst its mainland
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