Andrew Milner facts for kids

Andrew John Milner (born 9 September 1950) is a well-known professor who studies English and literature. He is a Professor Emeritus at Monash University in Australia. This means he has retired but still holds an honored title. He also taught at the University of Warwick in the UK and the Freie Universität Berlin in Germany.

Milner was born in Leeds, UK. His parents were John Milner and Dorothy Ibbotson. He went to Batley Grammar School and later studied sociology at the London School of Economics. Sociology is the study of how people live together in groups. He earned his first degree in 1972 and a PhD in 1977.

In 1977, he married Verity Burgmann. She is an Australian expert in politics and history. They have three sons. Andrew Milner also enjoys sports. He is a member of the Melbourne Cricket Club and the Melbourne Victory Football Club.

Throughout his life, Milner has been interested in making the world a better place. He was involved in groups that worked for peace and against nuclear weapons. Later, he joined groups in Australia that focused on environmental issues. This shows his interest in protecting the planet.

His main academic interests include how literature and culture are connected. He also studies the sociology of literature, which looks at how society influences books. He is very interested in utopia (perfect societies), dystopia (bad societies), and science fiction. His work has been published in many countries and translated into several languages.

Andrew Milner's Career

Andrew Milner started teaching sociology in 1972 at the London School of Economics. He then taught at other universities like Goldsmiths, University of London and the University of Leeds.

In 2000, he became a professor at Monash University. He led the Centre for Comparative Literature and Cultural Studies there. He retired in 2013 but continued to teach at the Freie Universität Berlin. He also visited other universities to teach and share his ideas.

Studying Literature and Society

Milner's first book was called John Milton and the English Revolution. It explored the writings of John Milton, a famous poet from the time of the English Revolution. The book looked at how Milton's ideas about politics and poetry were shaped by the big changes happening in England in the 1600s. Milner argued that Milton's poems showed different ways people reacted to problems and defeats.

Another important book was Literature, Culture and Society. This book looked at how books are produced and shared in a capitalist society. It focused on how technology, like printing, changed how books were made. It also explored how books became products that people bought and sold. The book was updated in 2005 to include more about science fiction.

Understanding Cultural Materialism

Milner was very interested in the ideas of Raymond Williams. Williams developed a way of thinking called cultural materialism. This idea helps us understand how culture and society are deeply connected. It looks at how our daily lives, our work, and our social groups influence the art, stories, and ideas we create.

Milner wrote books like Cultural Materialism (1993) and Re-Imagining Cultural Studies (2002). These books explored how Williams's ideas continued to influence the study of literature and culture. Milner believed that cultural materialism was a way to understand culture that went beyond simpler ideas. In 2010, he also edited a collection of Williams's writings about utopia, dystopia, and science fiction.

Exploring Science Fiction

One of Milner's most important books is Locating Science Fiction. This book changed how people thought about science fiction. Before, some people saw science fiction mainly as a type of utopia. Others linked it more to fantasy or movies. Milner's book showed that science fiction is connected to many other things. It looked at how science fiction developed over time and in different places.

Locating Science Fiction helped people understand that science fiction is a mix of different texts, practices, and ideas. It used ideas from different fields like comparative literature and sociology. The book also discussed environmental themes, showing Milner's growing interest in green politics.

In 2023, Milner wrote Science Fiction and Narrative Form with David Roberts and Peter Murphy. This book argues that science fiction can do things that regular novels cannot. It can imagine societies in big, integrated ways. It can also tell grand stories about the future of humanity. The book suggests that science fiction is good at creating complete world pictures.

Working with J.R. Burgmann

In 2015, Andrew Milner started working with his son, James, who writes as J.R. Burgmann. They wrote an article about climate fiction. Climate fiction is a type of story that deals with climate change.

After that, Milner and Burgmann worked together on many articles. They wrote about climate fiction, science fiction, and how global systems affect literature. Their biggest project together was the book Science Fiction and Climate Change, published in 2020.

Honors and Awards

Andrew Milner has received several honors for his work:

• In 2011, he was nominated for the Australian National Science Fiction Ditmar Award.
• In 2016, he was a special guest at the International Conference of the Science Fiction Research Association.
• In 2021, Milner and J.R. Burgmann were nominated for the British Science Fiction Association Award for Best Non Fiction.
• Also in 2021, they were nominated for the Locus Award for Best Non Fiction.