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Reading Westworld

Palgrave Macmillan
  • Offers unique insights into the ways in which the TV series Westworld contributes to cultural and literary debates
  • Combines analyses of visual media, contemporary television and culture with influential philosophical and critical frames, as well as nascent areas of scholarly investigation such as game theory
  • Establishes the critical parameters through which Westworld can be approached by subsequent students, researchers and serious general readers

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Table of contents (16 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-xiii
  2. Introduction

    • Alex Goody, Antonia Mackay
    Pages 1-21
  3. Westworld and the Pursuit of Meaningful Play

    • Andra Ivănescu
    Pages 79-96
  4. Epilogue

    • Alex Goody, Antonia Mackay
    Pages 295-303
  5. Back Matter

    Pages 305-313

About this book

Reading Westworld is the first volume to explore the cultural, textual and theoretical significance of the hugely successful HBO TV series Westworld. The essays engage in a series of original enquiries into the central themes of the series including conceptions of the human and posthuman, American history, gaming, memory, surveillance, AI, feminism, imperialism, free will and contemporary capitalism. In its varied critical engagements with the genre, narratives and contexts of Westworld, this volume explores the show’s wider and deeper meanings and the questions it poses, as well considering how Westworld reflects on the ethical implications of artificial life and technological innovation for our own futurity. With critical essays that draw on the interdisciplinary strengths and productive intersections of media, cultural and literary studies, Reading Westworld seeks to respond to the show’s fundamental question; “Have you ever questioned the nature of your reality?” It will be of interest to students, academics and general readers seeking to engage with Westworld and the far-reaching questions it poses about our current engagements with technology. 

Editors and Affiliations

  • Oxford Brookes University, Oxford, UK

    Alex Goody, Antonia Mackay

About the editors

Alex Goody is Professor of Twentieth Century Literature and Culture at Oxford Brookes University, UK. She researches and publishes on modernism, technology, women’s writing, feminism, poetry and American culture. 


Antonia Mackay is Teaching Fellow of English Literature at Oxford Brookes University, UK. She is co-editor of a surveillance cultural studies collection with Palgrave Macmillan. Her research is focused on American literature and culture, twentieth and twenty-first century literature and cultural and media studies. 






Bibliographic Information

  • Book Title: Reading Westworld

  • Editors: Alex Goody, Antonia Mackay

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-14515-6

  • Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan Cham

  • eBook Packages: Literature, Cultural and Media Studies, Literature, Cultural and Media Studies (R0)

  • Copyright Information: The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG, part of Springer Nature 2019

  • Hardcover ISBN: 978-3-030-14514-9Published: 22 May 2019

  • eBook ISBN: 978-3-030-14515-6Published: 09 May 2019

  • Edition Number: 1

  • Number of Pages: XIII, 313

  • Number of Illustrations: 2 b/w illustrations, 5 illustrations in colour

  • Topics: Screen Studies, Ethics, American Culture

Buy it now

Buying options

eBook USD 99.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Hardcover Book USD 129.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Other ways to access