China Mieville's novel Perdido Street Station, the winner of the 2001 Arthur C. Clarke Award, is one of the most popular fantasy fictions in recent years and critical reception has been likewise positive. Yet, one of the most important dimensions of the novel has gone virtually unrecognized: far from being simply the latest variation of urban or steam-punk fantasy, Perdido Street Station exemplifies a wholly new form of the fantastic responding to historical developments in global capitalism in the fin de siecle. Mieville and a small set of writers and critics are calling this form Radical Fantasy, but of as yet neither its form nor its historical and cultural implications have been fully theorized. (1) This essay offers a preliminary definition of Radical Fantasy's unique contributions in content and, more importantly, form. Historicizing Fantasy
