Tara Orr

June 5, 2006

A Very Delicate Time: Science Fiction

SCIENCE FICTION: Literature in which speculative technology, time travel, alien races, intelligent robots, gene-engineering, space travel, experimental medicine, psionic abilities, dimensional portals, or altered scientific principles contribute to the plot or background. Many purists make a distinction between "hard" science fiction (in which the story attempts to follow accepted scientific realism and extrapolates the outcomes or consequences of scientific discovery in a hard-headed manner) and "soft" science fiction (which often involves looser adherence to scientific knowledge and more fantasy-elements). The basic premise is usually built on a "what if" scenario--i.e., it explores what might occur if a certain technology or event occurred.

http://web.cn.edu/kwheeler/lit_terms_S.html

Science Fiction: A genre of fiction in which scientific and technological issues feature prominently, especially including scenarios in which speculative but unproven scientific advances are accepted as fact, and usually set at some time in the future, or in some distant region of the universe.

http://webster-dictionary.org/definition/Science fiction

Related Genre: Fantasy, Horror, Action

Representational Genre: Narrative and Drama/Dialogue

Narrative Genre: All four basic story lines can fit within the context of

Science Fiction and at times more than one can be present.

Example #1: Dune

            Highlights: advanced technology, alien life forms, other worlds

Example #2: Titan A.E.

            Highlights: Alien life forms, creation of new worlds

Example #3: Nine Princes In Amber

Other examples of genre: Arthur C. Clarke's 2001: A Space Odyssey, Robert Heinlein's Stranger in a Strange Land, Isaac Asimov's Foundation, Octavia Butler's Dawn, H. G. Wells' The Invisible Man, Ursula LeGuin's The Left Hand of Darkness, Lois McMaster Bujold's Ethan of Athos, Aldous Huxley's Brave New World, Ray Bradbury's The Martian Chronicles, Neal Stephenson's Snow Crash, and William Gibson's Neuromancer.

Questions:

1.      Why does Science fiction still have such a strong appeal in today’s society with advanced technology?

2.      Do politics and religion affect science fiction as a genre the same way it affects other genres?