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Science fiction

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Image:Scifibooks.jpg Science fiction is a genre of fiction in which advances in science, or contact with more scientifically advanced civilizations, create situations different from those of both the present day and the known past. Although science fiction is often written primarily to entertain, many authors use the genre to provide insight into science, society, or the human condition.

Contents

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Definition and scope

Science Fiction
Topics

On SF

Subgenres
Technology
Themes
Media
Related articles

The borders of the genre are difficult to define, and the dividing lines between its subgenres are often fluid. (In Strong Opinions, Vladimir Nabokov half-seriously argues that if we were rigorous with our definitions, Shakespeare's play The Tempest would have to be termed science fiction.)


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Overall definition

Broadly speaking, the science fiction genre is concerned with the effects of science or technology on society or the characters. These effects may be epic in scope, or personal. The definitive elements may be imagined or rooted in reality, offering many variations such as:

  • the imagined effect of:
    • real science
    • imagined science
  • imagined technology based upon:
    • actual science
    • imagined science
  • the effect of science on:
    • present day society
    • an imagined society.
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Science fiction and fantasy

A science fiction story may be firmly rooted in real scientific possibilities as they are understood at the time of writing, as in Arthur C. Clarke's novel A Fall of Moondust, or highly imaginative, set in an extraterrestrial civilization or a parallel universe, as in Isaac Asimov's novel The Gods Themselves. Some science fiction is imaginative or unrealistic, unrestricted by the strict rules of science as currently understood, as in the film Forbidden Planet.

However, different readers have different ideas about what counts as realistic; an uneducated person will have different expectations about what science can do than a professional physicist. Thus, even fiction that depicts innovations ruled out by current scientific theory, such as stories about faster-than-light travel, may be classified as science fiction.

For this reason the borderline between fantasy and science fiction is blurred; many bookstores shelve science fiction and fantasy together. There is a substantial overlap between the audiences of science fiction and fantasy literature, and many, science fiction authors have also written works of fantasy. Fans often nominate works of Fantasy for SF awards such as the Hugo award and Nebula award, clearly indicating a substantial overlap among readers.

Indeed, it can argued that science fiction is simply a modern form of fantasy. In this view, the elements that would previously have been presented as fantasy (e.g., magic, shapeshifting, divination, mind-reading, fabulous beasts, etc.) are rationalized or supported through scientific or quasiscientific rationales (e.g., marvelous devices, mutation, psychic abilities, aliens, etc.). This definition has the benefit of avoiding semantic traps over science fiction stories that are overtaken by events: many classic SF stories include science that has been disproven and unrealized predictions.

However, this definition is resisted by some scholars and writers who have attempted to craft more sharply definitive accounts of the genre (e.g., Darko Suvin emphasises SF's cognitive element), and advocate an aspiration to present a world without mystical or supernatural forces.

Some science fiction clearly exhibits this aspiration, but not all. As a result, some theorists are able to emphasise the difference between science fiction and fantasy, while others emphasise continuity.

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Science fiction and mainstream literature

Science fiction can overlap with more mainstream fiction.

If the society, the person, the technology, and the scientific knowledge base in the story are all drawn from observed reality, without much detail about the scientific aspects, the story may be classed as mainstream, contemporary fiction rather than as science fiction, like Marooned by Martin Caidin. If the characters' thoughts and feelings about the laws of the universe, time, reality, and human invention are unusual and tend toward existential re-interpretation of life's meaning in relation to the technological world, then it may be classed a modernist work of literature that overlaps with the themes of science fiction.

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Speculative fiction

The phrase speculative fiction has been suggested as more inclusive than "science fiction".

The broader category of speculative fiction includes science fiction, fantasy, alternative histories (which often have no particular scientific or futuristic component), and even literary stories in which the only fantastic element is the strangeness of their style. Olaf Stapledon's Darkness and the Light, which presents two possible futures for mankind defined by developments in ethics and philosophy, is a good example of speculative fiction. Another branch of speculative fiction is the utopian or dystopian story. These are sometimes claimed by science fiction on the grounds that sociology is a science. Many satirical novels with fantastic settings qualify as speculative fiction. Gulliver's Travels is one example.

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Slipstream fiction

Main article: slipstream (literature)

Slipstream is a term coined for fiction that does not fit comfortably either inside or outside the science fiction genre. A good example is the Hugo-nominated novel Cryptonomicon by Neal Stephenson.

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Precursors of science fiction

Precursors of the contemporary genre, such as Mary Shelley's Gothic novel Frankenstein, or the Modern Prometheus (1818), the same author's post-apocalyptic The Last Man (1826), and Robert Louis Stevenson's The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1886) plainly are science fiction, whereas Bram Stoker's Dracula (1897), based on the supernatural, is not. A borderline case is Mark Twain's A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, where the time travel is unexplained, but subsequent events make realistic use of science. Shelley's novel and Stevenson's novella are early examples of a standard science fiction theme: The obsessed scientist whose discoveries worsen a bad circumstance.

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Purpose of science fiction

Science fiction has often been concerned with the great hopes people place in science but also with their fears concerning the negative side of technological development; the latter is expressed in the classic theme of the hubristic scientist who is destroyed by his own creation.

Much science fiction attempt to generate a sense of wonder, or awe, from the setting, circumstances, or ideas presented. Paradigm shifts may be used to induce a sense of shock, or a change in the frame of reference for the reader.

A popular notion is that science fiction attempts to predict the future. Some commentators go so far as to judge the "success" of a work of science fiction on the accuracy of its predictions. However, while some science fiction is set in the future, most authors are not attempting literally to predict it; instead, they use the future as an open framework for their themes. A science fiction writer is generally not trying to write a history of the future that they believe will happen, any more than a writer of westerns is trying to create a historically accurate depiction of the old West. Writers are as likely to write of a future that they hope will not happen as they are to write about a future they think will happen. Future societies and remarkable technological innovations are presented as enabling devices for cognitive exploration - or simply for entertainment - and the narratives are not meant to be predictive in any simple way. There are exceptions, however, especially in early science fiction.

Eric S. Rabkin once wrote:

"The touchstone for scientific fiction, then, is that it describes an imaginary invention or discovery in the natural sciences. The most serious pieces of this fiction arise from speculation about what may happen if science makes an extraordinary discovery. The romance is an attempt to anticipate this discovery and its impact upon society, and to foresee how mankind may adjust to the new condition." (Pilgrims Through Space and Time [New York, 1947])
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Subject matter

Science fiction covers numerous distinct subjects. Many of these were originally treated by early pioneers such as H. G. Wells and Jules Verne.

The following subjects from works by Verne are found in much later science fiction:

H.G. Wells pioneered the following subjects:

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Forms of media

Early science fiction was published in books and in general circulation magazines.

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Magazines

Main article: science fiction magazine

The science fiction magazine began in 1926 with the publication of Amazing Stories edited by Hugo Gernsback. Most science fiction written between 1926 and the early 1950s appeared in science fiction magazines. Since then, there has been a huge increase in the amount of written science fiction published, and now most written science fiction appears in either hardback or paperback books, though there is still significant science fiction published in magazines and now online.

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Film

Main article: science fiction film

Beginning early in the history of silent film, the science fiction film established a genre of its own, generally more sensational and less scientific than written science fiction. One of the first important science fiction films was Fritz Lang's masterpiece, Metropolis. Many of the movie serials of the 1940s and 1950s were science fiction, and led into early science fiction television which produced such programs as Tom Corbett: Space Cadet and Captain Video. The Twilight Zone was the first successful tv series that included sf for adults, but it often blurred the distinction between sf and fantasy. Star Trek was groundbreaking in that it introduced a wider audience to the tropes of real science fiction. Since the revivel, Star Trek: the Next Generation in 1988, there has always been at least one major sf series on television. It has often been said that film SF lags about fifty years behind written SF, with a film such as Star Wars (1977) resembling the pulp science fiction in Planet Stories. Following the success of Star Wars, there was an explosion of filmed science fiction and most years since 1977 have seen at least one sf blockbuster.

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Comics

Science fiction entered the comic strip medium in 1929 with Buck Rogers, followed in 1934 by Flash Gordon. The majority of Americans before the 1950s never encountered any science fiction other than in the "funny papers", and assumed all SF was like this comic strip material; the phrase "that crazy Buck Rogers stuff" was often used to describe it, originally as an insult but later fondly by some fans.

The comic book began by reprinting comic strips, and Buck and Flash both had their own comic book reprints. As soon as original comic books began to appear, science fiction was a major genre. Planet Stories had a comic book companion. Hugo Gernsback published Wonderworld with art by pulp artist Frank R. Paul. Later EC Comics published the much beloved Weird Science and Weird Fantasy which first stole and later actually paid to adapt stories by Ray Bradbury. DC Comics published Strange Adventures and Mystery in Space, edited by Julius Schwartz.

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Radio

Radio science fiction began by adapting Buck and Flash stories for radio, but later brought some of the best magazine science fiction to a larger audience with Dimension X and X Minus One, which adapted stories by Heinlein, Asimov, Leiber, and other major writers for radio. The most famous example of radio science fiction was Orson Welles' adaptation of The War of the Worlds in the style of a news program, which caused panic when some listeners believed it was real.

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Other media

There have been a few science fiction stage plays, notably some Los Angeles theater adaptations of some of Bradbury's stories. There have been science fiction View-Master reels, notably "Sam Sawyer's Trip to the Moon". There have been original science fiction albums, such as Jeff Wayne's Musical Version of The War of the Worlds and The Firesign Theatre's "Don't Crush that Dwarf, Hand me the Pliers". There is also a small but growing number of science-fiction operas. In fact, science fiction has appeared in just about every medium conceived by the mind of man.

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Terminology

The term "science fiction" first came into popular usage in the 1930s with the publication of Science Wonder Stories magazine by Hugo Gernsback. Before then, stories in this genre were often referred to as "scientific romances".

Two competing abbreviations for "science fiction" are in common usage. "SF" (or "S.F.") is the term most commonly used by science fiction writers and serious fans. This is also the preferred usage in the U.K..

The euphonic "sci-fi", popularized by Forrest J Ackerman in 1954, but coined earlier by Robert A. Heinlein, has grown popularity and is today by far the commonest term used in the popular press, although many hardcore fans and authors continue to wince at its usage or even consider it offensive. Brian Aldiss, defending the abbreviation "SF", notes that it is flexible enough to stand for science fantasy or speculative fiction, as well as science fiction. Some detractors of the term "sci-fi" have corrupted its pronunciation to "skiffy", which itself has become a sub-genre term for poorly made science fiction. Harlan Ellison has derided the term "sci-fi" as a "hideous neologism" that "sounds like crickets fucking" a comment to which Ackerman responded by producing buttons bearing the slogan, "I love the sound of crickets making love."

One ongoing line of thought (as reflected in editorials in various genre magazines) is that SF is fiction where science genuinely plays a role in the story, while sci-fi is an entertainment genre featuring space ships, futuristic technology, bug-eyed monsters (BEMs) as exciting props and frightening images. In other words, in sci-fi the science elements are fantastical and intended to amaze and attract the reader or viewer, while in SF the science elements enable an original story that otherwise would not present the same conflicts and opportunities to the characters.

Another source of dislike for the term sci-fi term is the tendency for the mainstream to use it as a collective term that lumps together not only true science fiction but fantasy, horror, comic books, cult films, special effects action films, only marginally related genres such as anime and gaming, and completely unrelated fields such as UFOlogy.

Despite this controversy, two high-profile science fiction-based cable networks in the United States and the United Kingdom take their name from this term, although both networks air programming which may not fit into everyone's definition of "science fiction." The channel name may be particularly suitable for those who dislike the term sci-fi since, according to Dave Langford:
SF people [pronounce sci-fi] in tones of heavy irony to describe bad TV or movie sf.
—Fandom As She Is Spoke, September 1995

A variation of the term is "sci-fantasy".

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Fandom

The science fiction genre has a strong fan community of readers and viewers, of which many authors are a part. Many people interested in science fiction wish to interact with like others who share the same interests; in time, an entire culture of science fiction fandom evolved. Local fan groups exist in most of the English-speaking world, as well as in Japan, Europe, and elsewhere; often, these groups publish their own works. Also, fans (or 'fen', in the common argot) have created science fiction conventions as a way of meeting to discuss their mutual interests; the original and largest convention is the Worldcon.

Many amateur and professional fanzines ("fan magazines") exist, dedicated solely to keeping the science fiction fan informed on all aspects of the genre. The premiere literary awards of science fiction, the Hugo Awards, are awarded by members of the annual Worldcon, which is almost entirely run by fan volunteers; the other major science fiction literary award is the Nebula. Science fiction fandom often overlaps with other, similar interests, such as fantasy, role-playing games, and the Society for Creative Anachronism. The largest, annual, multi-genre science fiction convention is Dragon Con, held in Atlanta, Georgia, USA.

Of course, the fans of science fiction have whole-heartedly embraced the Internet. There are fan fiction sites which include additional, fan-created stories featuring characters from the genre's books, movies, and television programs. Although these may be technically illegal under copyright law, they often are permitted when no profit is made from them, and there is clear understanding that the copyright remains property of the characters' original creators. There are fan sites devoted to Frank Herbert's Dune, Michael Moorcock's Multiverse, etc. and to television shows such as Star Trek and its derivatives.

SF fandom has frequently served as an incubator for special-interest groups which originally coalesced within it and then hived off to form organizations or entire subcultures of their own. Examples include:

SF fandom also has close historical links and a large population overlap with the hacker culture, and has been a significant vector in the spread of both neopaganism and libertarianism.

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See also

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References

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SF portals

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Bibliographies of SF in various languages

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External links

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