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Date: Tue, 10 Nov 1998 11:59:53 -0600
From: Negative Burn <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: Re: Definitions of SF
Responding to message <[log in to unmask]>
from Andrew Wheeler <[log in to unmask]>:
>There is a fine line between science fiction and satire. If 1984 isn't
>science fiction then it falls under satire, something akin to GULLIVER'S
>TRAVELS, which was meant to use a fantastic setting to satirize politics.
>1984 may have been meant as a warning of sorts, to show what could happen
>if... But it definitely has science fiction overtoning, as for whether
>it is purely science fiction, that is questionable.
In _Gulliver's Travels_ Jonathan Swift correctly predicted that Mars has
two moons one hundered and fifty years before the moons were discovered.
That is pretty good for something that is "not sf." And I am quite sure
that Laputa exists, as I believe I have met some of its lesser known
bureaucrats. ;-)
Something can be both SF and satire. Cordwainer Smith's _Norstralia_, for
example. And some of C.J. Cherryh's aliens are wonderfully satirical;
those who take them literally miss out on the fun (for example _Pride of
Channur_, and the Faded Sun trilogy).
I don't think it helps us to define SF too narrowly. To be worth reading,
fiction tells us something about ourselves, and gives us something to
think about. A story that is just about technological advances can fail
miserably at storytelling. Asimov, who is often credited with predicting
the pocket calculator, was always quick to explain that the calculator was
in the story in order to solve a storytelling problem (Foundation
Trilogy). If he could invent a pocket calculator, he said, he would have
done so. Authors of speculative fiction write stories to put forth a
message, not in order to accurately predict the future, or invent
electronic devices. That they do it once in a while is wonderful and
remarkable, but that activity should not define the genre.
Stephanie
Stephanie A. Hall - [log in to unmask]
American Folklife Center
Library of Congress, Washington, DC 20540-4610
Opinions mine and only mine
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