Zeroing in on Science Fiction

-          Gary Goshgarian (1942- )

(The essay provides us guidelines about how to recognize a science fiction book from among many books in a rack.)

There are various types of books in a rack. To find science fiction books among them, we need to know the definition of the phrase ‘science fiction’ first. A science fiction has the basic fictional ingredients of a story- plot, character, setting, action, point of view, etc. Science fiction, like all forms of literature, tells us something about the human experience. But there is always science in real or imaginary form in a science fiction. Therefore, science fiction is the branch of literature that imaginatively speculates on the consequences of living in a scientific or technological world.

            A science fiction talks about future experiences of human beings that are categorically scientific or technological. In other words, science fiction is about being human in some imagined technological future. A science fiction can be set on earth, in space, or on worlds galaxies away.

            A science fiction is different from fantasy. Even the imaginary events in the story seem plausible because of the use of science or pseudo-science. A writer of fantasy takes help of magic or supernatural powers. The world of a science fiction is full of possibilities.

            Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein published in 1819 is perhaps the first science fiction. It is about a young scientist named Frankenstein who animates a corpse. The monster kills Frankenstein’s friends and relatives.

            Despite their distinctness, fantasy and science fiction sometimes overlap in a hybrid category called fantasy science fiction. Such fictions deal with the high adventures of superhumans who are pitted against fiendish warlords in some faraway world.

            The degree of scientific emphasis distinguishes hard science fiction and soft science fiction. Hard science fiction, which flourished in the 1930s and 1940s, stresses scientific knowledge and gadgetry. Soft science fiction, on the other hand, focuses on the social and moral consequences of the benefits of scientific advancement. Drawing on sociology, psychology, philosophy, archaeology, and political science, soft science fiction dramatizes how a technological culture may change the quality of human life, altering morality, evolution, and the environment.

            The special advantage of soft science fiction is that it can raise moral questions out of the context of daily existence. How will humans live in a world that is run by machines? That is grossly overlapped? That is polluted by chemicals? That is out of fuel? That is a radioactive wasteland? That has lost its ancient gods?

            A science fiction deals with unfamiliar situations brought about by science. But it is about humanity- not robots, Martians, and star ships. Such marvels may cram the pages, but they are there only to test the limits of human experience.