The Changing Role of Science Fiction

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Science fiction means a lot of things to a lot of different people, thus a variety of definitions have arisen to allow for this. Perhaps the most simple of these can be found in the The Merriam-Webster Dictionary, which states that science fiction is "fiction dealing principally with the impact of actual or imagined science on society or individuals" (652). Most of academia, however, prefers an extended version from Darko Suvin, who says SF is:

A literary genre whose necessary and sufficient conditions are

the presence and interaction of estrangement and cognition, and

whose main formal device is an imaginative framework alternative

to the author's empirical environment (Online 4).

While either of these is a solid idea of what SF is, there are many who, frustrated with society's inability to properly label the genre, have come up with more sarcastic connotations. A good example is this: "Science fiction is a label applied to a publishing category and it's application is subject to the whims of editors and publishers" (Clute and Nichols, Online 4). Even this holds some amount of truth. But, while all of these quotes are sufficient, none are satisfactory. Throughout the centuries, scholars and fans alike have attempted to accurately define science fiction, however no single definition could ever truly exist because the genre has been forced to adapt to keep pace with a swiftly evolving world.

This is more of a problem than it might seem at first because without an agreed-upon definition how can one recognize when the genre of SF began? The answer is, you can't. This date had been argued by scholars for quite some time, but there is one thing that most agree on, science...

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...would mean the stagnation of society, and the death of us all. We can only wonder where science fiction will take us in the future; one can only wonder and perhaps. . . dream.

Works Cited

Asimov, Isaac. "The Law of Humanics." Robot Visions. Comp. Isaac Asimov. New York: Penguin Books, 1990. 458-462.

Clute, John. Science Fiction: The Illustrated Encyclopedia. New York: Dorling Kindersley, 1995.

Del Rey, Lester. The World of Science Fiction, 1926-1976. New York: Garland Publishing, Inc., 1980.

"If You Like This." Ultimate Science Fiction Web Guide. March 2000. Magic Dragon Multimedia. 8 April 2000 <http://www.magicdragon.com/UltimateSF/thisthat.html>.

Merriam-Webster, Inc. The Merriam-Webster Dictionary. Springfield, MA: Merriam-Webster, Inc, 1994.

Shelley, Mary W. Frankenstein. Philadelphia: Running Press, 1990.

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