Science Fiction Literary Works
Introduction
Science fiction is one of the most popular branches in the modern literature. At the same time, the origin of science fiction literature dates back to ancient times, when ancient writer attempted to represent their ideas in fictional forms and unite these fictional forms with their knowledge of the real life. In the course of time, the science fiction literature evolved consistently but it remained always focused on the representation of ideas, concepts and beliefs of writers, which were different from those that dominated in the real life but which were often closely intertwined with the real life or represented an alternative to various real life issues, problems and beliefs. As a result, the science fiction is an extremely rich genre of literature, which allows writers to develop new concepts and ideas and present them in the literary form as an alternative vision of the real life presented by the writers. In this respect, it is possible to refer to science fiction literary works created by outstanding writers, such as George Orwell or Robert Sheckley, who created numerous science fiction literary works, which proved to be not only routine science fiction books but they were also a sort philosophic works created by writer to convey their ideas and warn the mankind about risks that accompanied the development of the contemporary civilization.
The major characteristics of science fiction literature
In actuality, science fiction is a very popular branch in the contemporary literature. In this respect, it is worth mentioning the fact that the emergence of science fiction literature is closely intertwined with the technological progress of the world, which stimulates science ficti...
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...epict new worlds and new societies. Often writers depict their vision of the future society. Anyway, they create a fictional world, where the fancy is closely intertwined with some real facts taken from the real life but they are modified to the extent that the outcomes of writers’ fancies make the society and world described unique and different from real ones. At the same time, science fiction literary works represent views and ideas of science fiction writers, who attempt to create alternatives to the real world, where impossible is possible. On the other hand, many science fiction works, like “1984” and “Animal Farm” by George Orwell or “Status Civilization” by Robert Sheckely, warn the public against the development of negative trends in the contemporary society and the prevention of potential risks and threats to the normal life of individuals in the future.
In his novel Brave New World, Aldous Huxley illustrates ways in which government and advanced science control society. Through actual visualization of this Utopian society, the reader is able to see how this state affects Huxley’s characters. Throughout the book, the author deals with many different aspects of control. Whether it is of his subjects’ feelings and emotions or of the society’s restraint of population growth, Huxley depicts government’s and science’s role in the brave new world of tomorrow.
Many people believe that being very technologically advanced is the best thing for society, but not many people know that technology can also be the worst thing for society. In the novel A Brave New World, by Aldous Huxley, technology is shown as a harmful thing. Having too much technology is potentially harmful as shown through the use Soma, the reproduction process in the world state, and the World State's method of determining social class. The first way technology in society can be harmful is through the citizens use of Soma.
Westerns and science fiction are two genres employed by popular culture that are, in that order, chronologically consecutive in history in terms of their popularity. When analyzed, they show themselves to be also extremely similar to one another, both thematically and structurally. Yet the shift in desirability from the dominant trend of western works to those of science fiction did occur, and I would argue is still occurring today. The reason for that shift in spite of the many similarities of the two genres, along with the factor of the added differences over time, may therefore be a convenient tool in revealing where exactly the ideologies of these respective generations diverge.
It is a genre created by authors that were looking to take their writing abilities to new levels and providing their readers with great stories to explore. Like any other writer the main intent to take your reader to places well beyond their normal imaginations. Science fiction is ever-changing and will continue to do so for many years to come. That is a great thing, as new ideas will continue to surface and us as readers will continue to search for new ways to be challenged than we were before. From the earlier writings of Shelly to Wells, new futuristic ideas will continue to appear. Who knows what the future will hold for science fiction, as it continues to shape its own course. But fear not the unknown as it gives you something to strive
Darko Suvin defines science fiction as "a literary genre whose necessary and sufficient conditions are the presence and interaction of estrangement and cognition, and whose main formal device" (Suvin 7-8) is a fictional "novum . . . a totalizing phenomenon or relationship" (Suvin 64), "locus and/or dramatis personae . . . radically or at least significantly" alternative to the author's empirical environment "simultaneously perceived as not impossible within the cognitive (cosmological and anthropological) norms of the author's epoch" (Suvin viii). Unlike fantasy, science fiction is set in a realistic world, but one strange, alien. Only there are limits to how alien another world, another culture, can be, and it is the interface between those two realms that can give science fiction its power, by making us look back at ourselves from its skewed perspective.
Rose, Lois and Stephen. "The Shattered Ring: Science Fiction and the Quest for meaning." Contemporary Literary Criticism. Ed. Carolyn Riley. Detroit, MI: Gale Research Company, 1969. Vol. 3, 226-227.
Abe Kobo was involved in a critical discussion on science fiction when it started to be popular in the early 1960s. In this article, Abe argues that “pseudo-science is a huge pillar that supports science fiction world” (28). He details that the characteristics of pseudo-science in SF allow its readers to find their wonder on its description rather than to doubt whether it is true or not, which is a way of literature. In such a way, pseudo-science could become a creative feature as hypothesis helping to make the story intriguing. It was interesting to see how Abe details the aesthetics of pseudo-science in relation to everydayness: he emphasizes that scientific hypothesis in the literature could make everyday unstable and shows it strange.
The speculative question "what if?" is the starting point for all science fiction. Many scholars list Mary Shelley's novel "Frankenstein" as one of the first science fiction books. Shelley's book gave an answer
“If everything was perfect, you would never learn and you would never grow”. Imagine everything the world being like heaven , no violence and there is stability and identity. This are the identity on the novel of Brave New World a dystopia by English author Aldous Huxley . Brave New World is high in technology and and very futuristic comparing it to our present world. In Brave New World science is used in order to maintain stability and identity , and society is divided by five groups which they go from weakest to strongest , they consisting of deltas epsilons(lowest),gammas, betas,alphas(highest). In the Brave New World, Aldous Huxley shows how society commission, people’s beliefs using many characters throughout the novel. Brave New World,
science fiction are insatiable and the genres continue to branch off into countless subgenres. His
Technology, which has brought mankind from the Stone Age to the 21st century, can also ruin the life of peoples. In the novel Brave New World, the author Aldous Huxley shows us what technology can do if we exercise it too much. From the novel we can see that humans can lose humanity if we rely on technology too much. In the novel, the author sets the world in the future where everything is being controlled by technology. This world seems to be a very perfectly working utopian society that does not have any disease, war, problems, crisis but it is also a sad society with no feelings, emotions or human characteristics. This is a very scary society because everything is being controlled even before someone is born, in test tube, where they determine of which class they are going to fall under, how they are going to look like and beyond. Therefore, the society of Brave New World is being controlled by society form the very start by using technology which affects how the people behave in this inhumane, unrealistic, society.
Somtimes the deeper you go into subjects the more you realize how one is better or more likely to happen then the other. This is a main reason why "Tomorrow Tomorrow Tomorrow" is more plausible than "Marionettes,Inc." Speculative fiction is an important type of fiction because it makes you think outside of the world we have today. It makes you think of what could possible come in the future. Speculative fiction can show you that we need a change, if people in the past got tell what could possible happen in the future then maybe we need a change. Somtimes the future can hold somethings we may never be able to see, and sometimes we can see them, but we just dont understand them.
Science fiction is considered by scholars to be, rather, speculative fiction. The genre raises questions often about the state and the fate of humanity and seeks to define what the parameters of human identity may be. Although the speculative authors of science fiction have disparate takes on these essential questions, there often are distinct commonalities. One important trend across many works of science fiction is that humanity’s collective curiosity for curiosity’s sake is the defining characteristic of humankind.
The defining characteristics of the cyberpunk genre have been debated since the beginnings of the literary movement. Some authors, classified as cyberpunk, question the very existence of this label, while others are in constant disagreement about the traits that make up the literature. Authors such as Bruce Sterling believe that cyberpunk is the integration of technology and literature in a world where the gap between science fiction and reality is rapidly closing; however, others such as Lewis Shiner have formed the opinion that this literature is merely a product of pop culture, hence it should not have any true literary importance. Furthermore, cyberpunk is said to be the voice of the underground in modern society, and the vision of a new technological world. These theories represent the different views of the major authors in this genre, thus it becomes difficult to define a literary style from such opposing views. A more constructive method is to analyze the major characteristics and styles used in the stories considered as cyberpunk. The negative portrayal of the integration of technology and society is a fundamental tenet of the literature, because it presents a pessimistic vision of scientific advancement. The genre's dark tones, seen in the styles of it's major authors, emphasize the bleak images throughout the futuristic fiction. The constant conflict between the individual and a technologically advanced society is a major theme of the genre, for it stresses man's insignificance. These characteristics are interwoven into the fabric of cyberpunk and form a bleak image of science fiction and the future.
Science fiction deals with the impact of actual and imagined science on society or individuals. It mostly speculates the technological advancement that may be obtained in the near future. Although most of the story is based on fiction, different elements of science that exist in the real world are also depicted in it. Some schools show science fiction movies to the students to enhance the learning process, while others only rely on text books. Not all classroom materials can be covered by science fiction narratives. However, making this genre a part of the education system can help students learn better and become more enthusiastic about any subject matter.