The Genre Seesaw: Between Science and Fiction
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.18485/kis.2020.52.172.10Keywords:
science fiction, science, fiction, facts, historical approach, formalistic approachAbstract
In the first section of the paper, the author problematizes the need to define the genre of science fiction, presenting the arguments of modern theorists who are convinced of the bankruptcy of previous definitions. These definitions are then presented through typical representatives of two approaches to defining science fiction: the “historical” and the “formalistic”. The “historical approach” does not offer a conclusive definition of the genre, but on the contrary, broadly expands its boundaries. Regarding the “formalist approach”, a dispute is noted between interpreters who place emphasis on the determinant of science, and those who prefer to emphasize fiction in an attempt to make a distinctive definition of the genre. The final section of the paper outlines the possibility of reconciling fiction with science by looking at science fiction as a herald of scientific discoveries: the science fiction practice can be integrated into science and its history if the “scientific” and “creative” prejudices that stand in the way are removed. The conclusion suggests that this reconciliation is not justified, and integration even less so, if it removes the antagonistic but productive tension of scientific facts and literary fiction. This tension between fiction and fable, between stories and documents, between fantasy and science, is crucial for defining science fiction. Undoubtedly hybrid in its self-understanding, as well as in its very name, the genre is still recognizable. Its delimitation, as well as its survival, it seems, rests on whether its intrinsic duality of fact and fiction is unsustainable or, as the author believes to be the case, it challenges the very binary exclusion of its elements.
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