Science Fiction in Brief

 

Hello Friends, welcome to my Blog !

The channel is dedicated to English Language, Literature, Criticism, Academics, Motivation and Many More.

Friends, today I have come up with the new interesting and thrilling topic or genre of literature which brings together literature and science and that is Science Fiction.

It is frequently pointed out….Literature of change…literature of ideas…

Ø  Culture or Civilisation is dynamically undergoing. It is the stream that brings radical changes in the society and other related branches of the society.

Ø  Today’s scenario and Technology….. Science and Technology gave us many precious gifts…it is for human’s prosperity and soundness and peace in life…..we have been influenced a lot by it. Hence, Hence, Isaac Asimov rightly says, “…….Science Fiction (as) that branch of literature which is concerned with the impact of scientific advancement upon human beings” (Asimov, 236).

Ø  But Friends, Difficult to decide….Whether we are being

Ø  So, Friends, without wasting much time let’s begin and see:

The Science fiction accommodates various themes and ideas which have very nicely applied and used in various science fiction stories and works. It should be accepted and understood that science fiction is a movement strictly pertained to the speculations, predictions and guesses about the development in science and technology and the impact or effect of such development or advancement or progress on human beings, society and the civilization at large.

At surface, it seems that the science and literature are two different poles which are very far from each other. But Ratnakar Bhelkar rightly argues in his preface, “Science concerns with facts, reasons, causes and effect and literature too deals with facts but in it facts are presented in modified forms” (Bhelkar,XV). It means, literature modifies the existing facts to create something new and sensational for its readers and society and these kinds of modified facts can be labelled as ‘fantasy’.

 Its Origin?

There is a great agitation and debate as far as the birth or beginning of science fiction is concerned and it seems so because science fiction itself is a very broad and diverse field. Some literary figures state that it is one of the oldest genres of literature when it had not even any identity as a science fiction or genre.

There are many archaeological elements from which one may have the entry point to understand the birth of science fiction.

Epic of Gilgamesh which belongs to the Sumerian civilization

Hindu epics of Ramayana and Mahabharata

Seventeenth century is the perfect period to stress the origin as it brought many positive and scientific things to the world.

Johannes Kepler (1571-1630)- The Man in the Moon (1638)-The first book about the journey to the moon

Jules Verne (1828-1905), the French Science Fiction writer

Jules Verne, along with Hugo Gernback and H. G. Wells, is often popularly referred to as the “Father of Science Fiction” (Roberts,48).

Chiefly, this term came into existence for the works of H. G. Wells. In fact, the term ‘romantic’ is quite familiar to everyone where one can define it as a term which is applied in literature to describe the supernatural and fantastic elements.

Apart from, it there are some magazines and journals which also suggested different names like ‘Off-trial stories,’ ‘impossible stories,’ ‘scientific stories,’ ‘different stories,’ etc. for such works but they did not survive so long.

The title or term called ‘Scientific Romances’ continued until 1930 and gradually due to more and more writings in this field it started to become rather misfit to this stream of writing.

At first, it was Mr. Hugo Gernsback who gave the name “scientific fiction” to the stories published in the magazines and in 1929 he applied the term science fiction in real manner to the literature.      

 What is Science Fiction?

It seems rather difficult, puzzling and pain taking task to define science fiction in literal or precise manner. It does not have any typical or particular stand as other novels or genres have.

Science fiction, abbreviation SF or sci-fi, a form of fiction that deals principally with the impact of actual or imagined science upon society or individuals. https://www.britannica.com/art/science-fiction

Its Definitions:

Isaac Asimov says, “Modern science fiction is the only form of literature that consistently considers the nature of the changes that face us, the possible consequences, and the possible solutions” (Pandey,65).

 

Ray Bradbury is one of them who states, “Science fiction is really sociological studies of the future, things that the writer believes are going to happen by putting two and two together” (Kreuziger,85).

 

Gene Wolf explains, “….all a matter of plausibility. Do people think, ‘The future might be like this?’ If so, it’s science fiction. If they think, ‘This could never happen’, that’s fantasy” (Wright,132).

 Its Types:

Hard Science Fiction

The term Hard Science Fiction was coined by P. S. Miller in 1975. His intention behind originating the term was to classify the science fiction novels which were dealing with purely scientific issues and related concepts. But there were some science fiction dealing with speculation, scientific fantasies and many more issues adopted from the authentic scientific concepts. So the term played very vital role in segregating these kinds of differences. Broadly speaking, the phrase Hard Science Fiction can be explained as such a sub-genre of science fiction which looks for the natural scientific spirit rather than the supernatural one. It adopts the theories and experiments from the conventional branches of science like Physics, Chemistry, Biology, etc.

Ex- Harry Clement Stubbs’ The Mission of Gravity (1954)

Soft Science Fiction-

It is used to describe the use of sciences like Psychology and Sociology. In these kinds of Soft Science fiction the focus is given on characterization rather than scientific things or concepts. It helps to understand the social plight and related elements rather than scientific progress.

Ex-Alfred Bester’s The Demolished Man (1953), Philip K. Dick, J.G. Ballard, Thomas M. Disch and Michael Bishop are other well known Soft Science Fiction Writers.

 Social Science Fiction-

It deals with sociological aspects rather than technological ones. It concentrates more on human behaviour and their overall lifestyle in the society.

In these kinds of Social Science Fiction the future societies are emphasized, explicated and often criticised, usually for the purpose of pointing our certain aspects of the society from satirical point of view. But still, science and technology plays very vital role in such kinds of fiction.

There are many science fiction writers who made the attempts to sketch the societal pictures in their science fiction novels. In this chain, H.G. Wells is the first writer. Besides, Isaac Asimov, Aldous Huxley, George Orwell, Harlan Ellison, Brian Aldiss, etc.

Military Science Fiction-

It represents and talks about Military forces in the context of conflicts or war.

Ex- Peter F. Hamilton’s Night’s Dawn Trilogy- The Reality Dysfunction (1966), The Neutronium Alchemist (1997) and The Naked God (1999), Joe Haldeman’s Forever War (1974) L. Ron Hubbard’s Final Blackout (1948), H. G. Wells’ masterpiece The War of the Worlds  (1998).

Different Themes and Ideas:

Time travel

H. G. Wells in his novella, The Time Machine (1895) in which a Victorian protagonist builds a time machine and moves to the future where he found two different human races. The Time Ships (1995) by Stephen Baxter

Super Hero

It has been observed that the evolution of human beings on the Earth is one of the major themes in science fiction writing. H. G. Wells’ The Food of the God (1904), J.D. Beresford’s The Hampdenshire Wonder (1911) and Philip Wylie’s Gladiator (1937), Alfred Bester’s The Demolished Man (1953), Poul Anderson’s Brain Wave (1954), Frank Robinson’s The Power (1956)

Space Opera

is one of the oldest and well-known themes used in science fiction. George Lucas’s Star Wars, an American Space Opera film series is a pure space Opera out of the ‘Golden Age’ of science fiction of the 1930s and 1940s. Edmund Hamilton’s Lensmen Series (1936),

Robots

is an excellent, thrilling and interesting sub-genre of science fiction.

As far as Robot science fiction works are concerned it could be defined as such science fiction which contains the theme of Robot or its law of Robotics.

The concept of Androids being familarised today had been introduced earlier in the plays of Karel Capek. In his play R.U.R (1921) (Rossum’s Universal Robots), robots are shown as artificial human beings.

Isaac Asimov’s contribution in this field has already been discussed but still he explores many themes in his masterpieces like I, Robot (1950), The Naked Sun (1956), The Robots of Dawn (1983) and Robots and Empire (1985).

Cyborgs

was coined by Manfred Clynes in 1960. Lexically, it can be defined as, “a person whose physiological functioning is aided by or dependent upon a mechanical or electronic device” (Soraci,263).

It is also defined as, “It is the concept of a man-machine combination – a human who adds to or enhances his or her ability by using technology” (Quigley,318).

The term often focuses on the terminology which is applied to living things like human beings whose ability increases due to the technology or science. In the television series Star-Trek: The Next Generation and Star Trek: Voyager, the Borgs, short for Cyborg, are probably the best known cybrogs today. 

 Cyberpunk:

The term ‘Cyberpunk’ is coined from the word ‘Cybernetics’, which is a science studying control and communication in the animal and the machine. The ‘Punk’ is an anarchistic, dense, and fast youth movement which terrorized the world in the 1970's and early 1980's. Basically, the term was originated by Bruce Bethke as the title of his short story, ‘Cyberpunk’, published in AMAZING Science Fiction Stories Magazine Volume 57, number 4, in November 1983.

The term, ‘Cyberpunk’ can be defined as, “Cyberpunk is about the struggle for dominance between mankind and machine and the way in which developing technology will come to influence our lives” (Mann,22).

 Alien

The aliens or extraterrestrials started to appear in the science fiction magazines and novels as soon as when it had been discovered that there are extraterrestrials in the other worlds. H. G. Wells’ book The War of the Worlds (1998), Stanley Weinbaum’s A Martian Odyssey (1934), etc.

 Apocalypse and Post-Apocalypse

These are the major themes and sub-genres of science fiction. Apocalypse is related to the end of the entire world due to nuclear warfare, extraterrestrial invasion, cybernetic revolt or any kind of disaster. Post-Apocalyptic science fiction set in a world or civilisation after such any of the disaster.

Mary Shelley’s The Last Man (1826), Richard Matheson’s I Am Legend (1954), George E. Stewart’s Earth Abides (1949), J.G.Ballard’s The Drowned World (1962), The Burning World (1964), The Crystal World (1966).

 Utopia and Dystopia

These are also dominant settings in science fiction works. The term, Utopia is generally used to state an ideal, perfect society having an appropriate political, economic and legal structure. The term comes from ancient Greek but at first the term was used by Thomas More in his book Utopia (1516).

The term, Dystopia has exactly opposite features. It depicts or represents such society in which each and everything goes wrong or in fiasco. The catastrophe is one of the prominent features of dystopian writing. George Orwell’s masterpiece 1984 (1949). Sir Arthur C. Clarke’s Against the Fall of Night (1948), Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World (1931),

 All these above mentioned themes and ideas have been consistently using by the science fiction authors and it can be categorised in two different themes or settings as Utopian Structure and Dystopian Structure even though they belong to the broad categorisation of Hard Science Fiction, Soft Science Fiction, Social Science Fiction, Military Science Fiction of science fiction.

Popular Examples:

1.  Frankenstein by Mary Shelley (1818)

2.  Journey to the Center of the Earth by Jules Verne (1864)

3.  The Time Machine by H.G. Wells (1895)

4.  Brave New World by Aldous Huxley (1932)

5.  Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell (1949)

6.  The Martian Chronicles by Ray Bradbury (1950)

7.  I, Robot by Isaac Asimov (1950)

8.  Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury (1953)

9.  I Am Legend by Richard Matheson (1954)

10.  Stranger in a Strange Land by Robert A. Heinlein (1961)

11. The Man in the High Castle by Philip K. Dick (1962)

12. Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Philip K. Dick (1968)

13.  The Stand by Stephen King (1978)

14.  Neuromancer by William Gibson (1984)

15.  The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins (2008)

16.  The Last Policeman by Ben H. Winters (2012)

  The list is so long friends……But, these are some of the popular examples for your information and understands…

 Friends, thanks for exploring the post and understanding what is science fiction? What about its origin? What are the definitions, types, themes, ideas and issues incorporated in it and popular examples of it.

 Thank you