Continuing the previous article below will be given 5 more myths about the genre of science fiction
Myth 6. Science fiction — something abstruse and boring
Origin. In a sense, the opposite of the previous one. Man came across a few stories like" pate of goose liver " Asimov, crammed with furious scientific material, and as a result, the reader formed an impression of the genre as a whole.
Refutation. Yes, there is a vast body of science fiction focused on specific scientific issues that require good preparation, and that's good. Indeed, why should people with the necessary knowledge avoid topics of interest to them?
At the same time, science fiction does not have to focus on highly specialized problems of science. Beautiful stories can be built on the basis of things that are clear to all, without going beyond the genre. In many cases, even very complex concepts can be presented easily and unobtrusively. Is Michael Flynn's " Eifelheim "or Andy Weyer's" the Martian " boring, despite the high concentration of theoretical concepts in the first and technical details in the second?
Myth 7. This genre-exclusively for geeks and techies
Origin. The same as in the previous case: the wrong impression of the genre, made as a result of familiarity with a small number of works.
Refutation. Science is not limited to physics, and technology-rocket science and electronics. The genre of science fiction equally includes works dealing with the Humanities, including theoretical history (mentioned "Eifelheim" Michael Flynn or the classic cycle "Foundation" Isaac Asimov), political science and sociology ("Younger brother" Cory Doctorow), linguistics ("the Story of your life" Ted Chan) or psychology ("Master of dreams" Roger Zelazny).
A special case and subgenre of science fiction is alternative history, in which there is often nothing actually fantastic: just a world in which some historical event had a different outcome than in our reality. This may be the victory of the Axis in world war II ("Man in the high castle" by Philip K. dick), the diplomatic crisis in us-UK relations in the XIX century (trilogy "Stars and stripes" by Harry Harrison), the success of Charles Babbage in the construction of a mechanical computer ("machine differences" by Bruce Sterling and William Gibson), or even the absence of a catastrophe 60 million years ago, which in our reality led to the complete extinction of the dinosaurs (trilogy "Eden" by Harry Harrison).
Myth 8. Science fiction ignores or simplifies the realm of human relationships
Origin. Perhaps due to a biased attitude to the name of the genre. Science is often accused of being" soulless, " and this attitude is transferred to literary works written in the genre of science fiction.
Refutation. Even sci-Fi prose, focused on complex highly specialized scientific and philosophical problems, often demonstrates a stunning psychologism, which only benefits from the fact that the action takes place in non-standard conditions. In fact, the very element of the fantastic in such works is required mainly for the study of the depths of the human psyche, testing its strength in non-standard circumstances, revealing its new facets, finally.
It is not surprising, therefore, that dystopias of various kinds prevail here — such as" the Sunken world "by James Ballard," Move over! Move over!"Harry Harrison or "Predatory things of the century" by Strugatsky brothers.
Myth 9. She too severely restricts a flight of fancy
Origin. The wrong understanding of frameworks genre, according to which limiting on number of unwarranted deviations from scientific paintings world means the impossibility in full least realize out a fantasy author.
Refutation. In fact, this type of restriction does not so much restrain the flight of imagination, as it makes additional requirements for the knowledge of the materiel by the author. One can compare this to syllabotonic versification. It would seem that the need to fit the text in a rigid framework of rhyme, rhythm and size reduces the ability of the author to convey the meaning. In fact, he, on the contrary, gets an additional powerful tool to influence the emotional sphere of the reader. In the means of expression, it is not at all limited, but to use them now much more difficult.
The same goes for restrictions on fantastic elements in prose. Yes, it is more difficult to explain the phenomenon of teleportation, telepathy and eternal life from the standpoint of science, rather than through good old-fashioned magic. If the author of a fantasy work can always come up with a new spell or magic ritual, the writer of a science fiction work has to turn to quantum mechanics and relativity, deal with wormholes, nanites, cyberimplants and genome editing. But the result, nevertheless, is achieved, and it turns out to be more realistic, and therefore the emotional impact, other things being equal, has a stronger one. Conclusion: the restriction on means should not be confused with the restriction on the result.
Myth 10. This is light reading, not related to serious literature
Origin. This is due to the fact that cause and effect are confused: entertaining literature often refers to fantasy genres, because the element of the unusual itself entertains.
Refutation. Despite the abundance of fantastic stories in entertainment literature, there is no reason to conclude that fantastic literature-certainly light reading. The depth and concentration of meaning in sci-Fi works can seriously surpass and often surpass the best examples of classical literature. It is known that this genre is characterized by the widest vocabulary in comparison with any other areas in literature, but the lexicon is not limited.
Is it possible to reproach "Flowers for Algernon" Daniel Keyes in the lack of depth, elaboration of images and the seriousness of the problems raised? Is it possible to consider "Inspection on the spot" by Stanislav LEM superficial-even taking into account the abundance of elements of humor and social satire in this work? Entertainment, then, is not a characteristic of a genre, but merely a possible trait that may equally be inherent in perfectly realistic genres.