Isaac Asimov's Coming Of Age In Karhide

Science fiction is a genre in which the story is fiction but the topic is what could be.

Science fiction as a genre has always been thought of to be in a constant state of advancing. Whether it be with new technology, a new type of society, or new creatures, science fiction is always progressing and growing to be more and more complex. However, even as the majority of the contents grow and expand, there are some things that rarely seem to change, and those things are the status of women and “the other.”

Star War, Star Trek, those are probably the names that pops into your head when you think of science fiction. However, for over a hundred years, artists and philosophers from all around the world, has never been certain of the true definition of Science Fiction. Although, individual definition of science fiction has erupted in the few decades, especially during the 19th century, when the idea of extraterrestrial surged the media. Today, there are numerous definition of science fiction, each different from one another in its own element. For example, science fiction stories, according to Ray Bradbury are a possibility that has happened in the past or will happen in time. This means that science fiction is the past, the present and the

In her introduction, she explains to the reader that “all science fiction is nothing but a metaphorical lie” and “The future, in fiction, is a metaphor.” (Le

Science fiction is defined as a genre of fiction dealing with the impact of imagined innovations in science or technology, often in a futuristic setting. The worldspace of Blade Runner and the plot of the movie perfectly fit into this definition. The movie itself revolves around the impact of the creation of replicants, which is an imaginative innovation in technology. The movie itself is also set in the future (the year 2019).

On a more superficial level, the fact that the novel has been deemed as "science fiction" opens it up to a

Literature sounds too stuffy and high-browed an descriptor for Science Fiction as a genre. Science fiction is meant to be fantasy, something that is not real and does not strive to meet the literary aspirations of those who would write meaningful prose. Not to say that science fiction writers do not want to something meaningful, but even though the genre may be filled with writers who are degraded by "real" authors as a breed, does not mean that there are not classics that have been recognized as achieving a literary mark. It can be argued, because of the use of literary devices, that there are those science fiction novels that definitely reach the level anyone would consider literature, and among these is a book from Phillip K. Dick called The Man in the High Castle. This paper examines what literary devices were used in this book to make it both a work of science fiction and a work of literature.

“It’s taken the fantasy genre decades to grow out of its image as a juvenile boys’ club obsessed with cleavage and crossbows” (Griner). Though science fiction has attempted to break the gender stereotypes against female characters, the genre still has a long way to go. Currently, the majority of female characters are still portrayed as over-sexualized, and dependent on male characters. When women are shown in heroic female roles, they are still belittled for not being a man. Seiter claims that “Many of the more stereotyped features of the portrayal of women…are also accurate reflections of the sexist reality of our society” (21). It is unfortunate that this claim is accurate, but it is. Science fiction is a fictional genre, providing an opportunity to break all stereotypes and create a world from scratch. But gender stereotypes have been ingrained into the world, making them difficult to break when producing fictional stories. Sexism has created a gender bias in science fiction that needs to be changed.

Throughout this semester our literary material dealt with themes of technology, modernization, the imponderable bloom, human nature, and truth to name a few of the most overarching. Each text has woven an impression of the possible near future for humanity if the patterns we are creating continue at an exponential rate. Patterns such as consumerism, neglecting unpleasurable emotions, using drugs, and controlling the environment for our short term benefits will write an unsavory and inevitable future. Science Fiction often reflects on society by exaggerating their negative characteristics and advancements to seem far-out, but often it is ironic how close many aspects of the fiction are a direct reflection of the present condition. Even now, the possibilities of utopias and dystopias forming are not so out of reach. The ability of our culture to control an entire population with a self-satisfied culture of vices outfitted with technology is less and less science fiction as the years pass.

As the era of literature slowly declines, the expert critiques and praise for literature are lost. Previously, novels were bursting at the seams with metaphors, symbolism, and themes. In current times, “novels” are simply short stories that have been elaborated on with basic plot elements that attempt to make the story more interesting. Instead of having expert critical analysis written about them, they will, most likely, never see that, as recent novels have nothing to analyze. Even books are beginning to collect dust, hidden away and forgotten, attributing to the rise of companies such as Spark Notes. An author deserves to have his work praised, no matter how meager and the masses should have the right to embrace it or to reject it. As

The science fiction genre has introduced people to many different fantastical inventions and peoples that supposedly could only come through extreme imagination. Of course, new practical inventions such as flip phones and computers look a lot like some of the gadgets that were present in such television shows as Star Trek and movies like Star Wars. Science fiction has also given people an expanded view of many other qualities such as time. Because it takes so long for some stories to unfold or for space travel to take place. Many authors play with time as the reader knows it to make the book more palatable and understandable. The two books examined for this essay, Arthur C. Clarke's Childhood's End and Ursula K. Le Guin's The Left Hand of Darkness, each use time as an element in the story that allows the characters to become familiar with new twists, and gives the plot more power and credibility. The authors of these two stories use time as an agent with which they try to familiarize the reader with concepts that would at first seem repulsive or evil.

Much of the appeal surrounding science fiction is the fact that a lot of the genre exists far from what we experience in our own world, and far from what exists within our own imagination. The phrase, “cognitive estrangement” has been used to describe the way that a lot of science fiction makes us feel. In his essay, “Estrangement and Cognition,” Darko Suvin describes cognitive estrangement and its relationship with Science fiction as a genre. He writes, “Thus it is not only the basic human and humanizing curiosity that gives birth to SF. Beyond an indirect inquisitiveness, which makes for a semantic game without clear referent, this genre has always been wedded to a hope of finding in the unknown the ideal environment, tribe, state, intelligence, or other aspect of the Supreme Good (or to a fear of and revulsion from its contrary). At all events, the possibility of other strange, covariant coordinate systems and semantic fields is assumed,” which explains that the strange is what drives interest in Science Fiction. He emphasizes that it’s the weird that sets science fiction apart from other genres, including fantasy. This sentiment has been echoed by many other writers. In the same essay, Suvin writes, “The effect of such factual reporting of fictions is one of confronting a set normative system—a Ptolemaic-type closed world picture—with a point of view or look implying a new set of norms; in literary theory this is known as the attitude of estrangement.” This statement

Extraterrestrial beings, dazzling light shows, and dangerous laser guns are among the many thoughts that go through a person's mind when the genre science fiction is brought up. It seems as if each piece is so different, and so unique. However, many science fiction pieces are extremely similar. The science fiction pieces "Anthem," "Fahrenheit 451," and "The Pedestrian," are similar in the fact that they all encompass an expansion of technology, a new perspective on the well being of society, and each author's purpose for writing the book.

In a genre whose name ostensibly welcomes innovation—science fiction—resistance towards technology may initially seem counterintuitive. This, however, is where it is essential to delve into the annals of history. Writers, after all, write what they know. In an 1948 essay, George Orwell wrote, “When you are on a sinking ship, your thoughts will be about sinking

Science fiction is a genre that has characteristics such as a futuristic setting and a human element. It is based on controversial areas of science or specific theories that have not yet been proven to be true. Science fiction works depict what may happen in the future as an effect of what technology and events exist presently. The genre of the short story There Will Come Soft Rains by Ray Bradbury is identifiable as science fiction through the setting, character and plot.