Science Fiction and Fantasy

Regardless of personal beliefs or opinions, it is nearly impossible to imagine the existence of modern English literature without the influence of religion. Since the dawn of recorded history, religion has played a vital, recurring role in works of fact and fiction, alike. In his book How to Read Literature Like a Professor, author Thomas Foster asserts several points about this relationship between religion and literature, especially in relation to the image of Christ, and states, “Culture is so influenced by its dominant religious systems that whether a writer adheres to the beliefs or not, the values and principles of those religions will inevitably inform the literary work” (125).

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

“So they were trying to re-invent themselves and their universe... Science fiction was a big help.” (Chapter 4)

Science fiction or speculative fiction is defined by The Oxford Dictionary of Literary Terms as “a popular modern branch of prose fiction that explores the probable

depicts the unreal. Even though he talks about science in most of his stories, they are

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

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.

Arthur Machen and H.G. Wells were one of the most influential writers in the history of the English language. Through their works, both Machen and Wells illustrated the themes of sexuality and horror by exploring the idea of the supernatural. However, Machen’s gothic novella The Great God Pan (1894) and H.G. Wells’ sci-fi novel The Island of Dr. Moreau (1896) further exemplified the theme of humankind’s relationship to God. In the late Victorian period, the influence of religious mythology fell upon writers in England, and stories of the “unseen” became popular and abundant. This era was a time when the public started to seriously question their religious lives. Nevertheless, The Great God Pan was denounced by the public upon its publication for its focus on God as a powerful symbol for horror and sexuality. On the other hand, Wells’ The Island of Dr. Moreau was written as a satire, mocking Christianity and other forms of religion. In this short essay, I will expand on religious symbolism and point out the influence of Christianity using Arthur Machen’s The Great God Pan and H.G. Wells’ The Island of Dr. Moreau.

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.

To build the solid “foundation” in my writing, I spent plenty of time and effort in critical reading exercises. These exercises required us to do the close reading on Chiang’s work, which were necessary preparation for the RA essay. The exercise “Source Mining & Sharing” asked us to find outside sources, which offer me a completed understanding in Si-Fi and the inspiration for the RA essay. By reading different kinds of sources online and others shared by other classmates, I knew that science fiction, instead of being a pure literature, has an impact on culture, science, and sociology, which I used this source in the first main paragraph in my RA to emphasis Chiang’s story introduces new theory. Another meaning exercise was “Fun with Remediation/Genre”:

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.

Religion also plays an important function in allowing the authors to comment on society and faith’s role in it. For example, both authors seem to be suggesting that our religion is only compatible in society as we know it, that is to say that it is not compatible with other situations. In The Children of Men a major disruption to the working of society, mass infertility, has led to a total destruction of the Christian faith. In Brave New World, an unstoppable surge of machinery and technology has led to the disregard of religious moral and the introduction of a new set of hedonist attitudes, both scenarios being deplored by the reader. This could also be seen as the authors’ asserting that a civilized society desperately needs stable religion and morals, given that the utter breakdown in The Children of Men is arguably as shocking as the superficial worship of machinery and pleasure in Brave New World.

While these concepts are new and different to those who read Wells’s novel, the main idea that revolutionized science fiction was the introduction of the time machine. The time machine has become a staple in the science fiction genre. Many movies incorporate the idea of a vehicle that can move the characters years ahead or behind the present. The time machine is integral to the fantasy aspect of the story. A fantasy is fiction made