Fantasy and science fiction differ greatly, fantasy essentially refers to the
unnatural and impossible. Fantasy engages in other worldly phenomenon, such as
magical creatures, beings and objects, and faraway lands. “Any narrative which
includes as a significant part of its make-up some violation of what the author
clearly believes to be natural law- that is fantasy” (Attebery, 1980). Much like fantasy, science fiction is imaginative;
it holds elements of wonder but in a more technological and scientific way. According
to Le Guin (n.d.) science fiction differs from fantasy in several ways. First, it
encompasses a worldly realism that reveals a sense of plausibility that entices
readers into a journey that in some way could be explained by science. This also
allows the reader to be able to make connections to the real world, connections
such as the mention of real history, events or people. These themselves, could
be altered (Le Guin, n.d.), for example a science fiction author might write
about an actual event that happened but alter the outcome of it. In comparison
to this, only in lesser extents of realism is shown within the fantasy genre,
in C.S Lewis’s The Chronicles of Narnia the tale begins in a real world setting
but quickly develops into the fantasy world of Narnia. Second, science fiction
is usually not set within the present-day, more likely in the future where
scientific advances have taken place. If a story takes place within a current
time frame then the reader will expect facts otherwise it is more likely viewed
as unbelievable (Le Guin, n.d.). And third, Le Guin (n.d.) states that science
fiction is often recognized as the mythology of the modern day, which she then
dismisses as meaningless. But why does she dismiss this? She states “Myth,
legend, and folktale are ancestral to, not forms of, modern fiction. ..The
nearest we come to it is fantasy” (Le Guin, n.d.).
Le
Guin, U. K. (n.d.). Plausibility
revisited. Retrieved August 24, 2014, http://www.ursulakleguin.com/PlausibilityRevisited.html
Attebery,
B. (1980). The fantasy tradition in
America literature: from Irving to Le Guin. Bloomington: Indiana University
Press.
Good, thanks Eloise. You have engaged well with the secondary text and developed an opinion. I would like to have seen some specific examples from both fantasy and Science Fiction to exemplify your argument (the Narnia one is good).
ReplyDeleteGood post Eloise, I really like how you separated your points and were very clear in your definitions. In regards to a couple of examples of science fiction there are so many to choose from for example; The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams, The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins is another popular example. This really demonstrates what Science Fiction is because the whole series is based on an alternate way of life to what we know. There is no gap bridging between reality and non-reality.
ReplyDeleteAlso some examples of Fantasy would be Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. This was the first ever published fantasy novel. And it was written for fun when a group of friends got together for the weekend and a storm blew out their electricity. That in itself is quite amazing. Avatar is another example to name in regards to fantasy, here we can clearly see the bridge between the reality of what we know is real and what is fantasy.