()Science fantasy (ion) is referred to as science fiction (sci-fi).
There are many different opinions on the definition of "science fiction", and the scales vary greatly.
★The closer one is: “Using the form of fantasy art to express the impact of science and technology vision or social development on human beings.”
★One of the broadest views is: "As long as the story contains surreal elements, it can be regarded as a science fiction work."
★The definition of "science fiction" in "Cihai" is: "Based on new discoveries and achievements in science and technology and the predictions that may be achieved on these basis, describing in a fantasy way how humans use these new achievements to accomplish certain miracles"
A new type of novel.”
★Volume 4 of "The Concise Encyclopedia Britannica" defines it as "a literary genre developed in the 20th century in which fiction is based on the discovery of real or imagined scientific theories."
Orthodox science fiction fans believe that science and fantasy are indispensable. If there is no scientific basis, it can only be classified as fantasy, magic or surreal work; on the contrary, if fantasy is absent, it is just a scientific realistic story.
Science fiction, fantasy, magic, and fantasy all have different meanings.
[Basic categories of science fiction literature]
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traditional division method
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Dividing science fiction into "soft science fiction" and "hard science fiction" is the most widely circulated classification within the science fiction community. However, it is widely circulated and the division is reasonable.
Science fiction writers with a background in science and engineering usually pay more attention to scientific basis, and describe and explain science fiction factors in more detail, making readers believe them. This is the so-called hard science fiction school, and the most hard among them is the "machine and background school".
(please note that "hard" does not mean "hard" here). On the contrary, if a science fiction writer has not received training in science and engineering, he will avoid the most important things when describing scientific and technological content, and try to use story plots, morals and characters as much as possible.
Character wins, and their works naturally belong to "soft science fiction".
A question immediately arises: Doesn't "hard science fiction" need to have a good storyline, moral and character? If a work classified as "hard science fiction" is excellent in these aspects,
What should it be considered? On the contrary, if a science fiction writer who has no training in science and engineering does not "avoid the important and take the easy", but instead studies scientific knowledge assiduously and finally writes a novel with an excellent scientific core, has he violated any taboos? For example, Fan
Erner is regarded as the master of hard science fiction writers. He is just a typical literary young man, and his natural science knowledge is completely self-taught. Therefore, the definition given by Mr. Ye Lihua cannot be finalized. And it is also
Clearly discriminating against authors with liberal arts backgrounds.
In mainland China, similar classifications appeared as early as the 1970s and 1980s: science fiction novels that emphasize technological content are "hard science fiction", and science fiction novels that emphasize literary techniques are "soft science fiction." At that time, they were called "hard science fiction"
The "emphasis on science school" and "emphasis on literature school".
None of these can withstand scrutiny. For example, if a chef gets a piece of pork, he can choose to braise it, stir-fry it, stew it, etc. Or, he can choose between braised pork, braised beef, or braised fish.
.But can he choose between "braised" and "pork"? One is the raw materials and the other is the cooking method. How can they form polar opposites? Technology is the theme, subject matter and material of science fiction novels, and the writing style is science fiction.
The skills of novels, these two things are the content and form of novels respectively, how can they be distinguished from each other?
The separation of scientific content and literary form in science fiction novels evolved into a separation of "scientific content" and "humanity content" in science fiction novels in the 1990s, with the view that works that mainly deal with scientific knowledge are "hard science fiction".
Those who write about humanity are "soft science fiction". Such a definition is even more dangerous. The basis of its argument is: science is anti-humanity. More science means less humanity, and vice versa. This kind of definition is in-depth
If you think about it, it will make you shudder. Because it will exclude science fiction, at least the so-called "hard science fiction", from the literary and art circles.
There are also some people who claim that there is no such thing as hard science fiction and soft science fiction, only "real science fiction" and "pseudo science fiction". These two concepts are not found in official published texts, but they are often mentioned in online exchanges or private chats.
.I remember once, the author met an author and asked him what works he had written recently. His answer was that he had published a work. But sorry, it was pseudo-science fiction.
Of course, "real science fiction" and "pseudo science fiction" are not concepts with theoretical significance. They are just disputes of opinion. They are value judgments rather than authenticity judgments. Calling a work "pseudo science fiction" is actually equivalent to saying that it is fake science fiction.
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However, if you have in-depth discussions with people who hold this view, you will find that they still regard works that are customarily called "soft science fiction" as "pseudo-science fiction" and treat works that are customarily called "hard science fiction"
regarded as "real science fiction", even "pure science fiction", "orthodox science fiction", and "mainstream science fiction". They gave up the concept of "soft and hard science fiction", which at least seemed fair on the surface, and replaced it with a more biased concept
.
If you are confused about the definition of "soft and hard science fiction", then take a look at those works that are considered to be "soft and hard science fiction" respectively. In the "China Reading News", a science fiction writer from Beijing published "What I Do
"Ten Favorite Science Fiction Novels". He believes that "2001: A Space Odyssey" is the best hard science fiction work in history. But how do you view this work? Why is it a mystical novel that promotes religious ideas. The author also said,
"1984" is the best soft science fiction work in history. "When 1984 really came, relevant agencies from various countries held meetings to discuss and found that more than 110 of the more than 130 prophecies in the book have come true." (
"China Reading News" September 25, 2002) Then, shouldn't science fiction novels that make such accurate predictions traditionally be classified as "hard science fiction"?
In 1981, Popular Science Press published the book "On Science Fiction and Fantasy Novels". The author found this paragraph in this book: "Smith (a man who came to Shanghai to teach English in the early 1980s and used science fiction novels as supplementary reading)
Americans) also introduced us to a new concept of science fantasy. In the United States, people divide science fantasy into "hard fantasy" and "soft fantasy." "Hard fantasy" refers to fantasy based on physics, chemistry, and biology.
Science, astronomy and other natural sciences are based on "hard" science; "soft fantasy" refers to fantasy based on sociology, history, philosophy and psychology and other "soft" sciences. This is different from China's
Regarding the mention of science fiction novels that are mainly "literary" and "science", they are different concepts. (Excerpted from "On Science Fantasy Novels", page 235, "Science Fantasy Chao on the other side of the Pacific", written by Ye Yonglie
)
Of course, just because this definition is made by Americans, it cannot be taken for granted that it is more correct than the definition given by the Chinese. But this is the most workable classification method I have found. Because of the difference between natural science and social science
It's there. According to this definition, we can think that those who write about genetic engineering and space exploration are hard science fiction, and those who write about population issues and sociological issues are soft science fiction, etc. At least, this definition does not include "shengjian"
Contrary to "steak", they consider whether to fry steak or pork chops.
However, although this definition of "soft-hard science fiction" is fine in theory, it still has great flaws in practice. This is because the number and influence of science fiction works based on social sciences are far smaller than those based on natural sciences.
How can works on this subject become one of the two basic genres when they are not even a fraction of the latter? In fact, science fiction novels are customarily only considered to describe natural science themes. The author guesses that even in the European and American science fiction circles, I am afraid that
Nor is the concept of "soft and hard science fiction" used in this sense.
"Science fiction can be divided into two senses: 'cognitive' and 'aesthetic'. The representatives of the former should be Asimov, Bradbury, and Clark are the models of the latter." (Yan Peng's "
"Aesthetic Analysis of Zheng Wenguang's Science Fiction Novels" quoted from "Zheng Wenguang's 70th Birthday and 59th Anniversary of Literary Creation") This is a certain improvement on the concept of "soft and hard science fiction". However, science fiction itself, or even any narrative literary work itself,
They are all a synthesis of "cognition" and "aesthetics". It is not tenable to separate the two inseparable parts.
Although "soft and hard science fiction" are not a pair of concepts with theoretical value, they reflect the conflict between the two cultural tendencies of science and humanities within the science fiction community. However, that is not the issue discussed in this chapter.
There is such a folk classification among mainland Chinese science fiction fans: science fiction can be divided into hard science fiction and soft science fiction. Hard science fiction has very high requirements for technical description. Generally, authors who write hard science fiction must have solid scientific knowledge, while soft science fiction
It is relatively loose and wins based on the plot.
There is also a saying that science fiction is a porridge. This is a special branch of soft science fiction, which refers to extremely soft science fiction works. These two types of science fiction are eternal debates among science fiction fans. Hard science fiction fans often cannot tolerate the lack of scientific color.
Pure fantasy is called science fiction. They believe that to identify whether a work is science fiction, you only need to remove the scientific elements from the work. If the meaning of the article remains unchanged and is still smooth, then the work is not considered science fiction. And soft science fiction fans
They appear to be more tolerant. Their view is that anything with science fiction elements can be called science fiction.
But the boundary between the two types of science fiction is not obvious. For example, the familiar "Star Wars" has many people who are attracted by its various mechanical settings and regard it as hard science fiction, while many people just regard it as a best-selling movie.
When reading novels, they only look at the plot, so they think Star Wars is soft science fiction. The representative of hard science fiction in China is undoubtedly the famous science fiction writer Liu Cixin, while there are many soft writers, and no one is particularly outstanding. Mr. Liu Cixin has always advocated
Hard science fiction and soft science fiction are combined into a whole, and he believes that redundant classification and debate will slow down the development of science fiction.
In addition to the popular concepts of "hard science fiction" and "soft science fiction", some science fiction writers have tried to divide science fiction literature from other perspectives. For example, the following two arguments:
"Science fiction novels can be roughly divided into two types: one is popular and entertaining; the other is more philosophical," (Page 451 of Cheng Wenhao's "Selected Taiwan Science Fiction Novels"). This classification adopts the "art-popular"
"The bipolar classification method. In the relationship between "science fiction literature and popular literature" below, the author will discuss related content.
Taiwanese science fiction writer Zhang Xiguo also proposed a classification method:
"1. Adventure science fiction: the narrator's various adventure stories in time and space.
2. Mechanical science fiction: describing the possible impact of novel technological inventions on human beings, such as robots, flying saucers, death ray guns, love machines, etc.
3. Social science fiction: predicting the possible future development of human society, and also satirizing social irrational phenomena, such as "1984", "Brave New World", etc.
Fourth, fantasy novels, which are mainly fantasy novels with reduced or no scientific elements, include three types: utopian science fiction novels, mandarin duck science fiction novels, and literary science fiction novels. ""Encyclopedia of Taiwan Science Fiction Novels" page 503. The standard for this classification is very
Vague. Only included here as information.
In the article "Classification of Science Fiction" ("Science Fiction World" 96, 4), Mr. Wu Dingbai introduced some conclusions of foreign researchers on this issue. For example, some science fiction works are divided into "interesting" in terms of external form.
works, prophetic works, social commentary works"; some divide them into two categories: "optimism and pessimism" in terms of theme and thought; some divide them into "technology, human interests, sociology and
There are four categories: "eschatology"; some are directly divided according to the scientific category to which science fiction concepts belong.
When former Soviet science fiction writers studied Western science fiction, they believed that Western science fiction works dared to imagine the future hundreds of thousands of years later, but Soviet science fiction at that time was obviously not so "far". So there was the strange phenomenon of far science fiction and near science fiction.
Classification. Of course, those Soviet science fiction writers did not intend to turn this pair of concepts into a pair of basic concepts, but just used them to describe a certain perception of themselves. But the distinction between far and near fantasy in science fiction is indeed an interesting phenomenon.
In general, compared with the rich accumulation of texts in science fiction literature, the theoretical exploration of its classification is far from enough.
Some science fiction writers who are troubled by various classifications simply oppose all classifications. They believe that science fiction works can only be divided into good and bad. Science fiction that some people read is good science fiction, and science fiction that no one reads is bad science fiction. This is enough. This way
This avoids endless and seemingly meaningless arguments.
In fact, clarifying the internal categories of science fiction plays an important role in practice. As mentioned above, science fiction literature and art itself is a type of literature and art that is differentiated from larger literature and art. As science fiction matures, it continues to differentiate internally. This
The process is actually the process of segmentation of readers and the differentiation of authors. Authors who are good at writing this type of science fiction are not good at writing that type of science fiction; readers who like to read this type of science fiction do not like to read that type of science fiction. For the author, which readers
Who are their target readers? For publishers and magazines, which readers are their consumer groups? They must not ignore this issue.
This is actually a question of whether or not to live separately. As the sci-fi family business grows, should the children who used to be together live separately? If you examine the criticism of a certain science fiction work, you will find that there are
Many of them are the consequences of not being separated: readers who hold these critical opinions are not readers of this type of science fiction at all. But they believe that science fiction should be monolithic, and only their own type is authentic. And the ones they criticize
The work just does not belong to this "authentic".
From a logic point of view, in order to make a division, the basis for the division must first be determined. In general, the above divisions are not in-depth and clear enough in determining the basis, resulting in ambiguous classification results. The author's classification
The standard is a narrative standard: main events and secondary events.
The events narrated (in the novel) not only have the above-mentioned logical connections, but also have hierarchical distinctions, that is, there are not only horizontal and horizontal connections, but also vertical and vertical distinctions. Among the events narrated, some events are obviously better than others.
Some are more important, that is, some are main events and some are secondary events...The former is an important part of the narrative interpretation code, which advances the plot by raising questions and answering questions...And "secondary" events are in this sense
Even if they are omitted, it will not affect the logic of the entire plot, although this omission will cause damage to the aesthetic value of the novel... Their task is to enrich, concrete and complete the central event.
To classify a work, we must first pick out its main events. Specifically speaking of science fiction, science is the source culture of science fiction. For different science fiction works, what is the connection between its main events and objective scientific and technological knowledge?
, is the author’s basic standard for classification. Based on this, I believe that science fiction can be divided into at least the following six categories: prophetic science fiction, creative science fiction, symbolic science fiction, legendary science fiction, anti-science fiction and meta-science fiction.
prophetic science fiction
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George Benford believes that science fiction is a controlled way of thinking and dreaming about the future. Ray Bradbury believes that science fiction is the true sociological study of the future. Terry
Terry Carr believes that science fiction is literature about the future, telling stories about the miracles that we hope to see - or that our descendants will see - tomorrow. This period may be the next century, or it may be infinite time.
extend.
Yes, what they said was good. But they only mentioned one type of science fiction literature - prophetic science fiction. Most science fiction works have nothing to do with prophecy.
Science fiction novels that are based on some real cutting-edge topics of science and technology are prophetic science fiction novels. The main events of this type of novels are completely based on cutting-edge topics of science and technology. Among all science fiction works, they are precisely the least numerous.
kind.
Grasping the key points of this concept is a "real frontier topic". Verne is often called a great prophet by laymen. However, if examined according to the strict definition of prophetic science fiction, only "Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea" and "Roman the Conqueror"
Bill" can be regarded as a prophetic science fiction novel. I don't know how many articles say that Verne invented the submarine in this novel. In fact, submarines had already existed at that time. Verne only examined the submarine technology at that time.
, as well as the current status of oceanographic research, and used this knowledge as material to write his own novel.
In "Robier the Conqueror", Verne specifically examined a cutting-edge topic at the time - whether man-made objects with a specific gravity greater than air could fly. At the beginning of the work, he recorded two opposing views at the time. One believed that man-made aircraft
The future is the airship, an aircraft that is thought to be heavier than air. Only the latter can overcome the resistance of airflow.
Wells's early works had nothing to do with prophecies, but his own creativity. In his later years, he began to write about scientific research topics that existed in reality. In "Getting Free", Wells described a nuclear war
At that time, nuclear physicists discovered the "half-life" phenomenon. Therefore, in this work, the nuclear bomb was imagined as a weapon that could continue to explode. It was essentially different from the real nuclear bombs later.
"The Night Mail" is also a prophetic science fiction. When Kipling wrote this work, airships were already flying in the sky. He synthesized the actual scientific and technological knowledge to describe the prospects of airships.
Some natural scientists and engineering technology experts occasionally create individual works to expand the influence of their research. For example, Tsiolkovsky wrote his staged rocket principles into science fiction novels. Later, in the field of science fiction novels, such as "
"Solar Sails", "Fountains of Paradise" and other works that describe the development prospects of a specific technology. In addition, there are also behavioral science fiction novels such as "Walden II" written by Skinner, a psychologist and pioneer of behavioral science.
Individual examples are provided to illustrate one's own academic point of view.
During the Cold War, Western scholars wrote some prophetic works that accurately described disasters such as "nuclear winter". These works reminded people's reason time and time again and firmly established in the minds of ordinary people the concept that nuclear war equals the collective destruction of mankind.
It has established a kind of "firewall" of public opinion for mankind to finally bid farewell to the threat of nuclear war. Nowadays, science fiction works about the population crisis and environmental crisis are also ringing new alarm bells for people from time to time. These all reflect the social value of prophetic works
.
In China, prophetic science fiction is rarely touched upon. "The Mist of the Ancient Gorge", regarded as the first science fiction novel to reach the level of "novel" in New China, is a piece of prophetic science fiction. The author Tong En is a professional archaeologist.
"The Mist of the Ancient Gorge" is based on a real topic in archeology: the mystery of the missing Cubans. In the novel, the author assumes that the remnants of the Cuban people eventually disappeared into the mountains. It can be compared with Tong Enzheng's "Stalagmites", which is also an archaeological novel.
Novel. Among the archaeological discoveries: a strange stone tablet called a stalagmite, which was an alien rocket that finally took off into the sky. "An ancient tribe that died in the mountains", "a rocket left in ancient times with aliens"
, obviously the author believes in the former, but not the latter. The latter is just an assumption when writing the story.
"Death Light on Coral Island" made Tong Enzheng famous and spread far beyond the science fiction circle. This is also a prophetic science fiction. In 1960, American scientist Maiman created the world's first ruby laser. Inspired by this,
Two years later, Tong Enzheng wrote this masterpiece. As for the fact that it was published more than ten years later, it is not the author's responsibility. "Death Light on the Coral Island" is about the application of laser technology in military affairs. This was a cutting-edge topic at the time.
.
"Columbus from America" by Liu Xingshi is also a prophetic science fiction novel. In ancient times, the Indians came to Europe in canoes. This is an inference of the author. This novel is written with this inference. It can also be
Compare the book "Northern Clouds" by the same author. The water in the Bohai Bay was evaporated and sent to Inner Mongolia. The author himself would not take it seriously. He just used various knowledge in the novel to make it look real.
When Wang Jinkang wrote "The Balance of Life and Death", the source material was a book called "Balance Medicine", which involved discussions on certain issues in modern Western medicine. Regardless of whether its views are correct or not, it is indeed a real cutting-edge topic. The shortcomings will lead to
crisis. Liu Cixin's "Ground Fire" is a prophetic work about the prospects of the coal industry. Zheng Jun's short story "Population Crisis" describes the problem of negative population growth in future society. And his full-length "The Age of Turbulence" draws on the material
Some cutting-edge topics in oceanography. Even some real Chinese and foreign oceanographers are interspersed in this work.
The premise for the existence of prophetic science fiction novels is the continuous progress of science itself. Many people who are not exposed to scientific work only receive subject education from school. They mistake natural science teachers for scientists and regard science as a rigid and conservative system. In fact,
, the main body of scientific work is discovery and invention. The value of scientists does not lie in passing on old knowledge, but in discovering new knowledge. Driven by this basic driving force, the entire science and every field of it are constantly expanding the field of knowledge.
This requires front-line scientists to have the ability to look forward. In the next volume, the author will talk about the progress of science from the perspective of futurology and scientific prediction.
Predictive science fiction novels turn the forward-looking research conducted by scientists into literary images for expression. Here, a misunderstanding must be clarified. Science fiction novels do not make any predictions. They only express the predictions of scientists.
Science fiction writers often have the reputation of "prophet", and the reason is similar to that of fortune tellers: "Science fiction writers' predictions are often wrong, but their occasional correct predictions attract public attention." ("Science Fiction")
Road, Volume 3, page 457). In fact, even for these correct predictions, science fiction writers are not original creators.
So far, the author has not collected any science fiction works in which the scientific predictions were entirely completed by the author himself. The scientific predictions in all these works were proposed by scientists in advance, and science fiction writers only used them as material. In fact,
, science fiction writers have never claimed to have made such-and-such inventions. In modern society, if a person really has an invention, the first thing to do is not to write a novel, but to apply for a patent at the patent office. And the patent office has a
A complicated procedure was put in place to identify him as indeed the originator of this invention.
If someone refutes my point of view, I hope he can provide evidence to prove that there are indeed new discoveries in a scientific and technological sense in a certain science fiction novel. Even one article will do. In the first volume, the author discusses the science in science fiction.
The subject matter has been introduced in detail. Now the author would like to emphasize that there is not a single scientific prediction made by the science fiction writer Du Li!
The author formally proposed "prophetic science fiction" in "The Road to Chinese Science Fiction" in 1999. At that time, although the number of "real prophecies" was considered to be very small and insignificant, there were still several examples. Now I tend to believe that science fiction There are no prophecies with du li scientific value in the novel. All prophetic science fiction draws on existing achievements in the scientific community. By comparing previous editions of "Science Fiction Overview", readers can see my views on this issue. Variety.
The reasons for treating science fiction novels as prophecies are that one is only seeing prophetic science fiction novels, and the other is ignorance of the history of science and technology. After all, novels are much more influential than papers and monographs. How many people have read "Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea"? And how many people know the development of submarine technology in the 19th century?
Treating prophetic science fiction as scientific research results, or treating writing science fiction as scientific research, has had a considerable negative impact on the development of science fiction art. Mr. Tian Song, an expert in the history of science and technology at Beijing Normal University, has long tracked the phenomenon of "civil science": There are quite a number of people who have neither received systematic scientific education nor mastered the methods and methods of scientific research. They also have no normal connection with the scientific community. However, they believe that they have made such and such a major invention and creation, and invest their energy into nothingness. The misty "scientific research" goes up. For his research, you can refer to the book "Perpetual Motion and Goldbach's Conjecture" (published by Shanghai Science and Technology Press). Unfortunately, using the content of this book as a reference, the "civilian science" in the science fiction world "There are quite a few. Their basic starting point is that they don't know that literary creation and scientific research are not the same thing. These "civilian science" remarks about science fiction are just giving people a lesson and creating a negative image of science fiction in public opinion. impression.
nor) believes that science fiction is based on rational thinking about the human experience of science and its synthetic technologies.
Heinlein believes that science fiction expresses an understanding of the nature and importance of human activities regarded as scientific methods. At the same time, it expresses the same understanding of the large amount of knowledge collected by human beings through scientific activities, and combines scientific facts and science. The impact of methods on human beings and their possible future impacts are reflected in his novels.
Hugo Gernsback believed that science fiction was a sugar pill that helped readers attract scientific knowledge.
Their views are good. But they only talked about a type of science fiction - creative science fiction. In this type of novel, the author constructs the main events of the novel starting from one of his own ideas. He needs to use scientific knowledge to Reality is the goal to perfect this idea. Most importantly, this idea has nothing to do with the real technological frontier.
Verne's first science fiction novel "Journey to the Center of the Earth" is a typical creative science fiction. An article once regarded this novel as "Verne's prophecy of failure". However, from the beginning of the novel, the author quoted a lot of Judging from the results of geology, Verne fully knew that the center of the earth was solid and had no hollows. He created a "Mediterranean" world entirely because of his artistic taste.
In "Adventures in the Solar System", this creative science fiction idea is further implemented. An asteroid approaches the earth, taking away part of the land, oceans and thirty-six people, while other people on the earth know nothing. At that time From the common sense of natural science and Verne's level of knowledge, it is impossible for him to really think that such a thing would happen. From the perspective of creative conception, he first established such an idea, and then plugged in various related knowledge , making it "realistic".
With Wells, creative science fiction developed more consciously. Time travel, invisible men, alien invasions, divine food, alien spaces,... none of these had anything to do with the scientific research at that time. Wells
Conceive them first, then tie the thread of knowledge around them to make them seem real.
At that time, Verne and Wells had a dispute. The former believed that what he wrote was real science, while Wells wrote imaginary science. In fact, this was the difference between prophetic science fiction and creative science fiction.
A conscious collision. However, at that time, the number of science fiction works as a whole was very small, and it was impossible to clearly express the style and genre.
Wells was later called the father of modern science fiction. According to the author's understanding, this "modern science fiction" is exactly creative science fiction. Because it completely leaves the umbilical cord of science, the source culture. The author can make assumptions in a wide range of ways, and then
Then collect relevant knowledge and organize it.
For example, a science fiction novel called "Chasing the Sun". The plot of the story is: A lunar expedition team had an accident and lost energy. The only surviving female astronaut has to wait for rescue from the earth. But she must survive without losing energy.
She kept the temperature of her spacesuit under the sun. So she used walking to "chase the sun" to keep herself in the sun during the "day" on the moon. The clue here is that because the moon's gravity is smaller than that of the earth, people can
Relying on physical strength to circle the moon in one lunar day. Asimov's "Blood Splattered Musical Clock" tells a detective story. The final clue to solving the case was that the suspect's body could not adapt to the gravity of the earth because he had just returned from the moon.
These are all examples of ideas grounded in astronomy.
Asimov's famous "Strange Voyage" is more typical. This work describes scientists shrinking people to the size of cells, traveling and sailing inside the human body. This work sprouted a rich subgenre of science fiction themes, such as the American film "
"Inner Space" and "Brain World" by contemporary Chinese young science fiction author Zhou Yukun are all representative works in this area. This concept has no scientific possibility at all, and from a predictive perspective, it is inferior to medical "drug guidance technology" and "nano
"Robotics Technology" is closer to reality. But writing it this way is obviously extremely interesting. Interesting, this literary purpose, is the starting point of this type of subject matter.
To this day, among the science fiction works that people are accustomed to call "hard science fiction", except for a very few prophetic science fiction, the vast majority are creative science fiction. The science fiction community has never distinguished the two types of works. In fact,
Paying attention to different works of the same classic writer will help us clarify this issue. For example, Belyaev's "Sea Planters" completely reflected the prospects of ocean development at that time. And his "Leap into the Void"
", which was conceived after studying Tsiolkovsky's monograph. Qi himself also wrote science fiction novels to promote his ideas, but their influence was not great. Therefore, he decided to write the preface for this novel
.
And his "Eternal Food" and "Ariel Ali" obviously have nothing to do with the scientific frontier. And "The Last Atlantic Man" is a typical pure science fiction idea.
Creative science fiction is rich in scientific knowledge, but it has nothing to do with scientific research in the real world, which is what many science fiction fans do not understand. The so-called science fiction is a hotbed of science, and so on, most of which are about creative science fiction.
Misunderstandings about the nature of science fiction.
symbolic science fiction
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When an object is not only itself, but can also refer to other things, it is a symbol. For example, a red flag or a red star symbolizes revolution. A bouquet of roses symbolizes love. In many works, someone or something
They are not just themselves, but some kind of symbol. For example, the Jade Emperor is a symbol of feudal royal power, and Ah Q is a symbol of spiritual victory. They are all real images, but behind these images, there is a more profound meaning.
The meaning of xing.
Science fiction works dominated by symbolic images are symbolic science fiction, which can also be called allegorical science fiction. The main event of this type of work is a symbol, and most of its participants are also symbols.
In "The Big Machine Stops", there are almost no details about the "big machine" that raises and controls everyone. It is a symbol of the entire mechanical society. Capek is regarded as a predecessor by the science fiction community, but in some mainstream literary theories
In his works, he is a representative figure of symbolism. His "Rossrum Universal Robot" is regarded as a typical example of symbolism. This kind of robot (actually a biochemical artificial human) is just a symbol of all created things. In "Salamman"
In "Fish Rebellion", the biological state and physiological characteristics of the salamander are described in detail, but it is neither a scientific prediction nor a simple creativity. It is a symbol of Nazism., Jr.)'s short science fiction novel "Harrison
"Bergeron" is an excellent science fiction fable, which satirizes absolute egalitarianism: the United States in the future will become an absolutely equal country, setting up various systems to make people equal (mediocre), and beautiful people will wear ugly masks.
, tall people have to carry a "handicap bag" to live. People love mediocrity and oppose excellence. Here, masks and handicap bags are symbols, symbolizing the invisible power of society to obliterate individuality. Vonnegut can never really
I believe that this kind of social system will really emerge.
In science fiction works such as "Steel Cellar", "Flying City" and "Judge Dredd", there are ultra-modern cities that have nothing to do with rural areas and agriculture. There is everything in the city, but there is desolation outside the city. This kind of city is science fiction
The symbol of the writer's urban concept. In the seventh volume, the author will also analyze in detail the special urban concept in science fiction literature and art.
The earliest allegorical science fiction novel in China should be Lao She's "Cat City". In this work, the cat society is obviously a symbol of the dark side of Chinese society in Lao She's mind. In "Dreams in the Land of Tenderness",
The robot wife is obviously not a scientific invention, and the author did not describe its technical details at all. It is just a symbol, a symbol of some men's misconceptions about the perfect wife. In Liu Weijia's "The Town Under the Tower", the tower and the small
Zhendu is a symbol. The former symbolizes the self-contained ideological tendency, and the latter symbolizes the society dominated by this ideological tendency.
Whether a work is mainly symbolic depends on the author's creative intention. But now it is difficult for Chinese science fiction writers to find a publishing space to directly express their creative intentions. As for famous foreign science fiction writers, their works have been translated repeatedly, and they have a deep understanding of these works.
However, few translators pay attention to the explanation. These practical problems make it difficult for people to judge "symbolic science fiction". Here, the author gives an example of the creative intention of symbolic science fiction. In January 2003, Writers Publishing House
Published Liu Cixin's long science fiction novel "Supernova Era". This work fictionalized a world in which all Cheng Ren over the age of thirteen died. In the postscript of the novel, the author clearly expressed his creative thoughts:
(Losing parental support) This is also the most fearful thing for all mankind. This fear is deeply rooted in human civilization, making ancient religions still exist today and occupy an important position in human spiritual life - face
Facing the dark and deep universe, human beings are trying in vain to grasp a pair of non-existent hands. In this sense, the current world is already the world of children described in this novel. All human beings are like a child who cannot find his parents.
The orphans at the hands of others are full of fear and confusion. At the same time, the fire of childishness and wildness in human nature ignites, and finally burns into a crazy fire of destruction... We are even far less lucky than the children in the novel.
No one teaches us in the Great Study. "Supernova Era" page 322. From this text, we can see that this work with grand scenes and twists and turns is a fabled science fiction.
It is very difficult to identify symbolic works in science fiction novels. Any symbolic work has two levels: superficial meaning and symbolic meaning. The superficial meaning of "Diary of a Madman" is a pathological record of persecuting paranoid patients. "Ah Q"
The superficial meaning of "The True Story" is a farce of Ah Q's personal life. The problem is that it is easy to understand the superficial meaning of these works, so the readers' intellectual activities when reading naturally turn to exploring their symbolic meaning. And science fiction works have a profound influence on many non-fiction works.
For science fiction fans, it is quite difficult to understand its superficial meaning, let alone get a glimpse of the symbolic meaning behind it. What is the superficial meaning of "Escape from Youshan"? Why is there no trace of people in Youshan City after one night?
This kind of question can confuse readers until the end without being able to figure it out, let alone understand the meaning behind it.
There are a small number of symbolic works in science fiction novels, which are related to the theme of science fiction novels. Most of the symbolic works familiar to mainstream literature are based on real life. They are commonplace things in common sense. The author uses distortion, exaggeration, and deformation methods to express them, achieving special
The effect can be described as using fiction to record reality. Science fiction novels are originally based on unfamiliar things in life, and the content is inherently illusory. No matter how illusory the expression method is, it can easily become an incomprehensible word riddle.
legendary science fiction
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Del Rey believes that science fiction is an entertainment method that uses theory and reasoning to try to describe the possibilities of various alternative worlds. It uses change as the basis of the story. This statement only summarizes one type of science fiction - legendary science fiction.
The main events of legendary science fiction are neither scientific predictions nor creativity, but story routines that are common in other types of literature. Such as war, adventure, detective, love, etc. Before Hugo Gernsback named science fiction novels
, science fiction has been given many names, one of the main ones being "scientific romance novels"
Regarding legendary science fiction, although no one has listed them as a separate category before, many science fiction writers have described it, such as: "The science fiction stories we know today are the youngest of all kinds of stories.
.However, they have a deep connection with the oldest adventure stories, and sometimes they are even indistinguishable from each other. Readers who have dabbled in science fiction novels will find that most of these works have an element of adventure." (Li Weicai's "Superman's Story")
Loneliness")
"Space battles have replaced the Roman Colosseum, and earthlings killing aliens have replaced the battles between lions and Christians." (Brian Aldis, "World Science Fiction Literary Movement" quoted from "Ninety-seven bei jing International"
Science Fiction Conference Proceedings")
"The novel and attractive things in science fiction are the same as the mechanical scenery in martial arts, and the various tricks used in martial arts competitions are the same." (Zhang Xiguo, "Selected Taiwan Science Fiction Novels")
In terms of quantity alone, among all the works of Chinese and foreign science fiction literature accumulated so far, legendary science fiction novels account for the majority. For example, "space drama" and the science fiction works in the Wesley series are mainly legendary science fiction.
Although Simov is good at writing creative science fiction novels, his masterpiece "The Foundation Trilogy" is a typical legendary science fiction novel.
Many people who hold "orthodox views" on science fiction literature despise the genre of romance and even think of it as "pseudo-science fiction" and "edge science fiction". The author disagrees with this. Legend science fiction is not incompetent.
It is the pinnacle of art, but its core has nothing to do with science.
We must not think that legendary science fiction novels are popular science fiction novels. Authors write such novels for commercial purposes. In fact, many authors like to write such works just for game-like motives. Freud believes:
A writer's creation is like a child's game. Both create a fantasy world with a serious attitude and great enthusiasm. "Summary of Literary Theory" edited by Tong Qingbing, 86 pages published by People's Literature Publishing House. If we say that other types of science fiction
If this aspect is not obvious in novels, then legendary science fiction novels prominently reflect the game-like nature of creation.
anti-science fiction
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Anti-science fiction means that the main events of the novel borrow the surreal plots of typical science fiction novels, but in the end it turns out that those surreal phenomena do not exist.
The most influential masterpiece in anti-science fiction is the American film "Capricorn One": In order to compete with the Soviet Union in the space race, the American government faked a "landing on Mars" trip. Three astronauts set up a mission in a secret base.
A space flight performance was performed in front of the Mars set. Afterwards, the American government killed him, but a survivor went through hardships and broke into the public eye to reveal the truth.
Sakyo Komatsu's science fiction short story "The Choice" is a typical anti-science fiction novel. The protagonist comes to an underground company that secretly operates time travel. The other party tells him that the company is run by people who have returned from the future to the present. They are all
A hero who resists "time control". There are countless possibilities in the future. If the customer pays enough fees, they can send him to the "possibility" of his choice. Unlike time travel that can be done in one step, the customer is still in
In the original time, only the future would be slightly different. To this end, they played three futures for the protagonist to choose from: a technologically advanced future, an idyllic future, and a future destroyed by nuclear weapons.
The novel tells a lot of time travel knowledge through the mouth of a short man. It is serious and creates the atmosphere of a real science fiction novel. In the end, the protagonist chooses to take risks in a future destroyed by nuclear weapons. The novel describes in detail his feelings through the time selection device.
: Complete darkness, headache, dizziness, nausea... But in fact, the three images of the future world are sci-fi movie clips, and the feeling of traveling through time and space is created by scammers using drugs. The entire time travel itself is a scam.
The Chinese science fiction work "Professor Hallard's Time Jumper" is also an anti-science fiction novel that makes fun of time travel. There are more anomalies in this novel than in "The Choice": people in the future can pass through the time machine without collision, and time
The traveler saw his own cemetery, and he tried to grab the stone in the future world but failed... It turned out that these were all arrangements made by the psychiatrist Hallard to treat the mental patient Thomas.
There are many anti-science fiction novels that make fun of aliens. The more representative one is "Space Monster" by Japanese writer Edogawa Ayuran. In this novel, an alien who can fly in the sky causes trouble in Tokyo.
Moreover, the dragon was missing its head and tail. Finally, people discovered that it was a hoax designed by a civilian scientist named "Weirdo Twelve Faces."
Anti-science fiction novels are not all humorous sketches, but also serious dramas and novels. Japanese writer Matsuoka Keisuke's famous work "Hypnosis" is a representative one. Once the book came out in October 1997, it immediately topped the bestseller list.
, has sold more than one million copies so far. It has also been adapted into movies and TV series. At the beginning of the novel, a mysterious woman appears in the wind and rain, mechanically claiming that she is a cosmic being. But in the end, after repeated investigations and rigorous reasoning
, discovering that she is actually a patient with schizophrenia.
Some writers use the characteristics of anti-science fiction novels to express profound themes. The short science fiction novel "The Passing Smoke" by British female writer Tonys Lee is an example. The protagonist Jana is a lonely and bored middle-aged woman.
She had wild imaginations. One day, she met a parachuting pilot. This man suffered a head injury when he landed and lost his memory and ability to take care of himself. Jana decided that he was an alien and took him home as a gift from God.
When they got along, she felt that the pilot was an alien, and that his surroundings were full of miracles. In the novel, those miracles were typical plots of science fiction novels, but none of them actually happened.
In the end, the paranoid Jana shot the pilot and buried him secretly. All the "surreal" plots in the whole story were Jana's random thoughts. This novel vividly depicts the "egocentric character", which not only combines fantasy with
Treat bad character tendencies as reality.
For the definition of science fiction given by the author, anti-science fiction is a loophole. Strictly speaking, since there is no surreal plot, this type of novel should be classified completely. However, this type of novel is completely derived from the soil of science fiction.
It was born on the Internet. Its authors are often typical science fiction writers, and their works are published in science fiction magazines for science fiction fans. Moreover, only science fiction fans can understand the mechanisms. "Capricorn No. 1" is included in
The "Colorful Illustrated Science Fiction Encyclopedia" edited by a British person shows that some foreign science fiction researchers have also noticed this anomaly.
meta science fiction
Anti-science fiction is indeed an outlier in science fiction. But its number is small and its influence is small. The other type of science fiction is smaller in number and influence, but they must be logically divided because they cannot be classified into other types.
.That is meta-science fiction. The main events of meta-science fiction works come from other people's science fiction works, or use science fiction writers who exist in reality as the initiators of the events. They are obviously a kind of literary game, a tribute to their predecessors and friends by people in the science fiction community.
method. But this kind of works is completely science fiction literature, not ordinary biographies: their plots are surreal.
In "The Best American Science Fiction Novels of 1997", there is a novel called "Columbus". The characters in the novel go to Tampa, Florida, USA to test whether the giant cannon in Verne's "The Cannon Club" is
It really exists. The author describes the cannon-casting scene in detail, turning the virtual reality in Verne's novel into his own virtual reality. In the same anthology, there is also a work called "A Barren Winter". The author
Wolfton used the Martian invasion of the Earth described by Welles in "Star Wars" as the background to describe battlefields outside the UK. In the science fiction film "New Frankenstein", "Frankenstein"
The grandson lived in the 20th century and was a medical scientist. He did not believe that his grandfather had ever created "Frankenstein". However, the grandson of one of his grandfather's servants found him and led him to his grandfather's secret laboratory and created another
A Frankenstein was born. After the birth of Frankenstein, the events he experienced were almost exactly the same as those in Mary Shelley's original work, except that the result of each event was comedy.
There are also some meta-science fiction works based on real science fiction writers. In the fourth volume of "The Road to Science Fiction", there is an interesting anecdote called "The World Science Fiction Convention in 2080". The novel is drawn back to the world by the destructive war.
With the human society of the Middle Ages as the background, it describes a group of science fiction writers who gathered together in wooden boats in 2080, lit oil lamps, and commemorated the previous science fiction writers. Among those mentioned were Larry Niven, Philip K. Dick, and others.
There are some real science fiction movies, such as "Alien".
Coincidentally, at the end of "Manifesto of Imagination", there is also a meta-science fiction work "The Birth of the Galaxy" by Han Song. The novel is based on the plot of the science fiction writer Galaxy's birthday, and some friends from the science fiction community come to congratulate them. The time is set as
July 10, 1998, was a few years after the creation of this work. In the novel, there are not only Xinghe, but also Wu Yan, Lingchen, Han Jianguo, Yu Xiangyun, Yan Feng and others. All of these people have successful careers.
Their respective careers were still in their infancy when they wrote the novel.
Obviously, these meta-sci-fi works are just word games for self-entertainment within the science-fiction circle. Outsiders cannot understand the fun. The significance of their existence is to prove that the science-fiction circle has formed a cultural circle. In this circle, there are
Language, its own rules, even its own traditions.
【Different styles of science fiction】
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1. Lyrical science fiction
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Lyrical science fiction mostly has the characteristics of prose. It is not famous for its subject matter, but is characterized by beautiful writing style and melancholy emotions. Ray Bradbury is a representative figure of lyric science fiction. Many of his works, such as "The Horn of the Fog"
", "Mars Chronicle", etc., all have a nostalgic tendency. The lyrical style is the literal appearance of this tendency.
"The Girl in the Ice" by James Gunn is also a typical lyrical science fiction. With the advent of a new ice age, humans have migrated near the equator, making most of the north uninhabitable. The protagonist Reed stayed in his hometown and watched the glaciers approaching day by day.
The body of a young girl in the glacier became his spiritual sustenance in life. There is no bizarre plot in the whole novel. The main space is used to describe Reed's love for his hometown.
Terry Beeson's "Old Songs of the Earth" has a similar approach. It describes an alien colonist's nostalgia for the earth. The plot is downplayed to the extreme. Jiang Yunsheng even directly called it a science fiction prose rather than a science fiction novel.
There are very few lyrical works among Chinese science fiction works. An example that can be cited is "Pigeons Flying Across the Strait", a collaboration between He Haijiang and Rao Jun.
2. Absurd science fiction
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Absurd techniques are an important feature of Western modernist literature. Such works use counter-logical narratives to reflect the absurd color of real society itself. In science fiction works, absurd techniques are rarely used. Most science fiction works have clear
"Self-established logic". And we must use logical language to explain them clearly.
James Gunn is a representative of the use of absurd techniques. His "Gift from Alien Planet", "Green Thumb", "Teddy Bear", etc., are complex and unpredictable in time and space. Combining these novels with his traditional narrative style of science fiction
Works such as "Immortality" and "The Voice of Humanity" are put together, and the difference between the two can be clearly seen.
Among Chinese science fiction writers, Han Song is a representative figure who uses absurd techniques. Almost all of his short stories are difficult to clarify the logical context, and more often depict a chaotic, weird, and incomprehensible atmosphere. "Escape from the Worry Mountain"
" is a representative work of absurd science fiction. Others such as "The Last Subway", "Red Illusion", "Beyond Reality", etc. also have strong absurd ups and downs. By comparing these two types of works together, we can see that
The author's pursuit of absurd style is a kind of creative consciousness.
3. Humorous science fiction
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It is not easy to give science fiction novels a relaxed and humorous style. But there are some good examples. Vonnegut wrote "Report on the Barnhouse Effect" in a short space and lively. On War Madman
It is a bitter satire. Xing Shinyi is good at miniature science fiction. He can perform beautiful punches in a small area, and humorous writing skills are essential. Zheng Yuanjie's "Golden Dream" is also a rare humorous science fiction. Its style is almost nonsensical. Wang Jinkang's work style
It focuses on thick and atmospheric. Therefore, the light and funny "Beauty Trap" and "Perfect Earth Standard" are particularly outstanding. Zheng Jun's "Insects Flying and Ants Are Scared" is also a representative of humorous science fiction.
Although many science fiction works have some light-hearted conversations and humorous plots, science fiction writers with a humorous style have not yet appeared. This can also be regarded as a small direction in the development of science fiction literature.
4. Horror science fiction
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Horror novels are regarded as a literary category. They are even listed as one of the three major categories of fantasy literature together with science fiction and fantasy ("The Art of Imagination - Science Fantasy, Horror and Fantasy Art in the 20th Century", edited by Frank Robinson and others from the United States). The author of this
Quite puzzling. Because this is confusing subject matter and style. Any subject matter, reality and surreality, past and present, can be processed into a horror style, or not. Horror and science fiction are
The relationship between "horizontal" and "vertical".
Whether a novel is scary or not depends on whether its main event is suspense. Suspense is different from suspense. Suspense is an unsolved mystery, while suspense is a plot that makes readers excited and fearful. It does not necessarily mean the unknown.
For example, the typical horror-style science fiction film "Alien" explains the background at the beginning: scientists received genetic information from alien radio waves and used it to cultivate an alien. This person escaped from the base and searched everywhere.
She has sex with men in order to produce offspring through mating. And after the men mate with her, she kills them. There is no suspense in this movie, only suspense: how alien aliens harm people. Can people in danger escape from her?
of killing.
As mentioned before, science fiction novels that developed from Gothic novels often have a horror color in their early works. "Frankenstein" and "Dr. Jekyll" are both typical horror science fiction novels. After the twentieth century, they
It has been adapted into many versions of horror science fiction films. Verne and Welles are not known for their horror style. But the former also created horror science fiction "The Castle of the Carpathians", the latter's "The Invisible Man", "Motorcycle"
"The Island of Dr. Cherno" also has obvious horror elements. In the fifth volume, the author will introduce American science fiction movies before the arrival of the "blockbuster" era. Due to substandard stunt techniques, early American science fiction films mostly chose horror themes to create suspense.
To attract the audience. The "neo-gothic science fiction" introduced in the previous chapter is almost all horror-style science fiction.
Speaking of horror science fiction, we have to mention a special example. Stephen King, known as the "horror novelist", has works with both fantasy and science fiction themes. His "The Man Mowing the Lawn" describes human consciousness.
How to be transformed into a virtual computer program, and later adapted into a science fiction film of the same name. His "Dead Zone" is also a typical science fiction novel. However, from what I have seen, this book was released in China with the words "horror novel" printed on the cover
The work is not horror at all in style, but a science fiction novel in the style of a drama.
[Art and science in science fiction]
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Nabukov, the famous Russian novelist, has an intriguing saying: "Science cannot be separated from fantasy, and art cannot be separated from reality." This may be the best portrayal of science fiction art.
Science in science fiction does not have any limitations. Astronomy, physics, biology, chemistry, mechanics, and electronics can all provide good themes. In addition to natural science, social science can also be used as material for science fiction.
In fact, the size of scientific possibilities must be kept moderate to ensure the appeal of science fiction. Too strict requirements for technological fantasy often limit the development of imagination, and if the scientific content of fantasy is too low, the original essence of science fiction is lost.
significance.
One of the "shortest science fiction novels in the world" that is widely circulated among science fiction enthusiasts goes like this: "The last man on earth was sitting in the room. At this time, there was a knock on the door." It can be said that this is more accurate than an accurate one.
A definition better sums up the nature of science fiction.
Science fiction provides people with a platform for fantasy and literary and cultural exchanges. It prepares people mentally for accepting certain supernatural phenomena - people who have read science fiction are more likely to accept or understand new phenomena or unknown things. Science Fiction
Therefore, it is one of the bridges between science and people because it has a forward-looking nature. And this forward-looking nature has an impact on the world - it focuses on the present and is higher than the present, predicts the future from the present, thinks about the ancient times, thinks about the future, and thinks about the past from the present.
The future of human beings, living things, even the earth, the solar system and even the entire universe! Its themes are both heavy and lively, with various forms, which undoubtedly stimulate people's curiosity since childhood. Its profound ideological and thinking nature is
The essence of human wisdom and the crystallization of thought.