Reader Question: Science Fiction Definition (and Other Rhyming Goodness)(Part Two)

Reading Time

(Read Part One)

The more I study and understand science fiction, the more I realize that the genre is simultaneously limitless and limited. While most consumers of popular fiction and films are quick to say “science fiction is spaceships and aliens,” I find such gross determinations to be overly simplistic and impossible to equate with a standard definition of the genre. Anyone familiar with science fiction would understand that spaceships and aliens are not universals of the genre. True, much of early science fiction literature and the vast majority of science fiction film have dealt quite exclusively with what are considered to be the “tropes” (and cliches) of the genre, but science fiction is, undoubtedly, about so much more.

In getting to the end of this post, I have to indicate that I probably have shifted my position from earlier discussions of what science fiction is. I still hold to certain idealistic perceptions of the genre, and while Darko Suvin, Samuel R. Delany, and even Istvan Csicsery-Ronay, Jr. have all used relatively isolated definitions of the genre, we must define science fiction by what it is universally; there cannot, in my opinion, be exceptions to the rule. What defines science fiction, to me, are these elements, placed together and never separate:

  • The presence of the future, whether it be tomorrow or a thousand years distant, or, at least a progression into the future within the narrative itself. The future is absolutely essential to any proper definition of science fiction. Some have argued with me, in the past, that this would inevitably create a paradoxical relationship with narratives dealing with the past, but I would argue that only those narratives which contain primary characters from a future point can be up for true consideration in the genre. Alternate history, thus, is not science fiction, but The Time Machine and Back to the Future are, up to this point.
  • A general reflection or speculation upon aspects of the technological or social, in their most broadest contexts. Science fiction contains the word “science” for a reason. It is not necessary, per se, for a science fiction narrative to get the science absolutely correct, but it is necessary for the narrative to speculate upon the possibilities of technologies, social structures, etc. Most any field of science is applicable to science fiction, and you could certainly write a science fiction narrative that questions issues of archaeology or paleontology, etc. It should be noted, too, that the science, whatever field it may be, does not necessarily have to be central to the story itself; hence why many science fiction stories may set themselves up in universes or worlds vastly different from our own, but yet are more concerned with issues of character or plot. Having said this, though, I want to be clear that a scientific approach (or cognitive estrangement, if you will) to envisioning science fiction is essential; you might not make a laser pistol a significant concern for the characters (such as by asking how the laser pistol has changed the face of the world), but it still must be there (and you can, of course, supplement the laser pistol for any scientific subject, so long as it is sufficiently estranged from the present to speak upon Suvin’s “cognitive estrangement” concept).
    Additional qualifiers for this subject include:
    • The acknowledgement of temporal placement of the narrative from the author’s perspective (i.e. when it was written). While the science should, for all intensive purposes, be correct, even theoretically, some leeway must be given to texts which precede current science. Hence why The Time Machine is still considered a work of science fiction despite new scientific research which has largely proven the subject of time travel, at least via H. G. Wells’ vision.
    • A general displacement of Clarke’s Third Law (i.e. that any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic). If it’s indistinguishable from magic, it is magic, and any discussion otherwise is fairly pointless.
  • A discussion, whether directly or otherwise, of the human condition. This is not to say that every science fiction narrative must be aware or obsessed with humanity, but such narratives must be aware of a human, or even inhuman, concern with the wider world/universe/etc.

Have laid out these complicated elements of true science fiction (presence of the future, speculations on science or technology, awareness or dealing with the human condition), it would seem that certain texts/films would have to be excluded from science fiction, including some of my personal favorites (Star Wars, for example, though Lucas certainly attempted to compensate for his fantastic approach to the genre by providing an ill-conceived scientific explanation for the Force). Exclusions are, perhaps, inevitable in any definition of science fiction. If we look at definitions of the genre by professionals within the literary field, we see that exclusion is impossible to avoid. I won’t remark on them here, because this post is long enough as it is, but you should certainly get to know the field as it is defined by professionals.

But, since this is in response to a question give to me by a reader, I should indicate that my definition/conception of science fiction is by far not the most readily accepted one. Typically, one looks to the genre for its cliches, and those happen to be spaceships, lasers, and other flashy things. Even serious science fiction uses these things, from time to time.

To close this discussion, I’ll leave you with a word of advice: don’t worry too much about what science fiction actually is. Because the genre is not so easily defined, by anyone, it doesn’t really matter whether you use elements that are not necessarily science fiction by my account or anyone else’s. Star Wars will probably always be known as science fiction, no matter how hard anyone tries to push it into the science fantasy category.

What are you thoughts on defining science fiction? Let me know in the comments.

————————————————-

If you have a question about science fiction, fantasy, writing, or anything related you’d like answered here, whether silly or serious, feel free to send it via email to arconna[at]yahoo[dot]com, tweet it via Twitter to @shaunduke, or leave it in the comments here. Questions are always welcome! If you liked this post, consider stumbling, digging, or linking to it!

Email
Facebook
Twitter
LinkedIn
Digg
Reddit
LinkedIn

2 Responses

  1. Wow, I strongly disagree. First of all, it seems strange to me to open your discussion by admitting that the boundaries of the genre are ill-defined, and then try to draw those boundaries in a very clean way. I respect your effort to try, but I think that any attempt to put such firm definitions in place is doomed to failure (hence, for instance, deciding that Star Wars is not science fiction).
    Offhand, I don't think I can come up with a counter-definition that's better than "I can't define it but I know it when I see it", but I think that a definition focused more on inclusion than exclusion is the way to go.
    I'd be curious to hear what your reaction to C.S. Friedman's "The Coldfire Trilogy" is: ostensibly, a human colony ship crash-landed on a planet many centuries ago. The planet manifests a force called the "fae" which responds to human emotions. Friedman writes in both genres, so she has a nod to theories of evolution, and does the "crash landed spaceship full of frozen colonists" bit in the same way that I'd expect to see it in a pulp sci-fi story, but the vast majority of the trilogy is about people in a vaguely medieval society coming to terms with the magic of the fae. Science Fiction?

  2. Star Wars contains magic. At best it is science fantasy, but it can never be science fiction precisely because the Force is nothing more than an element of the fantastic, and thus, the impossible.

    Science fiction is always about the possible. Once you toss in what cannot possibly occur, it ceases to be science fiction and turns into science fantasy.

    I've not read C.S. Friedman's Coldfire Trilogy, but if the "fae" is magical, more than simply bizarre, but scientifically probable, then it would be science fantasy as well.

Leave a Reply

Follow Me

Newsletter

Support Me

Recent Posts

A Reading List of Dystopian Fiction and Relevant Texts (Apropos of Nothing in Particular)

Why would someone make a list of important and interesting works of dystopian fiction? Or a suggested reading list of works that are relevant to those dystopian works? There is absolutely no reason other than raw interest. There’s nothing going on to compel this. There is nothing in particular one making such a list would hope you’d learn. The lists below are not an exhaustive list. There are bound to be texts I have forgotten or texts you think folks should read that are not listed. Feel free to make your own list and tell me about it OR leave a comment. I’ll add things I’ve missed! Anywhoodles. Here goes:

Read More »

Duke’s Best EDM Tracks of 2024

And so it came to pass that I finished up my annual Best of EDM [Insert Year Here] lists. I used to do these on Spotify before switching to Tidal, and I continued doing them on Tidal because I listen to an absurd amount of EDM and like keeping track of the tunes I love the most. Below, you will find a Tidal playlist that should be public. You can listen to the first 50 tracks right here, but the full playlist is available on Tidal proper (which has a free version just like Spotify does). For whatever reason, the embedded playlist breaks the page, and so I’ve opted to link to it here and at the bottom of this post. Embeds are weird. Or you can pull songs into your preferred listening app. It’s up to you. Some caveats before we begin:

Read More »

2025: The Year of Something

We’re nine days into 2025, and it’s already full of exhausting levels of controversy before we’ve even had a turnover in power in my home country of the United States. We’ve seen resignations of world leaders, wars continuing and getting worse and worse (you know where), the owner of Twitter continuing his tirade of lunacy and demonstrating why the billionaire class is not to be revered, California ablaze with a horrendous and large wildfire, right wing thinktanks developing plans to out and attack Wikipedia editors as any fascist-friendly organization would do, Meta rolling out and rolling back GenAI profiles on its platforms, and, just yesterday, the same Meta announcing sweeping changes to its moderation policies that, in a charitable reading, encourage hate-based harassment and abuse of vulnerable populations, promotion and support for disinformation, and other problems, all of which are so profound that people are talking about a mass exodus from the platform to…somewhere. It’s that last thing that brings me back to the blog today. Since the takeover at Twitter, social networks have been in a state of chaos. Platforms have risen and fallen — or only risen so much — and nothing I would call stability has formed. Years ago, I (and many others far more popular than me) remarked that we’ve ceded the territory of self-owned or small-scale third party spaces for massive third party platforms where we have minimal to no control or say and which can be stripped away in a tech-scale heartbeat. By putting all our ducks into a bin of unstable chaos, we’re also expending our time and energy on something that won’t last, requiring us to expend more time and energy finding alternatives, rebuilding communities, and then repeating the process again. In the present environment, that’s impossible to ignore.1 This is all rather reductive, but this post is not the place to talk about all the ways that social networks have impacted control over our own spaces and narratives. Another time, perhaps. I similarly don’t have space to talk about the fact that some of the platforms we currently have, however functional they may be, have placed many of us in a moral quagmire, as in the case of Meta’s recent moderation changes. Another time… ↩

Read More »