|
honestly i think some of the stuff better sci-fi has been dealing with for decades in terms of the implications of technology has as much if not more societal relevance as a book about someone growing up in the countryside in post-ww2 scotland or whatever, though the themes might be a bit less timeless than 'real' literature.
|
#
¿
Jul 17, 2017 11:11
|
|
|
|
| # ¿ May 22, 2024 15:00 |
|
|
Radio Spiricom posted:i'm not sure what's meant by "better sci-fi".... like soft/social sci-fi rather than ringworld nonsense? bradbury, pkd, ballard, gibson, etc? but i'm also not sure why youre choosing atonement or whatever your arbitrary hypothetical is supposed to signify when theres a very real "literature" analog in burroughs, pynchon, delillo, etc, and then at that point i'm not really sure what to tell you if you think that the sci-fi writers have more social relevance to the vicissitudes of post-war/post-industrial capitalism i mean that sci fi books, by their very nature, may have more to say about some issues which are (exclusively) distinctive of the present day, as well as new events and developments as they occur. of course they're probably not going to deal with things which are as timeless. yes, i mean things like neuromancer, and vinge's rainbow's end, and books about things like the ethics of ai and genetic engineering and the like. sci-fi can also be used as a device for other kinds of social commentary which deals with more enduring matters, but there's less about books of that kind (e.g. ursula le guin's stuff) that is characteristically sci-fi. anyway, i think that gives sci-fi a role to play in making meaningful contributions to literature, even if most sci-fi books do not do it very well and for provocation of thought you may be better on average sticking to more conventional literature. i realise this thread is about fantasy and other genre fiction as well; i guess from the foregoing it's obvious i view sci fi as having more of a niche, though there's no reason other genre books can't tell serious stories too, just that they'll have less that's exclusively theirs. i do read 'real' literature, though genre stuff probably makes up 60 or 70% of the fiction I read, i should add; i an simply suggesting some genre works can have a place with other serious work.
|
|
#
¿
Jul 21, 2017 11:35
|
|