| The Nature of Genre |
A genre (from the French for "type") is a category of literature.
Genre can indicate
the form of the literature (e.g., epic, novel, short story, poem, play)
or the subject matter and approach to literature (e.g., tragedy, comedy,
romance).
Within a genre can
be many subgenres. For example, the genre of fiction can include historical
fiction, romance, westerns, thrillers, mysteries, etc. |
|
| Science Fiction and Fantasy |
| A
Handbook to Literature defines science fiction as: "A form of fantasy in which scientific
facts, assumptions, or hypotheses form the basis, by logical extrapolation,
of adventures in the future, on other planets, in other dimensions in time,
or under new variants of scientific law" (Harman and Holman). |
| The
same Handbook defines fantasy
as "a work which takes place in a nonexistent and unreal world, such
as fairyland, or concerns incredible and unreal characters. . . or employs
physical and scientific principles not yet discovered or contrary to present
experience as in science fiction and utopian fiction" (Holman). |
| In Trillion Year Spree, Brian Aldiss
explains that "[i]n its wider sense, fantasy clearly embraces all science
fiction. But fantasy in a narrower sense, as opposed to science fiction,
generally implies a fiction leaning more towards myth or the mythopoetic
than towards an assumed realism" (26). |
| Miriam
Allen deFord explains the difference more succinctly: "'Science fiction
deals with improbable possibilities, fantasy with plausible impossibilities"
(Aldiss 26). |
|
| The Essential Difference |
| Fantasy is a conscious breaking free from reality; it applies to a work which takes
place in a non-existent and unreal world, a world that is imaginary but
not possible. |
| Science
fiction relies on extrapolation,
the process of imagining relatively probable worlds of the future by utilizing
logical extensions of scientific and cultural curves and trends. |
Tappan King differentiates between science fiction and fantasy by defining science fiction as "A form of fiction which renders conditions contrary to fact plausible through an atmosphere of scientific credibility."
King's companion definition of fantasy is "A form of fiction that assumes the existence of conditions contrary to fact; usually magic or supernatural forces" (21) |
It
is a common science fiction convention that authors should not contradict known scientific fact (e.g., the boiling
point of water at sea level on Earth), but may do what they wish with
commonly-accepted scientific theory (e.g., theoretical barriers to moving
matter faster than the speed of light).
The author of fantasy
does not feel such restraints. |
|
| Blurring Categories |
| Lester del Rey in The World of Science Fiction declares that in some ways the categories of fantasy and science fiction are gradually merging. He offers the following definition of science fiction that includes fantasy: "Science fiction accepts change as the major basis for stories" (9). |
|
| References |
| Aldiss, Brian. Trillion Year Spree: The History of Science Fiction. New York: Avon, 1986. |
| del Rey, Lester. The World of Science Fiction: 1926-1976: The History of a Subculture. New York: Ballantine, 1979. |
| Harmon, William, and C. Hugh Holman. A Handbook to Literature. 7th ed. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1996. |
| King, Tappan. "The State of the Art: Reflections on Science Fiction and Fantasy Today." Locus. 19.6 (#305; June 1986): 21, 43. |
