Just bumped to number one on my reading list: http://press.princeton.edu/titles/9112.html. I hope to find an informed, intelligent articulation of some of my recent inklings about education, the liberal arts, and technology, and a lens to focus and expand my thinking about those issues.
I'll post my thoughts when I'm done, although it may not be any time soon.
Tuesday, October 26, 2010
Monday, October 11, 2010
The Theology of Speculative Fiction
Some of the most legendary writers of science-fiction have been thoughtful atheists (Asimov, Clarke), while some of the most important literary fantasists have been thoughtful believers (Tolkien, Lewis). Yet the genres of fantasy and science-fiction are often lumped together (appropriately so) and share millions of loving readers. (I'm one of them.) Both are literatures of the imagination, about things contrary to known fact; both fall into the broader category of "speculative fiction" (as opposed to "realistic fiction"). How then, does one make sense of this common theological split between them?
True, it's not a dichotomy: Philip Pullman is an atheist writer of fantasy, Orson Scott Card a Mormon writer of science fiction. Meanwhile, much science fiction, points out Adam Roberts in his The History of Science Fiction*, carries messianic themes (see Frank Herbert's Dune series, for instance).
But the theological split within the broad sci-fi/fantasy genre seems predominant enough to merit consideration. Much (not all) science fiction is about transcendence achieved through technology (Asimov comes to mind, especially--see his book I, Robot, or his short story "The Last Question"). Much (not all) fantasy is about transcendence achieved through mystery and things unseen. So then does a book like Herbert's Dune really belong more to fantasy than science fiction? Perhaps this is the true dividing line of the genres, which at their best and most successful are narratives of transcendence.
*Roberts further argues that science-fiction is primarily "Protestant" in spirit, while fantasy is primarily "Catholic." An interesting premise that views the genres somewhat differently than I have.
True, it's not a dichotomy: Philip Pullman is an atheist writer of fantasy, Orson Scott Card a Mormon writer of science fiction. Meanwhile, much science fiction, points out Adam Roberts in his The History of Science Fiction*, carries messianic themes (see Frank Herbert's Dune series, for instance).
But the theological split within the broad sci-fi/fantasy genre seems predominant enough to merit consideration. Much (not all) science fiction is about transcendence achieved through technology (Asimov comes to mind, especially--see his book I, Robot, or his short story "The Last Question"). Much (not all) fantasy is about transcendence achieved through mystery and things unseen. So then does a book like Herbert's Dune really belong more to fantasy than science fiction? Perhaps this is the true dividing line of the genres, which at their best and most successful are narratives of transcendence.
*Roberts further argues that science-fiction is primarily "Protestant" in spirit, while fantasy is primarily "Catholic." An interesting premise that views the genres somewhat differently than I have.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
