Le futur de la science fiction
Posté : ven. oct. 24, 2008 6:16 am
Le site SF Signal s'interroge sur l'avenir de la science fiction en tant que genre littéraire. Ils ont posé la question à plusieurs auteurs anglo-saxons.
Voici par exemple la réponse de Paul Di Filippo. toutes les autres réponses sont là
"Q: As non-genre readers become more comfortable with science fictional ideas, where do you see science fiction, in written form, going in the future?
Paul Di Filippo : I think this question really breaks down into two separate ones:
1) Is scientific literacy and awareness, which is such a vitally important matter in today's world, still something that SF can promote, as it once did in the prior era of dawning atomic weapons and space travel?
2) If so, then what form of SF is best suited to this mission?
I do not think that the other, lesser implicit question is what you are really intending to ask here. That question would be: is the general "mundane" non-fannish public open to hardcore SF? I think that debate was settled about thirty years ago, with the success of Star Wars. The average viewer and reader is utterly conversant with all but the most esoteric SF tropes--Boltzmann Brains might stump them--and is prepared to embrace the literature and cinema of the fantastic without hesitation.
But on the other hand, evolution-denying, climate-change-naysaying, astrology-believing and cosmology-ignoring citizens are as rampant as ever, if not more so. Reaching the most ignorant and stubborn masses of these types is probably not a job for ANY written literature, as the habits of reading are not in place. General education will have to go to work with them. But if we're talking about increasing the scientific literacy of a well-disposed and well-educated person, then the only really suitable format is Near-Future SF, the day-after-tomorrow stuff which is so hard to write well and accurately. (And in a recent blog post, Charles Stross of all people has declared it's impossible to write it under current conditions.) We have to depict rousing adventures occurring within the lifetimes of the reader or his/her children to drive home to relevancy of our themes and topics. Insofar as mimesis and naturalism pertain, then the virtues and toolkit of literary fiction will influence the SF writer as well, and shape the tale.
Space opera is essential good fun, as are all the other flavor of SF. But it's not going to drive home the message that awareness of science issues is essential for informed citizenship."
Voici par exemple la réponse de Paul Di Filippo. toutes les autres réponses sont là
"Q: As non-genre readers become more comfortable with science fictional ideas, where do you see science fiction, in written form, going in the future?
Paul Di Filippo : I think this question really breaks down into two separate ones:
1) Is scientific literacy and awareness, which is such a vitally important matter in today's world, still something that SF can promote, as it once did in the prior era of dawning atomic weapons and space travel?
2) If so, then what form of SF is best suited to this mission?
I do not think that the other, lesser implicit question is what you are really intending to ask here. That question would be: is the general "mundane" non-fannish public open to hardcore SF? I think that debate was settled about thirty years ago, with the success of Star Wars. The average viewer and reader is utterly conversant with all but the most esoteric SF tropes--Boltzmann Brains might stump them--and is prepared to embrace the literature and cinema of the fantastic without hesitation.
But on the other hand, evolution-denying, climate-change-naysaying, astrology-believing and cosmology-ignoring citizens are as rampant as ever, if not more so. Reaching the most ignorant and stubborn masses of these types is probably not a job for ANY written literature, as the habits of reading are not in place. General education will have to go to work with them. But if we're talking about increasing the scientific literacy of a well-disposed and well-educated person, then the only really suitable format is Near-Future SF, the day-after-tomorrow stuff which is so hard to write well and accurately. (And in a recent blog post, Charles Stross of all people has declared it's impossible to write it under current conditions.) We have to depict rousing adventures occurring within the lifetimes of the reader or his/her children to drive home to relevancy of our themes and topics. Insofar as mimesis and naturalism pertain, then the virtues and toolkit of literary fiction will influence the SF writer as well, and shape the tale.
Space opera is essential good fun, as are all the other flavor of SF. But it's not going to drive home the message that awareness of science issues is essential for informed citizenship."