ENG237H5 Lecture Notes - Scientific Romance, Protoscience, Oxymoron
Document Summary
Wells was refering to a particular genre when he refered to his books as "scientific romances: he meant a different kind of romance than we mean today. Speculative fiction is actually a big genre that includes sci-fi and horror even though heilein didn"t mean it to do that when he coined the term. Science fiction is a merging of 2 seemingly opposed terms that creates an oxymoron: part of the reason why science fiction can be defined so broadly and differently. The steady cultural ideological dominance of protestantism is crucial to creating the conditions that lead to science fiction. There is a distinction between the protestant view of the world that is tied to the radical world view and then he ties fantasy to catholicism. Praise for humans rather than this "magical" unexplainable thing. More about humans ability to mold the world and make it there own rather than succumbing to god"s will.
