ENG237H1 Chapter Notes -Utopia, Darko Suvin, Speculative Fiction
Document Summary
Science fiction is less a genre than an ongoing discussion. Sf can extract plot structures from many different genres. Sf is often centered on what was been termed the sense of wonder . This is the emotional heart of sf. In early sf, the tone was primarily descriptive. From the sense of wonder we get the grotesque (consideration of consequences) The what if? is called the novum (darko suvin) In sf the idea is the hero. This is what led to sf being called speculative fiction . Cognitive estrangement is the sense that something in the fictional world is dissonant with the reader"s experienced world. To be effective, sf must be subtle. Layering, embedding, and shorthand is crucial to sf. Sf is concerned with romance of the universe. Nothing could have lived up to four thousand years of waiting. Sf is a built genre; it is its history.
