Blackwell Reference Online

Extract

No popular genre of fiction has generated as much, and as diverse, critical commentary as science fiction (SF). Since it is in the nature of SF's oxymoronic fusion of the rational and the marvelous to challenge received notions of reality – sometimes seriously, sometimes playfully – critical provocation is part of SF's generic identity.The commentary this remarkably answerable genre has inspired ranges from academic literary criticism to pronouncements by authors and reviewers, electronic discussion threads, postmodern cultural theory, informed speculations on global evolution, and sectarian disputes among practicing Klingons. Its critical voices include highly specialized professionals and amateur aficionados – and it is characteristic of SF culture that the lines between them are porous. Its critical problems involve not only the speculations and dilemmas SF artists pose in their fictions, but also implicit questions about the relations between entertainment and critical thinking, play and pedagogy, the values of humanism and technoscientific culture. As one commentator has written, SF criticism “has been, by any measure, one of history's most extensive discussions about one particular branch of literature” (Westfahl 1999: 187).Because of this breadth and fluidity, it is hard to delimit the field of SF criticism. For convenience, I will distinguish three main streams: literary, ... log in or subscribe to read full text