Using Science Fiction to Teach Point of View

Extrapolation ◽  
2005 ◽  
Vol 46 (2) ◽  
pp. 259-267
Author(s):  
Barbara Bengels
Keyword(s):  
Science Fiction ◽  
Point Of View

The Special Demands of Point of View in Science Fiction

Extrapolation ◽  
1976 ◽  
Vol 17 (2) ◽  
pp. 153-159
Author(s):  
Harry P. Kroitor
Keyword(s):  
Science Fiction ◽  
Point Of View

I Will Tell You My History: Rewriting to Revolt in the Process of al-Tārīkh al-badīl (Allohistory)

2021 ◽  
Vol 52 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 351-371
Author(s):  
Ada Barbaro
Keyword(s):  
Science Fiction ◽  
Historical Novel ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Arabic Literature ◽  
Historical Narratives ◽  
Literary Genre ◽  
Fictional Story

Abstract In an epoch of revival of the historical novel, Arabic literature tries to provide its own response to the construction of al-tārīkh al-badīl, namely “alternative history” or, also, allohistory which, as a literary genre, was originally a branch of science fiction. By proposing the idea of a counter-narration, the search for historical alternatives becomes a matter of great importance and responsibility. What happens if the writer tries to construct an alternative point of view, a counter-narration in which “History” is transformed into an almost fictional story? Far from an act of betrayal, this can be interpreted as a restoration of iltizām whenever the narrative potential, or the “if” contained within the narrative, comes true. This article aims to present works where the authors wonder: “What would have happened if…?” This question opens space for literary alternatives to mainstream or official historical narratives.

“Chrysalis”: Bradbury and Henry Kuttner

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jonathan R. Eller
Keyword(s):  
Science Fiction ◽  
Military Service ◽  
Close Friend ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Ray Bradbury

This chapter examines how Henry Kuttner influenced Ray Bradbury as a writer. In terms of his overall development as a writer, Bradbury received his most intense mentoring from Kuttner. Although Bradbury correctly sensed that Kuttner believed in his potential and respected his enthusiasm, he never felt that Kuttner wanted to be a close friend. But Kuttner's surviving letters, written after he entered military service in early 1942, proved otherwise: they project a genuine friendship as well as growing professional respect. These letters document the first major opportunity for Bradbury as a science fiction author. This chapter considers Kuttner's role as mentor to Bradbury during his clash with Astounding editor John Campbell over Bradbury's story “Chrysalis” regarding length and narrative point of view.

Benford in His Own Words

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
George Slusser
Keyword(s):  
Science Fiction ◽  
Natural Philosophy ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
University Of California ◽  
Two Cultures ◽  
Rhetorical Devices ◽  
Cultural Phenomenon ◽  
The Two Cultures

This chapter considers the series of essays Gregory Benford wrote for University of California Riverside's Eaton Conference from 1979 to 2009. It explores Benford's personal vision by connecting the various threads of his essays, including his analysis of J. G. Ballard's term of “experience” from the point of view of the “intuitionist” school of natural philosophy; the process of alien ingestion; the narrative and rhetorical devices needed to achieve what he calls that “falsely quiet” moment when the practicing scientist senses the possibility of alien encounter; the role of aliens in science fiction; his use of the cyberpunk phenomenon to denounce what he sees as the disturbing rise of fantasy as a cultural phenomenon; and the two-cultures gap in science fiction.

scholarly journals Figuring the male and female: fire and water in Bradbury's (science) fiction

Lege Artis ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 4-74 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yuliya Davydyuk ◽  
Nataliya Panasenko
Keyword(s):  
Science Fiction ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Male And Female ◽  
Basic Characteristics

Abstract The article highlights the results of the investigation of the literary FIRE and WATER concepts and their basic characteristics from a cognitive point of view. The research of the literary FIRE and WATER concepts was carried out in three steps - revealing their notional, image- and sense-bearing components. The results show that the FIRE concept is mostly personified into the image of A MAN, while the WATER concept is mostly personified into the image of А WOMAN.

scholarly journals A Río Fugitivo de Edmundo Paz Soldán: uma cidade distópica? / The Río Fugitivo of Edmundo Paz Soldán: A Dystopian City?

2020 ◽  
Vol 25 (1) ◽  
pp. 135
Author(s):  
Graciela Ravetti ◽  
Eulálio Marques Borges
Keyword(s):  
Science Fiction ◽  
Federal Government ◽  
Latin American ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Urban Centre ◽  
Contemporary Science

Resumo: Este é um estudo sobre dois romances do escritor boliviano Edmundo Paz Soldán, Sueños Digitales (2000) e El delirio de Turing (2005 [2003]), destacando os tópicos da (1) urbe dividida entre um centro urbano caótico e uma periferia escura e (2) um governo federal com ares totalitários, aspectos pouco abordados até então pela crítica literária especializada. Objetivamos mostrar como a fictícia cidade de Río Fugitivo, onde transcorrem as histórias de Sueños Digitales e El delirio de Turing, funciona como uma espécie de microcosmo dos centros urbanos latino-americanos que conhecemos ao incorporar, parcialmente, em sua construção e em sua dimensão, características pertencentes a um subgênero da ficção científica contemporânea conhecido como cyberpunk. De acordo com nossa perspectiva, não se trataria de obras de ficção científica, mas sim com ficção científica, – gênero pelo qual o autor sempre demonstrou interesse.Palavras-chave: ficção científica; cyberpunk; distopia; Río Fugitivo; Paz Soldán.Abstract: This is a study of two novels by Bolivian writer Edmundo Paz Soldán, Sueños Digitales (2000) and El delirio de Turing (2005 [2003]), underlining the topics of (1) a city divided between a chaotic urban centre and a dark suburb and (2) a federal government leaning towards totalitarianism, elements that are yet to be widely explored by literary critics. The aim is to point out how the fictional city of Río Fugitivo, where the narratives of Sueños Digitales and El delirio de Turing are set, plays the role of a microcosm of the Latin American centres we know by partially incorporating, in the construction and dimension of the novels, characteristics that belong to the subgenre of contemporary science fiction known as cyberpunk. From this point of view, the books studied here would not be considered science fiction works but works containing the genre, which has always interested Soldán.Keywords: science fiction; Cyberpunk; dystopia; Río Fugitivo; Paz Soldán.

scholarly journals Critical Future Studies - A thematic Introduction

2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 151-162 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Godhe ◽  
Luke Goode
Keyword(s):  
Science Fiction ◽  
Special Section ◽  
Historical Context ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Future Studies ◽  
The Future ◽  
Green Capitalism ◽  
Cultural Texts ◽  
Further Development ◽  
Opening Up

Our 2017 essay “Beyond Capitalist Realism – Why We Need Critical Future Studies” (Goode & Godhe 2017), published in this journal, was intended as both a provocation and an invitation to scholars concerned with the ways in which cultural texts not only represent the future, but also actively shape it by opening up or closing down imaginative possibilities. The essays collected in this special section are both responses to our invitation and provocations in their own right. From our point of view, they each take Critical Future Studies forward and collectively augur well for the further development of this field. This introductory essay contains three sections. First, we briefly situate Critical Future Studies within an intellectual and historical context. In the following section we discuss some relevant scholarship published very recently in cognate fields (specifically Anticipation Studies and Sociology) and which are pertinent to Critical Future Studies as a developing field of study. In the final section, we introduce the articles contained in this this special section: six diverse contributions on topics including green capitalism, artificial intelligence and automation, science fiction, post-scarcity societies and the future of work, and socialist futures.

scholarly journals Generic Fluency in Professional Subtitling:

2021 ◽  
Vol 4 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Suvi Korpi
Keyword(s):  
Science Fiction ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Common Language ◽  
Source Text ◽  
Translation Process ◽  
Study Material ◽  
Text Genre ◽  
Contemporary Film ◽  
The Voice

This article evaluates the translation of neologies in professional subtitling of audiovisual science fiction from the point of view of genre-specific features. Neologies are seen to be the most important linguistic element of science fiction as they produce the science fiction genre-specific cognitive estrangement and hence cognitively estrange the viewer from reality. Evaluating the translation of neologies is thus used as a tool to evaluate the transfer of the source text genre to the target text and to hypothesise whether the target text meets the expectations of the viewers. When the neologies are retained as genre-specific features of science fiction, the target text genre is seen to be generically fluent and the target text meets the viewer’s expectations. Even though the translation solutions which render the genre unfluent (misplace the science fiction cognitive estrangement produced by the source text) are in minority in the study material, the neologies can be seen to normalise towards common language in the translation process. This means that as neologies are considered as one of the producers of the science fiction genre-specific cognitive estrangement, the source text genre becomes less accessible for the target text viewer. Lay summary Science fiction is one of the most popular contemporary film and tv-series genres. The audience has expectations on the content of a science fiction film or tv-series based on their previous experiences with the genre, in other words, the genre-specific features. This article evaluates the translation of neologies in professional subtitling of audiovisual science fiction from the point of view of these genre-specific features. Neologies are seen to be the voice of science fiction as they cognitively estrange the viewer from reality. Evaluating the translation of neologies is used as a tool to evaluate the transfer of the source text (the original tv-series) genre to the target text (the subtitled tv-series) and to hypothesise whether the translation meets the expectations of the viewers. When the dialogue’s neologies are retained in the subtitles, the target text is seen to meet the viewer’s expectations. The study revealed that the neologies can be seen to normalise towards common language in the translation process. This means that as neologies are considered as one of the producers of the science fiction genre-specific cognitive estrangement, the source text genre becomes less accessible for the target text viewer.

scholarly journals The image of a person of another nationality in the fantastic works of Oleg Divov

2020 ◽  
pp. 167-175
Author(s):  
Maria N. Krylova
Keyword(s):  
Science Fiction ◽  
Political Correctness ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
The Other ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Russian Science ◽  
Modern Culture ◽  
Ethnic Affiliation ◽  
National Differences ◽  
Original Concept

The article is devoted to the analysis of the image of a person of a different nationality, who is created in his works by the modern Russian science fiction writer Oleg Divov. Based on the analysis of the author’s three novels, “The Best Solar Crew,” “Technical Support” and “Elephants’ Homeland,” his original attitude to the problem of the national and ethnic affiliation of a person is revealed. The aim of the study was to analyze the image of a person of a different nationality in the books of O.I. Divov and to represent a person of a different nationality in the context of the image of the “Other”. The tasks were set to identify the author’s treatment of the image of a person of a different nationality, to detect interpretations of this image in various works. The scientific novelty of the study was provided both by the novelty of the text material introduced into the scientific circulation, and by the approach to the problem of the image of the “Other” in modern literature from the point of view of the optionality of observing the principles of tolerance and political correctness, more precisely, new ways of observing these principles. In the reviewed works of the writer, heroes of different nationalities appear, and the national differences between them are not hidden, but, on the contrary, stand out in relief, are brought to the fore. Representatives of each of the nationalities (Russians, Jews, Germans, Americans, French, Chukchi, and others) are portrayed as people with undeniable merits, and at the same time – ironically, with humor. The writer does not demonstrate any stable national preferences: in the novel “The Best Solar Crew”, Russians are glorified first of all, and in the novel “The Land of Elephants” – the Chukchi. Despite ridicule, reflecting the stereotypical perception of a particular nation, the description of none of them becomes nationalistic. The author creates an original concept of perception of heroes of a different nationality, opposing the popular in modern culture of tolerance, showing the importance of national differences and the uselessness of silencing them.

scholarly journals Anthropological Studies of Popular Culture

2010 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 17-39
Author(s):  
Bojan Žikić
Keyword(s):  
Popular Culture ◽  
Cultural Identity ◽  
Science Fiction ◽  
Contemporary Art ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Cultural Communication ◽  
Research Issues ◽  
Absolute Certainty ◽  
Art Forms ◽  
The Subject

One of the questions raised at the symposium "Our World, Other Worlds. Anthropology, Science Fiction and Cultural Identity", held in Belgrade in December 2009, is how anthropology is to study contemporary art forms: how research issues are to be defined and approached; how research is to be organized in a specific semantic area, which cannot always and with absolute certainty be said not to be an anthropological construction; whether the subject of research can be said to have the shared nature of cultural communication; whether the anthropologist is to interpret the author/artist’s intention, or that which is produced as a result of that intention, etc. The aim of this paper is to suggest some answers to these questions, from the point of view of a researcher focused on cultural communication.

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