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What is science fiction? To begin with, the following definition should be helpful: science fiction is a literary sub-class which requires a change (for human beings) from conditions as we know them and follow the implications of these changes to a conclusion. Although this definition will necessarily be modified, and expanded, and probably changed, in the course of this exploration, it conveys much of the basic groundwork and provides a point of departure.
The first point—that science fiction is a literary sub-class—is a very important one, but one which is often overlooked or ignored in most discussions of science fiction. Specially, science fiction is a sub-class of prose fiction, for nearly every piece of science fiction is either a short story or a novel. There are only a few dramas which could be called science fiction, with Karel Capek’s RUR (Rossum’s Universal Robots) being the only one that is well known; the body of poetry that might be labeled science fiction is only slightly larger. To say that science fiction is a sub-class of prose fiction is to say that it has all the basic characteristics and serves the same basic function in much the same way as prose fiction in general—that is, it shares a great deal with all other novels and short stories.
Everything that can be said about prose fiction, in general, applies to science fiction. Every piece of science fiction, whether short or novel, must have a narrator, a story, a plot, a setting, characters, language, and theme. And like any prose, the themes of science fiction are concerned with interpreting man’s nature and experience in relation to the world around him. Themes in science fiction are constructed and presented in exactly the same ways that themes are dealt with in any other kind of fiction. They are the result of a particular combination of narrator, story, plot, character, setting, and language. In short, the reasons for reading and enjoying science fiction, and the ways of studying and analyzing it are basically the same they would be for any other story or novel.
1. Science fiction is called a literary sub-class because it ______.
A) has limits of its own
B) cannot be made into a dramatic presentation
C) is not important enough to be a literary form
D) shares characteristics with other types of prose fiction
2. Which of the following does NOT usually contribute to the theme in a piece of science fiction?
A) Narrator. B) Setting. C) Rhyme. D) Plot.
3. An appropriate title for the passage would be ______.
A) On the Dramatic Features of Science Fiction
B) Toward a Definition of Science Fiction
C) Science Fiction vs Prose Fiction
D) The Themes of Prose Fiction
4. The author’s definition suggests that all science fiction deals with ______.
A) the unfamiliar or unusual conditions
B) the same topics addressed by novels and short stories
C) Karel Cape’s well-known hypothesis
D) the conflict between science and fiction
5. According to the passage, which of the following conclusions is true?
A) Science fiction attracts us in much the same way a story or novel does.
B) It is not possible to define science fiction in a clear way.
C) Many people tried in vain to explain what science fiction is.
D) Very often science fiction appears in such literary forms as drama and poetry.
