Science Fiction

coining of the term is generally credited to the Ameri- 44 can editor Hugo Gernsback, who first used “scientifiction” to refer to stories built on extrapolations from Science Fiction credible scientific thought when he established the A. Waller Hastings first magazine dedicated to such writing, Amazing Sto- The term “science fiction” denotes a genre of imagina- ries, in 1926. The precise origin of the genre remains tive literature distinguished from realism by its specu- in dispute, with various scholars connecting works lation about things that cannot happen in the world of fantastic literature such as Mary Shelley’s Franken- as we know it, and from fantasy by abjuring the use of stein (1818) and Sir Thomas More’s Utopia (1516) to the magic or supernatural. In science fiction, all phenom- developing genre. However, most agree that the de- ena and events described are theoretically possible velopment of science fiction, both for adults and for under the laws of physics, even though they may not children, is primarily a phenomenon of the twentieth at present be achievable. Stated in this way, it would century, while acknowledging the significance of Jules appear that works belonging to the genre would be eas- Verne in France and H. G. Wells in England as proto– ily identifiable. However, critics of science fiction have science fiction writers. struggled to find an adequate definition almost since Although it has not usually been identified as such, the term was coined and applied to a certain kind of early science fiction, at least in the United States, was fiction, supplanting an earlier, even less satisfactory significantly a juvenile genre. Stories of amazing de- term, “scientific romance,” which had been applied to velopments in science and technology appeared in some nineteenth-century British works as well as to the magazines that appealed to adolescent boys in particu- novels of Jules Verne. As Paul Kincaid (2005) has said, lar. Fred Erisman (2000) notes that the first magazine “The critical test for any definition is that it includes given over entirely to science fiction was the August everything we believe should be included within the 1923 issue of Gernsback’s Science and Invention, a popu- term, and it excludes everything we believe should be lar journal otherwise concerned with factual science. omitted.” Identifying thirty-three earlier attempts to The Tom Swift adventure stories by “Victor Appleton,” pin down the genre, he notes that, “[s]trictly applied, one of many juvenile series published by the Strate- every single one of those definitions would admit to meyer Syndicate, began in 1910 and are generally iden- the genre works that we would prefer to exclude, or tified with science fiction, although Erisman and oth- would omit works we feel belong.” ers have noted that the Tom Swift books initially did Although the Oxford English Dictionary cites one not extend their extrapolation very far, confining the isolated reference to “Science-Fiction” from 1851, the inventions to such existing technology as motorcycles [ 202 ] Science Fiction A. Waller Hastings and motorboats; their focus was more on the adven- employs a different concept of “normal” than one ture than on the scientific prophecy. A large portion of finds in the everyday world, the story causes the reader the audience for Amazing Stories and its successors was to feel alienated or estranged. Some degree of estrange- adolescents, and important science fiction writers such ment is not unique to science fiction, however; both as Isaac Asimov and Ray Bradbury published their first myth and fantasy also present their audiences with stories while still in their teens. worlds that do not conform to ordinary normality. In Various definitions of science fiction have been science fiction, there is also an expectation that the al- advanced, ranging from extremely prescriptive argu- ternative world will conform to the reader’s cognitive ments that many of the best-known pop-culture exam- understanding of reality—things that are impossible in ples of the genre (e.g., Star Wars) are not, in fact, science the real world, given our understanding of the universe fiction at all, to Damon Knight’s somewhat flippant (e.g., magical persons or objects) are just as impossible and not very helpful, “Science fiction is whatever we in the science-fictional world. Paul Kincaid (2005) rec- point to when we say ‘this is science fiction’” (Malz- ognizes that the concept of cognitive estrangement is berg 2005) or Brian Aldiss’s flat statement: “There is no central to most academic criticism, but observes that such entity as science fiction. We have only the work it “is a prescriptive definition that works fine as long of many men and women which, for convenience, we as we are comfortable with what it prescribes, but can can group together under the label ‘science fiction’” lead to extraordinary convolutions as we try to show (Aldiss and Hargrove 2005). A number of critics of the that certain favored texts really do conform to the idea field have suggested that identification of a work as sci- of cognitive estrangement, and even more extraordi- ence fiction depends more on the reader than on any nary convolutions to reveal that familiar non-SF texts intrinsic quality of the writing. James Gunn (2005) don’t.” claims, “The kinds of questions we ask determine how Several of the common tropes seen in both juvenile we read” an imaginative narrative; only if answering and adult science fiction would seem to violate one or the question “How did we get there from here?” is a the other halves of the “cognitive estrangement” defi- significant element of the work’s appeal can it be truly nition. Faster-than-light (FTL) travel is generally un- science fiction. derstood to violate the physical laws governing mass Many academic critics turn to Darko Suvin’s for- and energy, and Albert Einstein showed that velocities mulation “cognitive estrangement” to distinguish sci- approaching light speed would cause time dilation— ence fiction from other fictional genres. Suvin (1972) yet FTL travel between stars with no time dilation has argues that science fiction takes a fictional hypothesis been a mainstay of science fiction almost from the be- and develops it to its logical end; because such a fiction ginning, especially in the genre of “space opera,” into [ 203 ] Science Fiction A. Waller Hastings which adventure stories like Star Wars fall. Many sci- cognitive estrangement to ask, “Is There Any Such ence fiction purists would argue that space opera is in Thing as Children’s Science Fiction?” Although her an- fact not science fiction at all, but a variation on tradi- swer is a heavily qualified “yes,” she concludes that few tional adventure story tropes. But even works that are works of juvenile science fiction meet the rigorous aca- unequivocally recognized as science fiction, such as demic standard she is applying, primarily because the Robert A. Heinlein’s juvenile novel Citizen of the Gal- circularity of much children’s fiction is fundamentally axy (1957), employ FTL space travel without explana- incompatible with the narrative arc required of science tion. More recently, science fiction writers have often fiction. As she argues, children’s fiction focuses on the presented interstellar travel in ways that conform to individual child, who moves out from home (or a posi- known physical laws, as in Orson Scott Card’s Ender’s tion of stability) only to return at the end of the novel. Game (1985), where the fleet of starships seeking out Calling science fiction a fiction of ideological rules, she the enemy planet takes many years to span the dis- says that it cannot be circular; it “does not accept that tance between stars, or have employed unproven hy- change can be undone, or the universe returned to its pothetical formulations such as “wormholes” that starting place,” although human beings do have the take advantage of the Einsteinian curvature of space- capacity to influence the nature of that change (291). time to create shortcuts between solar systems. Such If it is true that children’s fiction requires a return to methods of space travel were exploited in juvenile the status quo, while science fiction requires a perma- science fiction as early as 1955 in Heinlein’s Tunnel in nent change in the world as presented in the novel, it the Sky. does indeed appear that the two are incompatible. Sci- On the other hand, some science fiction presents ence fiction is mainly concerned with “the political, a world so close to our own as to cause little estrange- scientific, or social” ramifications of the work’s events ment. William Sleator’s young adult (YA) novel Test (292–93), with individual characters existing to dem- (2008) presents a society in which the emphasis on onstrate those ramifications, not to achieve some kind testing in schools has become more rigid than is cur- of personal growth or understanding, as is typical in rently the case in the United States, though not unlike fiction for young people. that of some other countries, and in which overpopu- Mendlesohn acknowledges within her essay the ob- lation and a reliance on the automobile has resulted jection of an early reader (Michael Levy) that she was in perpetual traffic jams—again, not terribly unlike the imposing a definition that a priori excluded coming- case at rush hour in many cities. of-age stories from “full science fiction,” but says that In an important and provocatively titled es- this is exactly her point: the two genres have mutually say, Farah Mendlesohn (2004) uses the concept of exclusive agendas. However, it might be argued that [ 204 ] Science Fiction A. Waller Hastings the path of children’s fiction is a spiral rather than a The question all adolescents ask—“Who am true circle; the child returns to a stable situation, but I?”—becomes quite complicated when one finds one that has been altered (either in external reality out that one is a clone, or otherwise genetically or in the child’s understanding), so that a permanent engineered. change has occurred. If this is the case, there is no nec- Self-definition, the quintessential task of adolescence, essary barrier between juvenile fiction and “true” sci- often becomes in YA science fiction the problem of de- ence fiction. The internal dialogue in her essay echoes fining what it is to be human in an alienating world. the conflict between Suvin’s strict concept of cogni- Thus, in Peter Dickinson’s Eva (1988), the title char- tive estrangement and Kincaid’s argument that such a acter finds her brain transplanted into the body of a prescriptive definition requires “extraordinary convo- chimpanzee and must decide whether to align herself lutions” to fit accepted science fiction texts within it. with humans or apes; in Mary Pearson’s The Adora- Levy suggests that the use of YA or children’s literature tion of Jenna Fox (2008), Jenna’s mind is first stored in conventions is a reasonable expectation in juvenile a computer and subsequently implanted into a largely science fiction, and asks for a clearer acknowledgment bionic body; in Nancy Farmer’s The House of the Scor- that the juvenile SF writer is not trying to write the pion (2002), Matt is cloned from the DNA of a drug same kind of book as Mendlesohn wants him to. One lord; and in Monica Hughes’s The Keeper of the Isis Light might go further and suggest that science fiction, like (1980), Olwen’s body has been medically transformed other genres, must undergo a necessary transformation to fit her to life in a hostile environment. In all of these in its manifestation as children’s literature, such that novels, the “if . . . then” extrapolation that Mendle- “children’s science fiction” and “adult science fiction’ sohn argues should follow the initial “What if?” ques- may, in fact, constitute two related but distinct genres tion of the science fiction novel has been melded with of equal validity. the “Who am I?” question of YA fiction. Ellen Ostry (2004), exploring specific YA science This melding results from the differentiation of fiction texts that extrapolate developments in biotech- adult and juvenile science fiction during the post– nology and computer science, approaches the issue World War II era. There was little need for such differ- of estrangement in a different way from Mendlesohn, entiation in the genre’s early days—indeed, as Mendle- integrating the concept into the norms of YA fiction sohn comments, many early “invention stories” are generally: not unlike the less satisfactory juvenile science fic- The young adults in these books feel estranged tion of today. Other than the Tom Swift books, little not just from their parents and from the society or no science fiction was being written specifically for that would likely shun them, but from themselves. younger readers. By the late 1940s, however, as adult [ 205 ] Science Fiction A. Waller Hastings science fiction began to take on its modern shape un- to an alien environment and solve scientific or techno- der the influence of the editor John W. Campbell and logical problems in order to survive. his stable of writers at Astounding Stories, a separation While Heinlein and Card seem to confirm the possi- based on reader age began to appear necessary. Hein- bility that Mendlesohn’s question can be answered af- lein’s Rocket Ship Galileo (1947), about three teenage firmatively, the fact remains that young adult science boys who travel to the moon, was the first in a series fiction—whether defined as rigorously as Mendlesohn of highly successful juvenile books, published in hard- would have it or more liberally—is comparatively rare cover, that provided an alternative to the pulp maga- in the early twenty-first century. Susan Fichtelberg zines as an entry point for young science fiction read- (2007) observes that only about 12 percent of all YA ers. Other writers, including Isaac Asimov and Andre speculative fiction (a term she uses to include true fan- Norton, joined Heinlein in writing for the youth mar- tasy, horror, and science fantasy as well as science fic- ket through the 1950s. tion) currently being published falls under the rubric Today, the science fiction world of children and of science fiction, and she includes a relatively large teens has separated significantly from that of adults, proportion of adult titles in her YA bibliography. She with few writers crossing between audiences as Hein- speculates that most avid readers of the genre discover lein and Asimov did fifty years ago. One author who it around the age of twelve and quickly begin reading does write for both audiences, Orson Scott Card, ar- science fiction intended for adults. rived at the position almost by accident, when Ender’s Whether one follows the strict definition of cog- Game (1985), originally published as an adult book, nitive estrangement that Suvin outlines, or adopts found a wide audience among adolescent readers. a more fluid conception, “science fiction” for even Ender’s Game recounts the story of a boy taken from younger readers continues to be problematic. The his family at an early age and trained to lead a human Wonderful Flight to the Mushroom Planet (1954), by the space fleet against an alien civilization. Despite the children’s author Eleanor Cameron, was an early ex- novel’s success with teenagers, its sequels did not fare ample of the difficulty. The boys create a spaceship as well with that audience, most likely because they from scrap materials and use a mysterious fuel given dealt with the adult lives of Ender and other charac- them by the enigmatic Mr. Bass to fly to a hitherto un- ters. The fate of Ender’s Game, however, suggests a ba- known planet orbiting the earth just one-fifth of the sic pattern for young adult science fiction not unlike distance to the moon; they complete the entire round that seen in Heinlein’s earlier juvenile novels: a young trip within a few hours. There is little attempt to pro- person, generally with above-average intelligence, is vide scientific explanations for details that are implau- placed into a situation in which he or she must adapt sible at face value; instead, the trappings of the science [ 206 ] fiction novel are used to frame a rather conventional story of adventure and active imagination. Similarly, there is nothing intrinsically speculative in the robot of Dav Pilkey’s Ricky Ricotta’s Mighty Robot (2000); it is simply a large, avenging friend who helps the epony- 45 Story Hugh Crago mous mouse deal with bullies (along with a stereo- Historically, “story” is probably one of the most fre- typical mad scientist), filling a role that could as easily quently employed words in relation to children’s lit- be given to the golem of Jewish folklore, a djinn, or a erature. Yet despite its constant use by reviewers and benign giant. Likewise, the alien of Jon Scieszka and critics over much of the history of fiction written spe- Lane Smith’s Baloney (Henry P.) (2001) goes to school cifically for young people, it has rarely been defined or in a spaceship, but is otherwise indistinguishable from analyzed. In its apparent simplicity, taken-for-granted- any human child creating an excuse for being late to ness, and resistance to deconstruction, the term estab- school. The difficulty in creating believable science fic- lishes itself as something unquestioned, like the nature tion for the very young lies in the readers’ inadequate of “childhood” or “the child” itself. “Story” is missing knowledge of the world, which arguably does not per- from the index of numerous works where one might mit them to distinguish adequately between fantasy reasonably expect to find it—such as Katherine Nel- and more plausible scientifically informed extrapola- son’s Narratives from the Crib (1989), a psycholinguistic tions. For the youngest readers, then, “science fiction” study of the spontaneous (and sometimes story-like) appears to be used primarily as a trope to give a veneer compositions of a preschool child, or Peter Hollindale’s of the unusual to everyday activities. As Mendlesohn Signs of Childness in Children’s Books (1997). If, as Jac- suggests, we might label such works “analogic books” queline Rose (1984) has argued, “children’s literature” (295). But are they science fiction? is itself a problematic category, terms like “story” may be an integral part of it. Perhaps significantly, “story” does not appear in Rose’s index either. “A Story for Children” runs the subtitle of C. S. Lewis’s The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (1950), its wording comfortably placing the book in a line of descent from a century, at least, of other “stories for children.” (Nobody to my knowledge has ever subtitled an adult novel “A Story for Adults,” although some have come close: Lewis himself did come up with “A [ 207 ]