What is the difference in emphasis between the terms science fiction and speculative fiction? Which is The Man in the High Castle?
Science fiction is a genre that deals with worlds created by the author. The story is set in fictionalized (more often than not, futuristic) settings, where technology, language, race (alien/human) etc can all be entirely made up, thus creating a storyline that doesn't have to 'answer' or make-sense with the world we live in. A prime example of this would be the Ridley Scott classic Blade Runner (1982). Blade Runner is set in 2019 Los Angeles, where organic robots and flying cars are entirely possible.
Speculative fiction is a term used to described more philosophical, 'what if?' type scenarios. Speculative fiction often contains social commentary as an underlying feature of the narrative, such is the case with The Man in the High Castle.
Speculative fiction can also be used as an umbrella term to refer to several genres such as science fiction, fantasy, horror, and post-apoplectic fiction, as all of these genres are speculative to some point (What if vampires existed? What if we lived on Mars? What if magic was real? etc).
A good example of science fiction meeting speculative fiction is the Star Wars series. The films are of course set in an fictionalized, technologically advanced world, full of aliens, space travel/wars, and mystical-type powers known as The Force. But it could also be argued that Star Wars represents a 'What If?' type scenario, because of the films heavy influence, and mimicking of World War II and Nazi Germany (eg. Stormtroopers, Emperor Palpatine/Hitler parallels).
Stars Wars could be seen as "What if Nazi Germany won WWII?", though in a futuristic setting. Star Wars also contains many spiritual and philosophical aspects such as The Force.
The Man in High Castle would be classed as speculative fiction. The book is set in a world where Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan won WWII, and contains social, and philosophical, commentary through the I Ching, and The Grasshopper Lies Heavy. Further more, The Grasshopper Lies Heavy, a story-within-a-story, creates yet another speculative world, this time of an alternative version of our current world, in which the Allies and America won the second world war.
I think it's a good point that speculative fiction can span across several genres.
ReplyDeleteIt almost seems that speculative fiction is almost all fiction? Since fiction is made up - therefore a what if
You make a good point about "all" fiction being considered "what if" scenarios. I mean most of us would say "Star Wars" (like I did on my own post) as only Science Fiction but not Speculative Fiction. Although on the flipside of that, maybe there is a world out there full of lightsabers and other creatures that look similar to that of George Lucas' vision. One could say that a world exists that may look like Middle Earth too? Good point you came up with Che.
DeleteHaha, all I imagined when I was reading that each time someone wrote a story, a new planet would form where things were like that story x) And then we could planet hop.
DeleteSorry that has next to nothing to do with anything haha. It was just a fun thought.
I agree with you, Che, on speculative fiction being "all" fiction (or almost all). Most fiction can be related to real-life, even if a lot of it is in fancy dress, so to speak.
DeleteHey Che, don't appologiese for a fun thought! Many an SF story is a result of some fun thought. I agree that the 'what if...' scenario could desribe all kinds of fiction and is not much help in distinguishing between genres.
ReplyDeleteIsaac - have a look at the comment I made to Che's post re spec. fict.