Science fiction
One of the types fiction, telling about the imaginary past or future of mankind (or the inhabitants of other planets), paying special attention to technical achievements, scientific discoveries, opportunities that are deprived modern man. The conflicts associated with these new possibilities, their uncontrolled use is often the content of science fiction. Science fiction does not include works fantasy where fantasy is based on fairy-tale motifs- the participation of monsters, fictional creatures etc. (however, there are works that combine fairy-tale and sci-fi motifs - for example, “Monday begins on Saturday” and “The Tale of the Troika” by A.N. and B.N. Strugatsky), also do not belong to science fiction (or only partly belong to) social fiction utopias(e.g., "We" E.I. Zamyatin, "1984" J. Orwell). The main feature of science fiction in comparison with other areas of science fiction is rationality; when depicting fictional life, it uses scientific, rather than mystical explanations for various kinds of miracles: the invention by scientists of spaceships, devices for transmitting thoughts at a distance, etc.; Another motif very often used in science fiction is the visitation of the Earth by aliens. Incredible things happen in various works of science fiction, often much more incredible than miracles. fairy tales, but at the same time they are considered the achievement of the mind - either terrestrial or extraterrestrial. Science fiction is actually based on a picture of the world, configured atheistically, believing in the achievements of human science, so its heyday occurs in the 20th century.
Illustration for the novel by A. R. Belyaev "Professor Dowell's Head". Artist B. Kosulnikov. 1990s
At the origins of Russian science fiction stood v. v. Mayakovsky, who depicted in the play "The Bedbug" the resurrection of a person in the distant future, when it becomes possible to resurrect the dead; M.A. Bulgakov, who showed in the story "Fatal Eggs" the discovery of the "ray of life" and the catastrophe, which led to too hasty attention of the authorities to him and careless handling of him. In classical Russian 19th century literature writers paid little attention to science fiction (in part, it can be attributed to the unfinished novel by V.F. Odoevsky“Year 4338” and the utopian “Fourth Dream of Vera Pavlovna” from the novel by N. G. Chernyshevsky"What to do?"). The Rise of Science Fiction in Russian. literature falls on the 20th century, when the works of A. S. Green(“The Shining World”), A.N. Tolstoy("Aelita", "Hyperboloid engineer Garin"), V. A. Obruchev("Plutonia", "Sannikov Land"), A. R. Belyaeva("Amphibian Man", "Professor Dowell's Head"), I. A. Efremova(“The Andromeda Nebula”), A. N. and B. N. Strugatsky (“It’s Hard to Be a God”, “Roadside Picnic”), A. P. Kazantseva("Planet of Storms", "Moon Road"), K. Bulychev("The Secret of the Third Planet"), etc.
The beginning of foreign science fiction is associated with utopias written in the era Renaissance(T. Campanella, T. More). Then in the 19th century science fiction works appear in the work of many writers - E. By, M. Shelley, M. Twain, A. K. Doyle, especially in the novels of J. Verna and G. wells. In the 20th century achievements in the genre of science fiction belong to R. bradbury("Fahrenheit 451", the collection "The Martian Chronicles"), S. Lemu("Solaris"), etc.
Many works of science fiction are classified as children's literature because of their entertainment - they depict a life that is unlike modern, filled with all sorts of technical innovations, which the characters perceive as something completely ordinary. However, most works of this type of fiction attempt to answer the serious questions. The task of science fiction is to “prepare” a person for the future, to show what problems he will face and what he will be responsible for. One of the main questions: what will humanity be like when it gets more opportunities than it does now? What can change first of all in moral, spiritual terms? This is discussed, for example, by R. Bradbury (the story "Veld", where the children's room, guessing desires, eventually leads to the death of parents; the story "Crime without Punishment", where a virtual murder turns into a real one, etc.). Science fiction is trying to find an answer to another question that has long troubled humanity: are we alone in the universe? One of the most frequent plots is a collision with alien civilizations, their perception of people or their people. Such a conflict allows us to show the different qualities of people against the background of representatives of other civilizations. In some cases, earthlings turn out to be more moral, understanding, tactful and incapable of violence (for example, in the story of A. N. and B. N. Strugatsky "It's hard to be a god"), in others, aliens turn out to be more "human" than people ("Concrete Mixer" R. Bradbury). A moral test by a meeting with aliens, changes in a person himself are also the subject of many works of science fiction, for example, the story of A. N. and B. N. Strugatsky “Roadside Picnic” is devoted to this. Outer side plot - "visiting" the Earth by aliens and all sorts of mechanisms and devices unknown to earthlings left by them. The main conflict unfolds around the possession of these things, their speculation, the manifestation of the moral qualities of a person. ABOUT philosophical problem Man's responsibility for his cosmic deeds is also mentioned in S. Lem's novels.
Science fiction is at the junction of different areas of literature: on the one hand, the psychological reliability of characters and conflicts makes it related to science fiction. realism; interest in exceptional situations and events combines with romanticism; it is also easy to find elements of a fairy tale in it, adventure literature– incredible situations, dynamic, eventful plot, etc.
The amusement of science fiction, the reader's interest in all sorts of miracles and amazing things leads to the fact that many short-lived works arise, where the writer does not pose serious problems, but is carried away detective story, descriptions of fictional creatures and devices.
Science fiction has had a great influence on cinema - many films based on science fiction works have been shot using images characteristic of science fiction (space flights, aliens, discoveries, etc.).
Literature and language. Modern illustrated encyclopedia. - M.: Rosman. Under the editorship of prof. Gorkina A.P. 2006 .
See what "science fiction" is in other dictionaries:
It is not written for scientists, just as ghost stories are not written for ghosts. Brian Aldis Fiction does not deal with man, but with the human race as such, and even with possible species of intelligent beings. Stanislav Lem Scientific ... ... Consolidated encyclopedia of aphorisms
SCIENCE FICTION, a type of fiction, a branch of fiction, as well as cinema, theater, and painting, devoted mainly to the artistic prediction of the future. The main technique is a thought experiment. The rise of scientific... Modern Encyclopedia
A type of fiction, a branch of fiction, as well as cinema, theater, and painting, devoted mainly to the artistic prediction of the future. The main technique is a thought experiment. The Rise of Science Fiction in the 20th Century Big encyclopedic Dictionary
Science fiction- SCIENCE FICTION, a type of fiction, a branch of fiction, as well as cinema, theater, painting, devoted mainly to the artistic prediction of the future. The main technique is a thought experiment. The rise of scientific... Illustrated Encyclopedic Dictionary
2000 as imagined by Albert Robid Science fiction ... Wikipedia
SCIENCE FICTION- (often replaced by the abbreviation NF; the English analogue of science fiction, respectively SF), the established designation of the main part of the modern fantasy literature(see Fantasy). The term was established in the 3050s. XX century, when ... ... Literary Encyclopedic Dictionary
A type of fiction, a branch of fiction, as well as cinema, theater, and painting, is mainly devoted to artistic forecasting of the future (the English equivalent of science fiction). The main technique is a thought experiment. ... ... encyclopedic Dictionary
- (English equivalent of science fiction) special kind artistic fiction (See Fantastic), which arose in the era of the formation of modern science (17th and 18th centuries) and finally took shape in the 20th century. Based, like its other types, on ... ... Great Soviet Encyclopedia
Science fiction- See fantasy... Dictionary of literary terms
Science fiction- see science fiction literature... Terminological dictionary-thesaurus in Literary Studies
Introduction
The purpose of this work is to analyze the features of the use of scientific terminology in the novel "The Hyperboloid of Engineer Garin" by A.N. Tolstoy.
The topic of the course project is extremely relevant, since in science fiction we often find the use of terminology of a different nature, which is the norm for this type of literature. This approach is especially characteristic of the genre of "hard" science fiction, to which A.N. Tolstoy "Hyperboloid engineer Garin".
Object of work - terms in science fiction works
In the first chapter, we consider the features of science fiction and its types, as well as the specifics of the style of A.N. Tolstoy.
In the second chapter, we consider the specifics of terminology and the peculiarities of the use of terminology in SF and the novel by A.N. Tolstoy "Hyperboloid engineer Garin".
Chapter 1. Science fiction and its style
The peculiarity of the genre of science fiction
Science fiction (SF) is a genre in literature, cinema and other arts, one of the varieties of science fiction. Science fiction is based on fantastic assumptions in science and technology, including both the sciences and the humanities. Works based on non-scientific assumptions belong to other genres. The topics of science fiction works are new discoveries, inventions, facts unknown to science, space exploration and time travel.
The author of the term "science fiction" is Yakov Perelman, who introduced this concept in 1914. Prior to this, a similar term - "fantastically scientific travel”- Alexander Kuprin used in relation to Wells and other authors in his article “Redard Kipling” (1908).
There is much debate among critics and literary scholars about what counts as science fiction. However, most of them agree that science fiction is literature based on some assumption in the field of science: the emergence of a new invention, the discovery of new laws of nature, sometimes even the construction of new models of society (social fiction).
In a narrow sense, science fiction is about technologies and scientific discoveries (only supposed or already made), their exciting possibilities, their positive or negative impact, about the paradoxes that can arise. SF in such a narrow sense awakens the scientific imagination, makes you think about the future and the possibilities of science.
In a more general sense, science fiction is fantasy without the fabulous and mystical, where hypotheses are built about worlds without otherworldly forces, and the real world is imitated. Otherwise, it is fantasy or mysticism with a technical touch.
Often the action of SF takes place in the distant future, which makes SF related to futurology, the science of predicting the world of the future. Many science fiction writers dedicate their work to literary futurology, attempts to guess and describe the real future of the Earth, as did Arthur Clark, Stanislav Lem, and others. Other writers use the future only as a setting that allows them to fully reveal the idea of their work.
However, futuristic fiction and science fiction are not exactly the same thing. The action of many science fiction works takes place in the conditional present (K. Bulychev's The Great Guslar, most of the books by J. Verne, the stories of G. Wells, R. Bradbury) or even the past (books about time travel). At the same time, the action of non-science fiction works is sometimes placed in the future. For example, the action of many works of fantasy takes place on the Earth, which has changed after nuclear war(“Shannara” by T. Brooks, “Awakening of the Stone God” by F. H. Farmer, “Sos Rope” by P. Anthony). Therefore, a more reliable criterion is not the time of action, but the area of fantastic assumption.
G. L. Oldie conditionally divides science fiction assumptions into natural sciences and humanities sciences. The first includes the introduction of new inventions and laws of nature into the work, which is typical for hard science fiction. The second includes the introduction of assumptions in the fields of sociology, history, psychology, ethics, religion, and even philology. Thus, works of social fiction, utopia and dystopia are created. At the same time, several types of assumptions can be combined in one work at the same time.
As Maria Galina writes in her article, “It is traditionally believed that science fiction (SF) is literature, the plot of which revolves around some fantastic, but still scientific idea. It would be more accurate to say that in science fiction, the initially given picture of the world is logical and internally consistent. The plot in science fiction is usually built on one or more supposedly scientific assumptions (a time machine is possible, faster-than-light travel in space, “supra-space tunnels”, telepathy, etc.).”
The advent of fantasy was caused by the industrial revolution in the 19th century. Initially, science fiction was a genre of literature describing the achievements of science and technology, the prospects for their development, etc. The world of the future was often described - usually in the form of a utopia. A classic example of this type of fantasy is the works of Jules Verne.
Later, the development of technology began to be viewed in a negative light and led to the emergence of dystopia. And in the 1980s, its cyberpunk subgenre began to gain popularity. In it, high technologies coexist with total social control and the power of omnipotent corporations. In the works of this genre, the plot is based on the life of marginal fighters against the oligarchic regime, as a rule, in conditions of total cybernetization of society and social decline. Notable examples: Neuromancer by William Gibson.
In Russia, science fiction has become a popular and widely developed genre since the 20th century. Among the most famous authors are Ivan Efremov, the Strugatsky brothers, Alexander Belyaev, Kir Bulychev and others.
Also in pre-revolutionary Russia individual science fiction works were written by such authors as Thaddeus Bulgarin, V. F. Odoevsky, Valery Bryusov, K. E. Tsiolkovsky several times expounded his views on science and technology in the form of fictional stories. But before the revolution, SF was not an established genre with its own constant writers and fans.
Science fiction was one of the most popular genres in the USSR. There were seminars for young science fiction writers and clubs for science fiction lovers. Almanacs were published with stories by novice authors, such as "The World of Adventures", fantastic stories were published in the magazine "Technology - Youth". At the same time, Soviet science fiction was subjected to severe censorship. She was required to maintain a positive outlook on the future, faith in communist development. Technical reliability was welcomed, mysticism and satire were condemned. In 1934, at the congress of the Union of Writers, Samuil Yakovlevich Marshak assigned the science fiction genre a place on a par with children's literature.
One of the first science fiction writers in the USSR was Aleksey Nikolaevich Tolstoy ("Hyperboloid of Engineer Garin", "Aelita"). The film adaptation of Tolstoy's novel "Aelita" was the first Soviet science fiction film. In the 1920s - 30s, dozens of books by Alexander Belyaev were published (“Fight on the Air”, “Ariel”, “Amphibian Man”, “Professor Dowell's Head”, etc.), “alternative geographical” novels by V. A Obruchev (“Plutonia”, “Sannikov Land”), satirical-fiction stories by M. A. Bulgakov (“Heart of a Dog”, “Fatal Eggs”). They were distinguished by technical reliability and interest in science and technology. The role model of early Soviet science fiction writers was HG Wells, who himself was a socialist and visited the USSR several times.
In the 1950s, the rapid development of astronautics led to the flourishing of "short-range fiction" - solid science fiction about the exploration of the solar system, the exploits of astronauts, and the colonization of planets. The authors of this genre include G. Gurevich, A. Kazantsev, G. Martynov and others.
In the 1960s and later, Soviet science fiction began to move away from the rigid framework of science, despite the pressure of censorship. Many works of outstanding science fiction writers of the late Soviet period belong to social fiction. During this period, the books of the Strugatsky brothers, Kir Bulychev, Ivan Efremov appeared, which raise social and ethical issues, contain the views of the authors on humanity and the state. Often, fantastic works contained hidden satire. The same trend was reflected in science fiction, in particular, in the works of Andrei Tarkovsky (Solaris, Stalker). In parallel with this, a lot of adventure fiction for children was filmed in the late USSR (“Adventures of Electronics”, “Moscow-Cassiopeia”, “The Secret of the Third Planet”).
Science fiction has evolved and grown over its history, spawning new directions and absorbing elements from older genres such as utopia and alternate history.
The genre of the novel we are considering A.N. Tolstoy is "hard" science fiction, so we would like to dwell on it in more detail.
Hard science fiction is the oldest and original genre of science fiction. Its feature is the strict adherence to the scientific laws known at the time of writing the work. The works of hard science fiction are based on a natural scientific assumption: for example, a scientific discovery, an invention, a novelty in science or technology. Prior to other types of science fiction, it was simply called "science fiction". The term hard science fiction was first used in a literary review by P. Miller, published in February 1957 in Astounding Science Fiction magazine.
Some books by Jules Verne (20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, Robur the Conqueror, From the Earth to the Moon) and Arthur Conan Doyle (The Lost World, The Poisoned Belt, Maracot's Abyss), the works of HG Wells, Alexander Belyaev are called hard science fiction classics. Distinctive feature These books had a detailed scientific and technical basis, and the plot was, as a rule, based on a new discovery or invention. The authors of hard science fiction made a lot of "predictions", correctly guessing the further development of science and technology. So, Verne describes a helicopter in the novel "Robur the Conqueror", an airplane in "Lord of the World", space flight in "From the Earth to the Moon" and "Around the Moon". Wells predicted video communications, central heating, laser, atomic weapons. Belyaev in the 1920s described a space station, radio-controlled equipment.
Hard science fiction was especially developed in the USSR, where other genres of science fiction were not welcomed by censors. Particularly widespread was the "fantasy of the near sight", telling about the events of the alleged near future - first of all, the colonization of the planets of the solar system. The most famous examples of science fiction "short range" include the books of G. Gurevich, G. Martynov, A. Kazantsev, early books brothers Strugatsky ("Country of Crimson Clouds", "Interns"). Their books told about the heroic expeditions of astronauts to the Moon, Venus, Mars, to the asteroid belt. In these books, technical accuracy in describing space flights was combined with romantic fiction about the structure of neighboring planets - then there was still hope of finding life on them.
Although the main works of hard science fiction were written in the 19th and first half of the 20th century, many authors turned to this genre in the second half of the 20th century. For example, Arthur C. Clarke, in his Space Odyssey series of books, relied on a strictly scientific approach and described the development of astronautics, which is very close to the real one. In recent years, according to Eduard Gevorkyan, the genre is experiencing a "second wind". An example of this is astrophysicist Alastair Reynolds, who successfully combines hard science fiction with space opera and cyberpunk (for example, all his spaceships are sublight).
Other genres of science fiction are:
1) Social fiction - works in which a fantastic element is a different structure of society, completely different from the real one, or which is bringing it to extremes.
2) Chrono-fiction, temporal fantasy, or chrono-opera is a genre that tells about time travel. The key work of this subgenre is Wells' Time Machine. Although time travel has been written about before (for example, Mark Twain's Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court), it was in The Time Machine that time travel was first intentional and scientifically based, and thus this plot device was introduced specifically into science fiction.
3) Alternative-historical - a genre in which the idea is developed that an event happened or did not happen in the past, and what could come out of it.
The first examples of this kind of assumption are found long before the advent of science fiction. Not all of them were works of art - sometimes they were serious works of historians. For example, the historian Titus Livius argued what would happen if Alexander the Great went to war against his native Rome. The famous historian Sir Arnold Toynbee also dedicated several of his essays to Macedonian: what would have happened if Alexander had lived longer, and vice versa, if he had not existed at all. Sir John Squire published a whole book of historical essays, under the general title "If it all went wrong."
4) The popularity of post-apocalyptic fiction is one of the reasons for the popularity of "stalker tourism".
Closely related genres, the action of works in which takes place during or shortly after a catastrophe of a planetary scale (collision with a meteorite, nuclear war, ecological catastrophe, epidemic).
The real scope of post-apocalyptic received in the era cold war when a real threat of a nuclear holocaust hung over humanity. During this period, such works as “The Song of Leibovitz” by V. Miller, “Dr. Bloodmoney" by F. Dick, "Dinner at the Palace of Perversions" by Tim Powers, "Roadside Picnic" by the Strugatskys. Works in this genre continue to be created after the end of the Cold War (for example, "Metro 2033" by D. Glukhovsky).
5) Utopias and anti-utopias - genres dedicated to modeling the social structure of the future. In utopias, an ideal society is drawn, expressing the views of the author. In anti-utopias - the exact opposite of the ideal, a terrible, usually totalitarian, social structure.
6) "Space Opera" was dubbed an entertaining adventure SF published in popular pulp magazines in the 1920-50s in the USA. The name was given in 1940 by Wilson Tucker and, at first, was a contemptuous epithet (similar to "soap opera"). However, over time, the term took root and ceased to have a negative connotation.
The action of "space opera" takes place in space and on other planets, usually in a conventional "future". The plot is based on the adventures of the heroes, and the scale of the events taking place is limited only by the imagination of the authors. Initially, the works of this genre were purely entertaining, but later the techniques of the "space opera" were included in the arsenal of the authors of artistically significant science fiction.
7) Cyberpunk is a genre that considers the evolution of society under the influence of new technologies, a special place among which is given to telecommunications, computer, biological, and, not in last turn, social. The background in the works of the genre is often cyborgs, androids, a supercomputer serving technocratic, corrupt and immoral organizations/regimes. The name "cyberpunk" was coined by writer Bruce Bethke, and literary critic Gardner Dozois picked it up and began to use it as the name of a new genre. He briefly and succinctly defined cyberpunk as "High tech, low life".
8) Steampunk is a genre created, on the one hand, in imitation of such classics of science fiction as Jules Verne and Albert Robida, and on the other, being a kind of post-cyberpunk. Sometimes dieselpunk is distinguished from it separately, corresponding to the science fiction of the first half of the 20th century. It can also be attributed to an alternative history, since the emphasis is on the more successful and perfect development of steam technology instead of the invention of the internal combustion engine.
On the other hand, they stimulate the growth of plants and animals, which should lead to unprecedented agricultural productivity. True, the author does not dwell in any detail on all the properties of the "rays of life" and does not speak at all about their nature, concentrating on the struggle that unfolded around this discovery in a capitalist country. He only enumerates what radiant energy could give in the service of man. But even this enumeration reflects the desire to reveal the amazing possibilities lurking in it. Again, it must be noted that even such an interesting topic is still poorly developed in our science fiction. "Rays of Life" is still waiting for its author! A modern advances physicists give confidence in the realization of the most daring dreams associated with them. A small essay by V. Rydnik "Rays remake metal" (1957) - about the metallurgical plant of the future - is perceived almost as a reality. Electromagnetic oscillations, which now play a huge role in our lives, also did not pass by the attention of writers. Let us recall, for example, A. Belyaev's novel "Struggle on Air" (1928). It depicted Radiopolis, a city where radio engineering and radio telemechanics found the widest application. The original problem was posed by A. Belyaev in his other novel - "The Lord of the World" (1929, reprinted in 1957): reception and amplification of weak electromagnetic oscillations emitted by the human brain. The thought-transmitting apparatus built by the hero of this novel became in his hands a means of suggestion, of imposing his will on people. However, against the new extraordinary weapon, a more powerful counter-weapon of the same type was found. Very interesting is the description of the "peaceful" application of this invention in the novel. A mental command is radiated - and wild animals obediently leave the rainforest to the unarmed hunter, in order to take their place in the zoo later. Direct transmission of thoughts over a distance made it possible to communicate between people who are far from each other, listening to "mental" concerts, reports. A similar topic was touched upon by N. Dashkiev in the story under the same title - "The Lord of the World" (1957). He also describes an apparatus for receiving and amplifying the electromagnetic vibrations of the brain. This apparatus made it possible to sharpen and intensify mental activity. The story of N. Dashkiev, dedicated to an interesting problem, is artistically weak. In B. Fradkin's novel "The Road to the Stars" (1954), which does not belong entirely to the science fiction genre, the idea of creating a "nuclear alloy" of unusually high density and strength, which is of particular interest, is nevertheless touched upon. Our ideas about the structure of matter allow us to assume the possibility of a strong compaction of matter, and the achievements of ultrahigh pressure physics make it more or less real for the future. A similar topic was of interest to science fiction writers before (the stories of A. Belyaev "The Horned Mammoth", A. Nechaev "White Dwarf"). Physics, as well as other sciences, as well as all branches of technology, opens up a wide field of activity for science fiction writers. However, there are very few science fiction works about the future achievements of the physical sciences. There are few novels, short stories, short stories and essays that depict the possible successes of technology with a look far ahead, highlighting little-studied areas, the latest trends, the seeds of what will give magnificent fruits in time. The use of semiconductors and ultrasound (the stories by V. Okhotnikov "The First Darings" and B. Fradkin "At the Sources of Immortality" and "The History of One Notebook"), new materials with various properties and various purposes (the story by V. Nemtsov "Apparatus SL-1" , stories by V. Saparin "Chibisov Plateau", "The Secret of the Seven", "Crystal Haze", "Magic Shoes"), an automatic weather station rising into the upper atmosphere and a flying remote-controlled laboratory (V. Nemtsov's story "Height Record", novel " The Last Station"), underground boat (V. Okhotnikov's story "Roads Deep", G. Adamov's novel "Winners of the Subsoil"), three-dimensional panoramic cinema and television (A. Matejunas' story "Screen of Life", V. Saparin's story "Amazing Journey" ), the use of the energy of underground resources (the novel by F. Kandyba " hot earth", G. Gurevich's story "Underground bad weather"), solar energy (V. Nemtsov's story "Shard of the Sun"), television (V. Nemtsov's novel "Lucky Star" and its shortened version "Altair"), underwater television (A. Belyaev's novel "The Miraculous Eye", I. Efremov's story "Fakaofo Atoll", G. Golubev's story "Golden Medal of Atlantis") - these problems are of great interest. Grandiose plans are being carried out to transform nature. life of the dead desert lands, the conquest of virgin lands - these are the affairs of our days. In fiction, we will find projects for an even wider reshaping of the planet. V. Nikolsky wrote about it in the novel "After a thousand years" already mentioned by us. A. Belyaev in the novels "Under the sky of the Arctic" (1938-1939) and "Star of the CEC" painted a picture of the warmed Arctic. G. Adamov (the novel "The Expulsion of the Lord", 1946), F. Kandyba (the novel "Hot Land", 1950), A. Kazantsev (the novels "Polar Dream", "Northern Pier", 1956) describe in their works the implementation of reworking projects nature of the Far North. The revival of deserts, climate change in the polar regions - the theme of A. Podsosov's novel "The New Gulf Stream" (1948). In A. Kazantsev's novel "Arctic Bridge" (reprint, 1958) the construction of an underwater intercontinental tunnel connecting the Soviet Union and the USA for rail communication between the two continents is shown. Made in the form of a hermetically sealed pipe, it was immersed in the ocean, which ensured the safety of the structure and independence from the weather for the trains moving inside it. Rocket engines made it possible to develop tremendous speed in an underwater tunnel, from which air was pumped out. For a more complete characterization of the themes of post-war science fiction, we will give several examples of various works. G. Grebnev in the story "The Secret of the Underwater Rock" (a revised version of the novel "Arktania", 1957) depicts a flying research station with jet engines - a "village in the air", located in the area North Pole. N. Toman in the story "The Story of a Sensation" (1956) deals with the problem of increasing the electron concentration of the ionosphere with the help of a radioactive powder sprayed by an atomic explosion of a high-altitude rocket. This made it possible to receive reflected television signals from high altitudes. M. Duntau and N. Tsurkin in the story "Cerebrovisor by engineer Kovdin" (1957) touch upon the possibility of transmitting visual impressions over a distance with the help of radio engineering devices and thus returning vision to the blind. Obtaining artificial cold with the help of atomic energy (G. Gurevich's story "Hoarfrost on Palm Trees", A. Kudashev's novel "Ice Island"), which improved sound recording and sound reproduction (M. Dashkiyev's story "The Stolen Voice"), the use of the phenomenon of superconductivity to create a powerful energy accumulator (A. Kazantsev's novel "Burning Island"), powerful air currents for generating electricity (V. Sytin's story "Conquerors of Eternal Storms"), space disasters - the arrival of an unknown planet in our solar system (G. Gurevich's story "The Passage of Nemesis" ), the approach of an asteroid to the Earth (N. Toman's story "On the Eve of the Catastrophe") - and their prevention - these are the topics of some works published in recent years. Among the works of science fiction published in the post-war years, unfortunately, there are almost no novels or stories of a complex nature that would give a picture of the world of the future. Partially, these include "The Andromeda Nebula" by I. Efremov, "The Secret of the Underwater Rock" by G. Grebnev, G. Adamov's novel "The Expulsion of the Lord". An interesting attempt to depict the technique early XXI century, V. Melentyev made in the fantastic story "March 33rd" (1957), written for junior schoolchildren. It shows, first of all, the widespread use of atomic energy for various purposes: in motor transport, in the mining industry and in the construction of houses and roads, for changing the climate of the Arctic regions of the country and destroying permafrost. The story also tells about the development of land and air transport, photoelectronics and semiconductor and ultrasonic technology, color television, new building materials and mechanisms, electronic computers, color volumetric fluoroscopy, the exploration of the moon and the extraction of rare elements on it. The plot is generally entertaining, although the technique of showing events in a dream is not original. The main drawback, however, is not this. The author abuses the dialogized form of presentation of cognitive phenomena, cites many complex technical terms and concepts, without explaining them fully and clearly enough, that in a work intended for children younger age, is very significant. The same expressions as "electronic" or "atomic", which he often uses, sound at least vulgar. The acquaintance of the hero of the story by the pioneer Vasya Golubev with the technology of the future is perhaps the most boring page, and only the extraordinary position of the boy, who slept for fifty years and found himself in the next century, somewhat enlivens them. Yu. and S. Safronov (1958), the hero of their novel "The Grandchildren of Our Grandchildren", are transferred to the 22nd century. True, the way in which they do this is questionable even as a purely fantastic premise. The meteorite that fell to Earth consisted of a substance capable of causing a long deep sleep and a state similar to anabiosis with a special radiation. Waking up, the hero of the novel finds himself in 2107. The central idea of the work is the use of the achievements of nuclear physics, controlled thermonuclear reactions to create an artificial micro-sun, which made it possible to change the nature of our planet on a grandiose scale. With such a sun were melted secular ice Antarctica, and the resulting water, under the action of a special catalyst, turned into plastic - polystyrene - and was distributed throughout the oceans. This has led to an improvement in the climate in a large part of the globe. The authors also touch upon a number of problems solved by the science and technology of the future: the broad development of cybernetics; long-distance television communication; life extension; portable atomic engine and its application in automobile and air transport; high-speed high-speed aviation; interplanetary flights and the development of world space. Although very briefly, the novel depicts certain features of the life of the coming communist society. The scientific research related to the creation of the micro-sun, which in the hands of man has become a powerful tool for transforming not only one's own planet, but also other worlds, is described in particular detail. The plot of the novel is undeniably interesting. However, dwelling on the main idea in detail, the authors describe too briefly and schematically the scientific and technological achievements that became the property of mankind in a century and a half. The images of people of the future are only outlined, but not impressively outlined, vividly with their individual characters. The hero, who miraculously came to our distant descendants, is nevertheless rather a conditional figure of a sightseer, serving for popularization, and congestion with lecture digressions often slows down the action of the novel. V. Zakharchenko in his essay book ("Journey to Tomorrow", 1953) outlined the technology and industry of the future. The reader gets acquainted with energy, metallurgy, automation and telemechanics, agriculture, chemistry, construction of the near future. An attempt at a comprehensive coverage of the scientific and technological achievements of the next century was made in L. Popilov's essay "2500. World Exhibition" (zh. "Tekhnika-molodezhi", No. 7-8, 1956), affecting energy, shipbuilding, aviation, housing construction, industry , instrumentation. Prospects for the development of science and technology in various fields form the content of essays published in the journals "Technology for Youth" and "Science and Life" under the heading "Window to the Future", in special thematic issues of the journal "Knowledge is Power" and the newspaper "Komsomolskaya Pravda". "("Report from the XXI century", 1957). "Report from the 21st Century" by M. Vasiliev and S. Gushchev, published in 1959 as a separate edition, is a collection of interviews with a number of Soviet scientists about the science and technology of the future. The literary record of their stories aims to show what are the prospects for the development of various branches of knowledge, how various engineering ideas and projects can be realized. Representatives of many scientific and technical specialties - chemistry and metallurgy, biology and astronautics and others - speak before readers. The book contains varied and interesting material presented in the form of a journalistic report. Among the essays published in periodicals in recent years, the originality of the technical idea "The Blue Ray" by Payu Kiya (1957) stands out for the use of the upper atmosphere as fuel for jet aircraft. With the transition of atomic oxygen to high altitudes energy is released into the molecular state. This was confirmed by the experience made during the ascent of the rocket, which caused a bright glow of the sky due to the acceleration of such a process. The essay reveals a possible practical application of the processes taking place in the "upper" atmosphere. In the essay by S. Revzin "Five weeks on hot-air balloon"(1954) - about the prospects for the development of aeronautics - a balloon is described that could make long flights. R. Perelman's essay "Engines of Galactic Ships" (1958) touches on the distant prospects of star navigation - ships for interstellar travel. In the genre of essay science fiction, there is a form reporting, diary entries, correspondence, travel notes, and more often than others - a report ("fiction report", "report from the future", "report from the XXI century", "interplanetary report" and so on). In a report from the future - " Telelibrary - millions of books in one binding "(1956) L. Teplov talks about the use of television for reproduction volumetric images with the simultaneous transmission of the text of books, A. Markin ("Between two continents") - about the prospects for the development of nuclear energy and the construction of a dam in the Bering Strait, which will eliminate the cold Kamchatka current and soften the climate of the Arctic and other regions. These few works exhaust fantasy about the world of the future. It should be recalled that in the past, our science fiction literature produced the broad thematic novels that have been mentioned. In addition to them, we find the "touches" of the world of the future in other works of the thirties - novels and essays by A. Belyaev ("Dublve's Laboratory", "Under the Arctic Sky", "The City of the Winner", "Green Symphony", L. Platov's stories "Concentrate sleep"). Very interesting are the pictures of the cities of the future, in particular the transformed Leningrad, painted by A. Belyaev. The grandiose successes of science over the past decades open up new opportunities for creating works that depict the life and technology of the future. Who, if not Soviet science fiction writers, should have depicted in artistic images the future that we are striving for, for which we are fighting! The writers of the country that created the world's first nuclear power plant, the nuclear icebreaker that launched the first artificial satellites of the Earth and the Sun, should be inspired by these creative feats of scientists, engineers and workers. If back in the 1930s they tackled such a topic, what scope for truly scientific and highly ideological fiction, which affirms the communist worldview, is provided by our days! However, one of the most essential gaps in the literature of the book about tomorrow, about communist society and its technology, has remained unfilled for many years. Let us dwell on one more peculiar group of fantastic works, concerning questions mainly of physics. In an entertaining way, they introduce one or another phenomenon by the method of "contradiction", describing what would happen if their usual qualities changed or disappeared. An earthly world without gravity (Essays by Tsiolkovsky, A. Belyaev's story "Above the Abyss", reissue - 1957) or with a weakened gravity (N. Muir's story "Six Months"), a world without friction (V. Yazvitsky's story "John Inglis's Apparatus") , a world without dust (E. Zelikovich's story "A Dangerous Invention"), a change in the speed of light propagation (A. Belyaev's story "Doomsday", reprinted in 1957), an increase in the Earth's rotation speed (V. Savchenko's story "Vitya Vitkin's Journey") - these are examples of these works. In the postwar years, however, with the exception of reprints, they almost did not appear, although such novels and stories could be useful, since, showing an extraordinary, fantastic assumption in artistic form, they clearly emphasize the enormous importance of the most simple, familiar and usually not noticed phenomena. . Let us conclude with a few figures quantitatively characterizing the development of science fiction literature in our country. Over 50 years - from 1895 to 1945 - over 600 titles of works, original and translated, were published in separate editions and in periodicals. From 1946 to 1958, about 150 novels, short stories, short stories and essays were published, dedicated to the problems physics and technology. Many works have been republished foreign classics genre (J. Verne, G. Wells, A. Conan Doyle), novels and short stories by a number of contemporary American authors have been published. The three-volume edition (Moscow) and the one-volume edition (Leningrad) contain selected science fiction works by the outstanding Soviet writer A. R. Belyaev. Fantasy is systematically given space on its pages by youth magazines. Even short review shows that in science fiction there are, figuratively speaking, densely populated places and almost uninhabited islands. The craving of writers for space topics is understandable. They open up the widest scope for fantasy, allow you to unfold extraordinary adventures, often doing without a stereotyped detective story. At the same time, one can name a number of themes that are almost completely undeveloped by science fiction writers. In fact, even this greatest achievement modernity, like nuclear power, remained outside the attention of writers. Semiconductor technology, radio electronics, cybernetics; prospects for the development of chemistry, biology and medicine, agriculture of the future; opportunities that open up new branches of knowledge that have appeared at the "junctions" of various sciences; new means of scientific research; new ideas about the properties of matter, time and space, about the nature of gravity - all these topics are still waiting for their implementation in science fiction literature. Almost nothing has been written about aviation, transport, industry, cities of the future. And meanwhile, in the science fiction of the early period, works on these topics were not rare. We must think that our time - the time of accomplishment of the greatest daring of mankind - will inspire our writers to create many bright, interesting, problematic science fiction works.
1. The article by B. Lyapunov, like the rest of the works published in the collection, was put into typesetting in June 1959, therefore newest material has not received sufficient coverage here. Ed.
Collection output:
SCIENCE FICTION - PROBLEMS OF DEFINITION (LITERARY REVIEW)
Akramov Shukhrat Rakhmatovich
trainee-researcher-applicant 1 year of study
Uzbek University of World Languages,
Fiction is one of the main types of art. It has always reflected and reflects the most important problems public life developing along with it. The role of literature in the knowledge of life and the education of people is very significant.
Together with the creators of wonderful literary works, readers are attached to the lofty ideals of truly human life. creative work the writer is always individual both in the ways of artistic knowledge of the world, and in the ways of expressing her worldview and understanding of the world.
According to the literary critic L.G. Abramovich, literary development is inextricably linked, on the one hand, with all the multiplying and becoming more complex species and genre forms of artistic works, on the other hand, with the emergence and change artistic methods.
Today, world fiction not only has traditional species and genre forms works of art, but also enriched by the development of other forms.
One of such very interesting phenomena on the modern map of world literature is the birth of a new genre - science fiction. Although the well-known literary critic R. Ibragimova claims that this is a genre of literature, but, in our opinion, it is a type of fantastic literature, because only a certain type of work can be called a genre - a novel, a story or a story.
Thus, science fiction is today recognized as one of the most popular literary types. At present, this type of fiction, which is of general interest, has, as it were, overshadowed all its other types and attracted the widest readership. The reasons for this phenomenon, obviously, are due to the successes of science and technology, which have proven their power and necessity in modern society.
Data on the history of the emergence of science fiction in the available publications turned out to be few.
A scientist, physicist, mathematician and astronomer, J. Perelman first proposed the term "science fiction", who in 1914 wrote and published an additional chapter "Breakfast in a Weightless Kitchen" to J. Verne's novel "From a Cannon to the Moon" in the journal Nature and people." In 1923, the science fiction writer H. Gernsbeck also first used the term "scientifiction" in his journal "Science and Invention" in the meaning of "science fiction", combining the words "science" and "fiction". This term was later adopted in English language in the form of "science fiction".
It is with the definition of the object of study and the classification of the available material that any science begins. It must be admitted that there is no generally accepted definition of the term "science fiction". Many definitions have been proposed, both by literary critics and science fiction writers themselves, as well as editors of various kinds of encyclopedias.
In 1926, H. Gernsbeck defined science fiction (SF) as a type of fiction written by J. Verne, G. Wells, and E.A. Po, it's lovely exciting romantic stories, implicated in scientific data and prophetic foresight .
In our opinion, stories in which the theme of love appears as the main one can be called romantic. Most American and English SF researchers associate it with romance, while the understanding of romance is ambiguous. On the one hand, this tendency to form the world anew, on the other hand, is everything that we usually understand by the concept of "romance". This duality in meaning given word N. Hawthorne also invested in opposing the romantic novel to the realistic novel. Another supporter of romanticism in SF was the historian F. Bruce, who argued that “to compile a complete list of the forerunners of science fiction, one would have to tell all the stories about amazing discoveries and extraordinary travels in time and space and stories about strange physical phenomena utopian fantasies.
B. Davenport defined SF as "a unique phenomenon with its own language" . In 1947, R. Heinlein proposed for fiction short definition- Literature of reasoning. The name was catchy and convenient, and indeed explained, albeit in part, the peculiarity of science fiction and, therefore, was readily accepted. Another science fiction writer - A. Clark - gave a definition: SF - "literature of change", and this definition became as famous as the definition of R. Heinlein ("literature of reasoning").
A very similar definition and understanding of NF by another well-known author I. Efremov: science fiction is “literature of logical considerations”, and in the opinion Japanese writer K. Abe, NF is the "literature of the hypothesis".
You can often find the statement (B. Robert) that science fiction is a "literature of ideas", or a "system of ideas", as D. Wollheim writes. In his opinion, science fiction is much "more about ideas than about literary styles» .
In our opinion, the definitions of NF by the above authors (R. Heinlein, A. Clark, I. Efremov, K. Abe, B. Davenport, B. Robert and D. Wallheim) are identical.
B. Aldis suggested calling science fiction "literature that depicts the environment" . This is most likely due to stubborn interest science fiction writers in the 20th century, not to a person as such, but to technology, to the cosmos, the objects and phenomena surrounding it, the properties of time and space. But here, the question arises: maybe the specific subject matter in science fiction is also built environment created by man himself.
However, B. Aldis has in mind not just the environment, but changes in the surrounding world and their impact on humanity, which may also undergo certain changes. Some researchers and critics write about scientific discoveries and their impact on humans, about the impact of scientific and technological progress on human society. This is what the science fiction writer A. Asimov had in mind in 1953, proposing to call this type of literature “social science fiction”. Social Consequences scientific discoveries were repeatedly considered as the main subject of reflection of reality in SF by critics of countries former USSR.
In the terms of A. Asimov "social science fiction" and B. Aldis "literature depicting the environment" they mean the same thing - science fiction tells about catastrophic changes that are growing in human society, which are the result of scientific and technological progress in its ideal (cognition of the world) and material (technology, invention) expression, and these changes inevitably affect the fate and psyche of people.
Thus, it can be seen that the definition of SF by the last two authors is based on the development of scientific and technological development and its close connection with science fiction.
The aforementioned science fiction writer and editor H. Gernsbeck defined science fiction as "the literature of foresight in the realm of material progress." The view of science fiction as a kind of futurology was expressed in the criticism of the 1920s, when it was believed that it depicts the future, often the technology and science of the future, tries to predict certain specific features of the future. This point of view finds like-minded people even today. For example, D. Levingston defines science fiction as "an essential part of futurology", and the writer L. Del Rey also claims that the main thing in the nature of science fiction is prediction, foresight.
So, analyzing the statements of these writers, we can assume that the NF seeks to directly predict the future, its specific appearance.
But a huge number of critics hold a different opinion, in our opinion, close to the truth: in the works about the future they see direct prophecies and foresights, showing a “different” world that differs from today’s, changed ambitions, preparing a person for probable changes, forming a more stable and flexible human psyche. A. Clarke, explaining his definition of SF as a "literature of change", notes that this type of literature contributes to the adaptation of readers to the world that is coming and already coming. Similar opinions were expressed by critics of the countries of the former USSR.
R. Conquest proposed to qualify SF as a "literature of possibilities" because science fiction depicts supposed, possible changes, and not real ones, thus helping the human psyche not to be taken aback by real changes. One of his articles in Science Fiction Today and Tomorrow is titled Science Fiction and Human Adaptation to Change.
For example, science fiction writer R. Heinlein proposed in 1959 a detailed definition of science fiction: "realistic reasoning about possible future events, based strictly on adequate knowledge of the real world, past and present, and a complete understanding of the nature and significance of the scientific method" . According to his colleague R. Sterling, "fantasy makes the impossible possible, science fiction makes the impossible possible." R. Del Lester notes that the reason for the lack of a definition of SF that satisfies everyone is that it is not easy to delineate the boundaries of science fiction.
The interpretation of the term "scientific" in relation to science fiction still raises many questions. So, for example, E. Kovtun suggested changing the word "scientific" to the word "rational", naming several reasons. The main one is that in the term "science fiction" the adjective "scientific" is not quite correct.
The term "rational fiction" in his view, more accurately reflects the most important side, the originality of this type of fantastic literature: rational, as opposed to the “supernatural” motivation of the fantastic premise, traditional for previous fiction.
According to E. Kovtun, rational fantasy (RF) is a somewhat broader concept than science fiction, because it consists of two equal subtypes of science fiction with a logical premise, which has various patterns of artistry: it is scientific (it is called "hard", or scientific technical) and social science fiction. Further, he gives his definition of rational fiction: “Rational fiction refers to a type of prose that tells a situation that is impossible in the reality known to us, but according to the hypothesis, is probabilistic, related to certain discoveries in technology and science.”
We consider the definition proposed by G. Gurevich to be more promising: “Science fiction is considered to be that fantasy where it is the material forces that create the extraordinary: by man or nature, through technology and science.”
But it should be clarified: the fantastic component in science fiction (not at all necessary) should be strictly “scientific” in the academic interpretation of this term, since some facts are extremely difficult to explain, for example, on what science the ideas of a hyperspace starship, a time machine, individual immortality are substantiated, antigravitator. Many science fiction ideas are based on fictional authors, rather than real scientific disciplines: psychohistory, bipolar mathematics, etc. Apparently, the main requirement of being scientific in this sense is the absence of any contradictions with modern science. For example, in the works of the Strugatsky brothers, interstellar flights are carried out through a certain effect, called by the writers “epsilon-deritrination”, A. Azimov offers a “hyperjump”, S. Snegov introduces the idea of “Tanev’s theory”, etc. Of course, none of these proposed, fictional theories cannot contradict the current scientific worldviews, since it cannot be ruled out that in the near future such ideas, hypotheses may well be worked out and implemented in real life.
Thus, the main criterion of science fiction, according to the science fiction writer K. Mzareulov, is the scientific justification of the fantastic component.
He gives the following definition of science fiction, arguing that it is “a special kind of fiction, the works of which contain components that have a scientific justification that do not contradict reliably established facts of reality and a materialistic view of nature, and the differences between the described events and phenomena from reality are direct a consequence of the influence of the fantasy component.
Based on the above, we join the opinion of the last author (K. Mzareulov) that SF should be based on real scientific discoveries and technical progress.
Science fiction writers V. Obruchev and A. Belyaev believe that the main purpose of science fiction is to bring knowledge to the masses of readers, to prepare them for scientific work. A. Osipov in his book “Fiction from A to Z” proposed the following wording: “Science fiction is literature of figurative expression of scientific, social, aesthetic hypotheses and a hypothetical situation about the past, present and future (on issues that relate to a person and society in many ways) , logically projected from the phenomena of modernity or modern worldview and therefore probabilistic or permissible within the framework of an artistic experiment, which is a work. The peculiarity of the works of science fiction is that they usually tell about something that does not yet exist in reality, but does not in principle contradict the laws of its development or may arise due to a combination of certain circumstances. What makes science fiction is that certain of its assumptions or assumptions are built on the basis of logical conclusions, either from the phenomena of modernity, or from the sum of little-known facts about the past, acquiring within the framework of art model probabilistic signs. For example, flights to distant stars have not yet been undertaken, but these flights are fundamentally possible in the future - this is a matter of technology.
The Literary Encyclopedia of Terms and Concepts defines science fiction as follows: “Science fiction is a type of science fiction literature based on an assumption of a rational nature, according to which, with the help of the laws of scientific discoveries, technical inventions or nature, which do not contradict the natural scientific views of that time, in the work the extraordinary or the supernatural is created.
G. Oldie also speaks of fantastic assumptions in his definition of science fiction - SF is a genre in cinema, literature and other varieties of art. NF is based on fantastic assumptions that do not go beyond the scientific understanding of reality, both in the field of the humanities and natural sciences. This leads to the conclusion that novels, short stories, short stories and essays based on assumptions that are unscientific belong to other genres (fantasy or mysticism).
G. Oldie divides science fiction assumptions into humanities and sciences and natural sciences. In the first form, an assumption is introduced in the field of history, sociology, ethics, religion, psychology, and even philology. In the second form, new laws of nature and inventions are introduced into the work. It should be noted that in one narrative one can also find a combination of different types of assumptions at the same time.
M. Galina writes the following in her article: “It is usually understood that science fiction is a type of literature where the plot revolves around a fantastic but scientific idea. It would be more correct to say that in science fiction, from the very beginning, reality, reality, events, phenomena and images are narrated, which are internally consistent and logical. In science fiction, the plot is based on one or more scientific (or, as it were, scientific) assumptions, for example, movement in space faster than light, over-space tunnels, a time machine, telepathy, and so on.
As the literary critic R. Ibrokhimova writes in her book “Vokelik va fantasy” (“Realism and fantasy” - author): “The opinions expressed about the term science fiction are largely correct in their own way, since, no matter how it is called, it is based on life problems. But the definition of the genre of a work as science fiction is a relative concept, because the writer does not guarantee the 100% science of the fantastic topic raised in the work. And, in general, he does not set himself the goal of drawing a specific project, but only tries to logically and scientifically substantiate the idea in the form of an image, a hypothesis.
As stated in the same aforementioned “Literary Encyclopedia of Terms and Concepts”, the complexity of defining NF is due to the fact that for a long time it was studied separately, in isolation from realistic literature. However, if realistic literature describes the world that is familiar and familiar to the reader, then science fiction shows a probabilistic world, which is a model of possible reality, realistically accurate (persuasive) in details, the degree of realism of which is generally determined by the depth and relevance of the contemporary issues raised in the work.
According to the statements of the last authors listed above (V. Obruchev, A. Belyaev, G. Oldi, R. Ibrokhimova), as well as the literary encyclopedia of terms and concepts, it can be noted that science fiction undoubtedly causes a deep interest of readers in scientific and technical discoveries, with the help of which it creates the opportunity to incredibly change our existing world, our reality, i.e., “make a fairy tale come true” and bring science fiction ideas or hypotheses to life.
Thus, after analyzing the definitions of science fiction by numerous authors of world literature at various stages of its development, we can conclude that science fiction is a kind of science fiction literature (and not a genre, since a certain type of work is called a genre - a novel, story or short story) with a material look on reality, which is based on various scientific discoveries and has two functions: educational and prognostic, the first arouses the reader's interest in mastering science and technology, brings up feelings of humanism and justice, the second - anticipates future scientific discoveries.
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science fiction is a type of fantastic literature (or literature about the unusual) based on a single rational premise (assumption), according to which the extraordinary (unprecedented, even seemingly impossible) in a work is created using the laws of nature, scientific discoveries or technical inventions, in principle not contradicting the natural science views that existed at the time when the science fiction work was created. Together with fantasy - one of the two main types literary fiction 20th century. Within the framework of the same work, elements of both science fiction and fantasy (literature of the "fundamentally impossible") can be combined, there is a constant diffusion of various art systems(one of the most illustrative examples is The Space Trilogy, 1938-45, by C.S. Lewis).
Definition of science fiction
The difficulty of defining science fiction is due to the fact that for a long time it was studied separately, in isolation from other types of fantastic literature, as well as in isolation from realistic literature. However, if realistic literature describes the world that is familiar and familiar to the reader, then science fiction shows a probabilistic world, which is a model of possible reality, realistically accurate (persuasive) in details, the degree of realism of which is generally determined by the depth and relevance of the contemporary issues raised in the work. Science fiction arises in the era of the formation of modern science (17-18 centuries); as an independent type of literature stands out in the 20th century. Used in Russian book publishing and in the science of literature, its designation can be considered the Russian-language equivalent of English science fiction, proposed in 1927 by the American engineer, science popularizer and science fiction writer Hugo Gernsbeck, publisher of the first ever specialized journal Science Fiction. Gernsbeck believed that one of the main tasks of science fiction is to satisfy the need for knowledge, and the need of the engineer (Gernsbeck considered him the main protagonist of future changes in America), to encourage the engineer to scientific and technical creativity. From his authors, Gernsbeck demanded that fiction be created according to the formula "75% literature and 25% science", and therefore printed science fiction only of a popular science, predictive nature, called by one researcher "fiction for engineers." Nevertheless, many Western researchers (and primarily American ones) believe that it was Gernsbeck who created Science Fiction.
Others argue that he drove it into the "ghetto" of specialized periodicals, excommunicating it from the literature of the "mainstream". The connection between science and science fiction is primarily reflected in the overall influence scientific methods on the principles of fantasy approach to reality. The situations created by science fiction, in principle, should not contradict the materiality of the world, the development of the plot should be subject to the logic of the initial assumption, having made which, the writer cannot go beyond it. However, if the fantasy assumption were to have rigorous scientific validity, then it might deprive science fiction of the ability to model situations that are arbitrarily hypothetical. It is obvious that scientific character in literature does not consist in scrupulous adherence to the facts of specific sciences, but in the approach to science, in the ability to use its method, based on the belief in the cognizability of the world, the recognition of its objectivity. science fiction is not engaged in predicting the technical wonders of the future, it is not a "literature of ideas", its scope is the study of the life of society and the individual, the changes taking place in them under the influence of shifts in the development of science and technology. Elements of such an approach to literature are already visible in the works of T. More, I. Kepler, F. Bacon, J. Swift. The formation of science fiction falls on the 19th century, at the beginning of which M. Shelley's novel "Frankenstein, or the Modern Prometheus" (1818) was published, and at the end - the novels of J. Verne and G. Wells, representing the traditions of science fiction, science fiction, prognostic and science fiction socio-philosophical.
Science fiction around the world
Leading "fantastic" powers of the West-USA and Great Britain. In the United States, from the end of the 19th century, the industry of magazine fiction began to develop, reaching a peak in the 1920s and 30s (the most famous authors are E.R. Burroughs, E. Hamilton, E. Smith). At this time, Gernsbeck and J. Campbell were active, whose name is associated with the transition of science fiction from scientific and technical, prognostic to social and philosophical. During these years, the literature included writers whose most active creative period was called the "golden age" of American fiction: R. Heinlein, A. Asimov, A. Van Vogt, T. Sturgeon, A. Bester, D. Knight, G. Kuttner , K.Saimak. R. Bradbury, R. Sheckley, P. Anderson soon attracted the attention of readers. The end of the 1960s - the time " new wave”, the most radical trend in English fiction, in American science fiction represented by the names of H. Ellison, N. Spinred, S. Delaney. The last quarter of the 20th century is the time when American science fiction writers F. Herbert, G. Harrison, F. Dick, R. Silverberg, R. Zelazny, W. Le Guin, G. Beer, D. Brin, O. S. Card, W. Gibson, B. Sterling. English science fiction of the first half of the 20th century is represented by Wells, O. Stapledon. After the Second World War, the Wells tradition was continued by D. Wyndham and A. Clark, as well as D. Brunner. The "new wave" is associated with the work of J. G. Ballard, M. Moorcock and B. Aldiss, the greatest science fiction writer of Great Britain at the end of the century. Of the countries of Western Europe, France, Germany and Italy stand out as having the richest cultural traditions and traditions of the development of the fantastic element in national literatures. In France, J. Ronisrshiy, F. Karsak continue the tradition of Verne; P. Boulle and R. Merle write political fiction, and R. Barzhavel, J. Klein and J. P. Andrevon - psychological, addressed to the inner world of heroes. Of the German authors, K. Lasswitz, G. Franke, the spouses J. and G. Braun stand out, from the Italian ones - L. Aldani, T. Landolfi, I. Calvino, D. Buzzati. Science fiction in Eastern Europe in the 20th century develops most representatively in Poland, the Czech Republic, and Bulgaria. The names of the Poles E. Zhulavsky, K. Fialkovsky, K. Borun and S. Lem, the Czechs K. Chapek, L. Soucek, J. Nesvadba, the Bulgarians S. Minkov, E. Manov, P. Vezhinov and L. Dilov are widely known. From science fiction countries Northern Europe Swedish writers stand out: the author of the anti-utopia "Kallokain" K. Boye (1940), the Nobel Prize winner H. Martinson, who wrote the fantastic poem "Aniara" (1953), modern authors S. Lyundval and P. Erschild. In Japan, science fiction is represented in creativity Abe Kobo, Sake Komatsu, Shinichi Hoshi. Chinese fantasy is marked in the 20th century by only one figure on a global scale - Lao She, author of "Notes on the City of Cats" (1933).
Science fiction in Russia
In Russia, the tradition of science fiction is associated with the name of V.F. Odoevsky, the author of the novel “Year 4338” (1840). Researchers point to fantasy elements in the works of writers of the late 19th - early 20th century: A.I. Kuprin, A.A. Bogdanov, V.Ya. Bryusov. An important role in the formation of domestic science fiction was the novels of A.N. Tolstoy "Aelita" (1922) and "The Hyperboloid of Engineer Garin" (1926); V.A. Itin "Country Gonguri" (1922), V.E. Orlovsky "Revolt of atoms" (1928). A.R. Belyaev occupies a special place in the history of Russian science fiction. The traditions laid down by these writers could not develop in the 1930s-50s due to the influence of “short-range fiction” (V.I. Nemtsov, A.P. Kazantsev), who claimed “ applied value» science fiction, its role as a propagandist and popularizer of scientific and technological achievements in the near future. The role of the novel by I.A. Efremov "The Andromeda Nebula" (1958) is great, from which the newest period of Russian science fiction 1960s - its "golden age", the time of entry into the literature of A.N. and B.N. Strugatsky, I.I. Varshavsky, D.A. Bilenkin, S.F. Gansovsky, E.L. Voiskunsky and I.B. Lukodyanov, K. Bulychev, M.T. Emtsev and E.I. Parnova, O.N. .Larionova. The end of the 1980s-90s is associated with the names of B.G.Shtern, V.M.Rybakov, M.G.Uspensky, A.G.Lazarchuk, E.Yu.Lukin.
History of science fiction
The first works on the history of science fiction appeared in the United States in the 1930s and were written not by professional writers, but by science fiction lovers. Clubs of fans of this literature began to appear in the late 1920s; at the same time, amateur magazines began to be published, in which materials on the history of science fiction were printed. The beginning of the professional study of science fiction falls on the end of the 1950s, when the first specialized magazine Extrapolation appeared, while the “frontal” study should be dated to the 70s, when similar Extrapolation, Science Fiction Studies and "Foundation", to publish an encyclopedia of science fiction, a whole squad of academic researchers appeared, science fiction began to be taught at various universities in the West. In the USSR, criticism of science fiction, like all other types of literature, was extremely ideological, politicized, the task of science fiction was considered to be the popularization of the achievements of science and technology. The situation partly changed in the 1960s, when not only literary critics, but also philosophers, historians, and sociologists turned to its study.
Science fiction is actively manifesting itself in the cinema- Since the beginning of the 20th century, fantastic films have appeared, the number of which in the 1930s allows us to talk about the emergence of a separate branch of cinematography. The works of Y. Protazanov "Aelita" (1924) and F. Lang's "Metropolis" (1926) became classics of science fiction. Dozens have since been removed. different versions adaptations of Wells' novels, R. L. Stevenson's stories "The Strange Case of Dr. Jackie I and Mr. Hyde", M. Shelley's "Frankenstein, or the Modern Prometheus". The second half of the 20th century was marked by films on space themes - "A Space Odyssey 2001" (1968) by S. Kubrick, "Star Wars" (1977) by D. Lucas, about contacts with representatives of other civilizations - "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" (1977) and "Alien" (1982) by S. Spielberg, films about monsters - "Godzilla" (1954), disaster films - "The Death of Japan" (1973). In the 20th century, science fiction dramaturgy arose - plays intended both for staging in the theater ("R.U.R." .
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