What is the difference between fantasy and science fiction. Conclusion: what is the difference between science fiction and fantasy

The terms "fantasy" and "fantastic" in relation to literature can be used in different values. First of all, literary critics use these concepts to define the type artistic convention, which is built around the combination of the boundaries of "real" and "impossible". In this case, the category fantasy literature many works can be attributed, including Bulgakov's "Master and Margarita" or Gogol's "Portrait", in which the characters encountered phenomena that go beyond what is understood as reality.

However, more and more often the mentioned terms are used in a different, narrow sense - as synonyms for the genre called "science fiction". There are quite a few examples of such literature - Wells' "War of the Worlds", Asimov's "The End of Eternity" and many others. Based precisely on this narrow point of view, it is necessary to answer the question "what is the difference between science fiction and fantasy?"

Fundamental difference

The plot of the novels by S. Lem or A. Belyaev is based on a rationally conditioned message. This means that science fiction authors sought to logically motivate, somehow explain to the reader the emergence of a fantastic element in their works. How far these explanations run counter to traditional science is hard to judge. So, G. Wells, creating his invisible man, missed the fact (intentionally?) that the transparent retina of the eyes will make their owner absolutely blind. However, a science fiction writer needs only in general terms explain fantasy element otherwise the reader will simply lose interest in the book.

The fantasy genre suggests a fundamentally different plot premise. "Wonderful", "unreal" in the novels of Tolkien or Rowling is determined by nothing more than the laws of the depicted world. And if Harry Potter cannot open the door with a spell, this is by no means due to the fact that waving a wand, in general, cannot be forced physical body move. It's just that this door was bewitched by another, even more powerful wizard.

Relationship to reality

Another point in which science fiction differs from fantasy lies in the relation of what is happening to the reader's reality. So, science fiction that can describe social stratification society of Martians living in the 29th century, however, should correlate with the reality familiar to the reader. This is achieved through a "realistic" frame, a comparison of the achievements of science and the world that science fiction represents. Its genre also includes an appeal to reliable and not very documentary sources. A similar technique has been known since the time of Jules Verne.

The fantasy world, in turn, is presented by its creator as autonomous, existing according to its own laws, which do not correlate with the reader's ideas. However, books in the fantasy genre are able to resort to parallels with extra-textual reality, especially if such references are supposed to convey an idea that is fundamentally important for the author.

Narrative organization

The science fiction author needs to present the depicted world in as much detail as possible, otherwise the reader will not have the illusion of authenticity, and reading such a book will simply be uninteresting. On the other hand, an excessive abundance of details, technical details should also not distract the reader from the plot. Conclusion: the author needs to maintain the necessary balance in the image of the world of the future - for example, outline it with a few strokes, leaving room for fantasy. Or use references to reality, which will help explain how the society of some Martians living in the 20th century works.

This is the kind of storytelling that fantasy is. The fantasy genre, in turn, does not imply a detailed introduction of the reader into the world of the extraordinary. On the contrary, the discovery of another reality takes the hero by surprise, causing fear or great surprise. Wherein surrounding reality stays the same.

Approach to the image of a person

Even against the background of a myth or a fairy tale, completely devoid of psychologism, science fiction is considered a prime example how a secondary convention can destroy a hero, turn a full-blooded character into a conditional cliché. And no wonder. The depiction of new worlds, fascinating inventions - this is what science fiction focuses on. Determination of the main features of the character, description of it internal state not included in the tasks of the writer. So, Obruchev's "Plutonia" can be read from cover to cover and not understand how the zoologist Papochkin differs from the botanist Gromeko. And even if these characters try to reflect, their thoughts will be extremely abstract, devoid of any individuality. Science fiction is also notable for its extensive use of stereotyped images, already seen in the literature of the century before last. These include the “mad scientist”, “alien” (some terrible creature of alien origin that has invaded the Earth and is ready to destroy it).

Fantasy books are more attentive to the inner experiences of the hero; they are more psychological than science fiction. Fantasy knows two types of heroes depending on how they react to the magic happening. The first seeks at all costs to return to the former, normal world. Often such characters are no different from the average inhabitants. Other heroes, in contrast to them, get used to the new world and even feel happy in it. Often these are notorious eccentrics and romantics.

Problem level

The main difference between science fiction and fantasy is the problematic level. The purpose of the novels of Wells, Lem or Asimov is to give some forecast of scientific, philosophical or social character. For fantasy, the main embodiment remains in the fullness of the world, connecting the everyday and the unusual, the fantastic. It is from these two layers that the “true” reality consists, and they are indissoluble in the novels of Tolkien and Rowling.

Classification

The difference between fantasy and science fiction manifests itself in the presence of various genre branches. Thus, in accordance with a long tradition, it is proposed to distinguish between "hard" and "humanitarian" science fiction. In addition, sometimes it is proposed to consider utopia, dystopia and a warning novel as a genre offshoot. It is easy to see that the first genre features are based on the ratio of "scientific" and "literary" in the texts of Wells, Asimov and other writers. As for the utopias and dystopias attributed to the genre of science fiction, this point of view is most likely erroneous. Novels like "We" by Zamyatin or "1984" by J. Orwell have a special poetics that only borrows some tricks from science fiction.

The fantasy genre is usually classified according to a different thematic principle. So, literary critics usually talk about mythological (for example, the novel by M. Semenova "Wolfhound"), fabulous, playful (works by R. Knaak) varieties of this genre.

Non-literary aspect

The history of the development of science fiction and fantasy is also different. This is especially evident in the example of Russian literature, where works like Tolkien's novels remained banned. At the same time, science fiction was perhaps the only way that allowed dissenting writers to express themselves without fear. own position. And stay at the same time within the "allowed" framework. The image of the future was not forbidden; on the contrary, it was even welcomed, especially if it bore pronounced utopian features.

However, at the turn of the century, the situation changed. Polish, Ukrainian, Russian fantasy appeared. The authors widely began to use elements of this genre in their works. Nowadays, Oldie, Valentinov, Lukyanenko can be called classics (of course, within the framework of this literature).

Synthesis of genres

Speaking about the differences between science fiction and fantasy, it is necessary to mention works that successfully combine the signs of both genres. A prime example of this is Lewis's Space Trilogy. If the first book is saturated with ironically rethought cliches from science fiction, then the subsequent parts of the trilogy just depict the discovery by the hero of the “true reality”, which managed to miraculously to combine the scientific and Christian-mythological picture of being.

Conclusion: what is the difference between science fiction and fantasy

Thus, summing up, we note that the main difference between science fiction and fantasy lies in the fundamentally different artistic messages. This difference, however, also affects the poetics of the work as a whole - the level of narration, the system of characters. In addition, science fiction and fantasy developed in different, different ways from each other.

» S. Lukyanenko - all these sensational series, beautifully filmed and attracted many fans, undoubtedly belong to the designated genre.

At the same time, the closest relative of fantasy - science fiction - has significantly lost its positions in the 21st century. What is the secret of such popularity of fantasy? How is fantasy different from science fiction? Let's try to figure it out point by point.

Similarities and differences between fantasy and science fiction are summarized in the table

Confrontation between the forces of good and evil

Science fiction is either not characterized by such a confrontation, or it is expressed less clearly. At the end, the reader most often finds himself with an unanswered question: who is right and what was the best way to do it.

Fantasy provides an unequivocal answer to moral questions and this, apparently, captivates in our age of constant change and uncertainty. It's like good fairy tale, helps the reader to navigate the moral choice and remember simple but important truths.

special world

The world of fantasy is always a world of pure fantasy, for good reason, because the word itself hints at it. The flight of the author's imagination is practically unlimited: different historical eras and their unexpected combinations (pistols and blasters from the inhabitants of the Middle Ages), mythical and fairy tale characters acting on the pages of the book (dragons, orcs, knights round table), magic and supernatural phenomena in everyday life.

What is the difference between fantasy and science fiction

The world of science fiction is always more homogeneous, sustained in a single style and populated by author's characters, without introducing a global culture in the form of Baba Yaga or genies. Of course, every rule has exceptions, it is enough to recall some of the novels of the Strugatsky brothers, the same "".

Everything in science fiction is subject to rational explanation. Even the most daring assumptions are justified scientifically, and often with the involvement of new theories, recent real discoveries. So this genre helps to comprehend scientific developments to draw conclusions about their future.

The main distinguishing feature of fantasy

It is not surprising that in our age scientific explanation everything and complete rationality in life, it is no longer science fiction that comes to the fore, but fantasy. Too much science has already become boring in everything, for relaxation a person needs to dream freely, without substantiating his fantasies and not trusting the lyrics with mathematics.

It's lovely distinguishing feature fantasy, the main highlight that attracts many fans to the genre. The future writer should keep this in mind and not bring unnecessary explanations from an alien scientific field. In general, you should not try to explain everything to the reader, leave room for his imagination.

Hero Development

Fantasy is related to the fairy tale by the way the main characters develop throughout all the ups and downs and adventures that fall to their lot. Just as Ivanushka the Fool becomes Ivan Tsarevich at the end of the tale, so the fantasy hero very often changes dramatically for the better.

The reader rejoices, empathizing with the changes of the hero, perhaps even experiencing own dreams about changing yourself and your life. Let him feel it through your book! Let difficulties temper the heroes, and moral choice helps to become wiser, because this is what attracts many people to the fantasy genre.

How are science fiction heroes different from fantasy heroes?

Science fiction is much less likely to show the whole path of becoming a hero from beginning to end. Much more often, the characters are initially set and almost do not change over time, everything is focused on action or rational explanations.

"Between past and future..."

Science fiction strives forward, wants to predict the changes that will follow in society after the next discovery, or even completely anticipates the development of science. The brave mind of science fiction writers opens up new horizons for scientists, raises questions that require a scientific answer.

It is not for nothing that in his works he anticipated the discovery of a helicopter and a submarine, described a space rocket and interplanetary flights long before their technical development, and became the first to imagine the world of virtual reality.

What is the difference between fantasy and science fiction in literature

fantasy in literary plan it's not that it's lagging behind, no. The genre is simply directed in the opposite direction and does not seek to predict. For fantasy, it is more important not to find out what will happen to the world in ten or fifty years, but to find a foothold in our reality, to comprehend what is already happening.

No matter how the world around changes, a person’s life goes through certain stages, which in Ancient Egypt, what in modern Russia, and you need to live it, discovering not rockets with spacesuits, but hidden patterns and rules. Each person finds simple truths for himself, it is impossible to teach them, just as it is impossible to make someone wise. The fantasy writer only helps the reader ask such questions at all, but that's a lot.

Social innovation

The fantasy world, like no other, is inhabited by many different races. Almost no book is complete without such a division, no matter who it will be in each case - beautiful elves and rude orcs, or vampires and mere mortals. The starting point for the development of the plot in fantasy is the conflict between them, the tension intensifies, causing wars, upheavals in the fantasy world.

It is easy to see parallels with real life where it is so difficult to find peace and easy coexistence, not only between nations, but even between generations of the same family. The fantasy writer sets himself the difficult task of somehow resolving this eternal conflict in his work. To do this, he uses all the forces of the genre: the characters come to grips with their enemies, develop themselves and see changes in opponents, interact with each other and find allies, reveal traitors. And, finally, they defeat enemies or reconcile with them.

The difference between fantasy and science fiction in terms of philosophical ideas

Science fiction can also be strong in thinking about society, just remember stories about androids and people. But these are always more abstract philosophical questions, while the problems of a particular person allow you to metaphorically survive the struggle of magicians or vampires in a simple and colorful world fantasy. There is definitely a psychological background, and a psychotherapeutic effect of reading.

Historical approach

No genre attracts young people to the study of history as much as fantasy. Authors of pure historical novel never achieved such popularity, and even more so did not inspire their fans to go out into the field with a forged sword, as at Tolkienist rallies.

The difference between fantasy as a genre that popularizes history

Due to its high popularity, fantasy makes the world in which the characters operate popular, interesting to study. It is no secret that fantasy writers are very fond of the Middle Ages and their romance with beautiful knights, magic that organically fits into the lifestyle and proximity to the animal world and nature. Although there are practically no times left and real-life countries in which fantasy adventures would not take place.

One can only rejoice when the passion for books develops into good knowledge cultures of other countries, education of the reader. Fantasy, like no other genre, helps to be sincerely interested in and love history.

Dreams become new reality

The most important thing in fantasy is a swift, unlimited flight of fancy. The writer's fiction helps the reader to start fantasizing on their own, to invent own worlds and their rules. Fantasy has a truly healing effect for the soul, because it allows you to a short time completely distracted from worldly adversity and everyday life. At the same time, it does not lead to the world of fruitless dreams, because fantasy is one of the genres most associated with morality and morality. It is almost impossible to name books of this genre in which evil would win and be justified. There is no cynicism in fantasy, exaggeration of the gloomy sides of life, hopelessness.

Neither science fiction nor realistic novel can not be compared with fantasy in kindness and humanity. One can only hope that it is not in vain that this light genre has become popular, that it is really capable of changing something in readers and life itself for the better.

All children love fairy tales. And older children even more so. Only their fairy tales are scarier, but more interesting. Here you won’t be surprised by the Frog Princess, and cunning writers have come up with a genre that helps to escape from reality into fairy world quite "adult" scale. Fantasy world. This genre is perhaps one of the oldest genres of literature, because ancient greek myths and the legends also belong to fantasy genre. In addition, fiction is very diverse, including many varieties, including science fiction and fantasy. The similarity of names and the fact that in the nineteenth-twentieth century science fiction gained immense popularity led to the fact that when we talk about science fiction, we mean science fiction, and fantasy in general separate genre do not highlight. Let's try to draw a line between two genres of science fiction: science fiction and fantasy.

Definition

There are a huge number of definitions of both science fiction and fantasy. Let's dwell on the most common.

Verbatim Science fiction translated as "scientific fiction". It can be defined as a kind of fantastic literature and art, which is based on a scientific assumption, supplemented by the imagination of the author. These fantasies can develop not only on the basis of technological realities, but also historical, cultural, spatio-temporal, etc. Science fiction isn't just about wizardry and magic.

A frame from the science fiction film "Professor Dowell's Head"

But fantasy fills this gap. And at the heart of this genre lies the free flight of fantasy, not limited by scientific boundaries. Fantasy is a kind of science fiction, which is based on the flight of imagination of the author who is not limited by the framework. scientific progress or regression. The fantasy world develops thanks to mystical elements, as well as magic and sorcery. Translated from English as fantasy.

emergence

Again, many people think that science fiction appeared only at the turn of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. But this is not true. As it was written above, myths and legends belong to fiction. different peoples. Fantastic literature developed both during the Renaissance (utopian works) and throughout the Middle Ages (romantic fiction). But science fiction, as a genre, just appeared thanks to the scientific and technological progress of the nineteenth century. The pioneers of the genre were Jules Verne, in the USSR - A. Tolstoy, A. Belyaev.

But the founding father of fantasy is JRR Tolkien with his famous Bilbo Baggins (The Hobbit, or There and Back Again). Then the idea of ​​good (and not so) gnomes, elves and goblins was picked up by other writers. But the peak of fantasy popularity came in the nineties of the twentieth century. To this day, fantasy is the most popular view fiction that has supplanted science fiction.

Some works stand, as it were, at the junction of these genres, for example, the work of Ursula Le Guin. Her works are sometimes classified as fantasy, sometimes as science fiction. This is exactly the case when one genre smoothly flows into another.

Subgenres

There are not very many science fiction subgenres. We will simply list the main typical representatives of this subgenre: technological fiction (R. Heinlein), cyber fiction (A. Clark), sociological (Orwell). Each of these subgenres experienced a peak in popularity during a particular decade of the twentieth century. But in the past few decades, science fiction literature has been supplanted by the fantasy genre in all its manifestations.

There are a lot of fantasy genres. Moreover, with the development of the Internet and computer games, this genre won another niche for itself. The most common subgenres are magical, mystical and scientific.

Also, fantasy is closely intertwined with other literary genres, giving rise to a fantastic detective story or a fantastic action movie.

Findings site

1. Science fiction is based on scientific facts, the basis of fantasy is magic.
2. Science fiction is literally translated as scientific fiction, and fantasy as fantasy.
3. The foundation for the birth of both genres was science fiction. Science fiction appeared at the turn of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, and developed rapidly throughout the twentieth century. Fantasy appeared in the middle of the century.
4. Science fiction is going through better times, and fantasy, on the contrary, develops, giving rise to more and more new genres.

If you ask the first person you meet about this, then, most likely, he will answer that it is not important for him, the main thing is that the plot is interesting. If you ask this question to specialists of a narrow profile, then it will cause a huge amount of emotions and a debatable struggle for the right of this or that definition to be correct, and this question will generally be considered incorrect.

But for a wide range readers and viewers, science fiction and fantasy are fascinating literary genres in the spirit of an unusual, unrealistic, but surprisingly interesting idea. To figure out whether it is possible and necessary to compare them, let's start in order.

Fantasy - translated from Greek, means the art of imagination. The emergence of fantasy as a literary movement began in the 19th century with the growth scientific and technological progress and is associated with the names of Herbert Wells and Jules Verne. In Russia, the first science fiction writers were Alexander Veltman, Vladimir Odoevsky, Alexander Bestuzhev-Marlinsky, and later the world learned the names of the Strugatsky brothers, Ivan Efremov, Alexander Grin, Alexander Belyaev. A close connection with science separated science fiction from fiction and attracted people, one way or another connected with scientific knowledge: scientists, students, people of technical professions. That is, initially science fiction assumed precisely science fiction, trying to logically explain the basic ideas about a person, his world and the theoretical possibilities of his abilities in the future. That is, the main thing in this definition is the future.

Since the middle of the 20th century, the concept of "fantasy" has significantly expanded the scope of its definition. In the 1970s and 1980s, science fiction itself underwent a series of changes that brought it closer to the general literary stream, simplifying the scientific framework and previously defined rules. Gradually, under the familiar concept of "fantasy", the works of authors related to mysticism, "horror" (horror literature), fantasy (magic, magic fiction), etc. began to be understood. That is, fantasy literary direction, if it can be compared, it is with science fiction, and not with science fiction in general.

fantasy suggests free fantasy(apparently from this words happened) without any explanation. This is a kind of fantastic literature that allows for everything irrational, supernatural - sorcerers, Gods, wizards, etc.

Initially, fantasy assumes an unknown, unidentified and inaccessible past to our consciousness, in which all the usual laws of physics, mathematics, logic, etc. are violated. For example, magic that denies the laws of gravity, conservation of energy, any causal relationship. Although there are versions that magic is just the same very well thought out and calculated field of knowledge, but we must make a reservation that paranormal knowledge. In other words, fantasy is where the magic is, fantasy is where the physics is.

According to A. Sapkowski, fantasy is a genre or subgenre of science fiction, the founder of which is Howard, Lewis, Tolkien, Moorcock, Norton, Le Guin. He calls the main source of fantasy not fairy tale from our childhood (which is called folk epic), but the legends about King Arthur, which have very few analogues of this level. It was this archetype that became the prototype of most works of the fantasy genre, which is based on the opposition of Good and Evil, Progress and Destruction, and the Forces behind it. But also this salient feature fantasy, as a genre at the beginning of its development, is lost when compared with science fiction, because the struggle between light and dark is the basis of the literary concept of almost any work. As one of the critics noted, fantasy is what we guess from the very first lines of a book or the first minutes of a movie, but to explain and give an accurate and specific definition can not.

There are dozens of genres in science fiction, from children's fantasy, magical realism, utopia and dystopia, "soft" science fiction to cyberpunk, space science fiction, techno-fantasy, apocalypse and post-apocalypse.

As you can see, fantasy is part of the fantasy world. But! AT early XXI centuries, these two concepts have merged, mixed and dissolved. If initially, science fiction is robots, starships, aliens, and fantasy is magicians, gnomes, swords and fairy-tale characters, then works where scientific discoveries committed by fantasy heroes and vice versa, where the entourage of one direction is superimposed on another and often the most competent critic is unable to determine where to attribute this or that film or literary creation.

This trend of synergy is characteristic of the entire scientific and non-scientific world. An era has come when a synthesis of knowledge is needed in all areas. The science recognizes paranormal activity and comments on biblical interpretations. Literary currents It's just a reflection of reality. The fusion of the concepts of scientific and non-scientific is dictated by an overabundance of information flows that merge with each other, creating new emotional sensations.

Reproducing new masterpieces. AT recent times books devoted to fictional worlds are especially popular among readers, so it became necessary to find a clear explanation of the difference between science fiction and fantasy. Although these two genres are similar to each other, there are still some very significant differences.

In science fiction, basically everything is viewed from scientific point of view, in it events take place in a world that differs from the modern historical, physical or technological reality. Such works use machines or devices that did not yet exist at the time of writing. How is science fiction different from fantasy? The fact that the ideas of writers in the future are reflected in technological progress.

What distinguishes science fiction from fantasy is the anomalous properties of the world from the point of view of physics. We perceive time that moves only in one direction, but the writers suggested that it can move in a circle, repeatedly repeating the same events or returning to the past. This cannot be called a complete fiction, because various anomalies are also found in our world. And what the best minds humanity has not yet found an explanation for this, does not mean that this cannot be. What distinguishes science fiction from fantasy is that the creator of the work is trying to expand the accepted framework for perceiving the world, to conduct a thought experiment. Often in such books you can read about extraterrestrial civilizations, on this moment this is an unconfirmed fact, but it cannot be denied.

Where fantasy differs from science fiction is the presence of magic, fictional worlds and races. In such works, the characters use unusual powers, magic wands, secret knowledge, magical abilities, various artifacts. Among the races, the most common are elves, goblins, orcs, gnomes, brownies, hobbits. Among contemporary writers fantasy genre, it is worth highlighting JK Rowling with her world famous novels about Harry Potter, John Tolkien with the Lord of the Rings trilogy, etc.

Works of this genre can be considered entertaining, because the events described in them will never happen in reality. The action usually takes place in fictional world, on another planet, the writer does not indicate the exact location of the magical country, or is it hidden from view ordinary people, as it happens in Rowling's novels. The Science Fiction and Fantasy Library is a curious collection of books. Many writers combine these two genres, creating interesting works worth reading.

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