Academic Skills Plus Essay

Atwood writes What I mean by skill prevarication is those books that fall d ca exercise from H. G. Wellss The War of the Worlds, which treats of an invasion by tentacled, blood-sucking Martians shot to Earth in admixture scarcelyt endisters things that could non possibly surpass whereas, for me, wondering(a) parable means plots that descend from Jules Vernes books just about submarines and balloon travel and much(prenominal) things that really could happen but in effect(p) hadnt alone happened when the authors wrote the books. I would place my own books in this second category no Martians. (From In other worlds, p.6)With these remarks in mind, is it reusable to commemorate between comprehension illustration and risky manufacture? In answering this question you might contend Le Guins suggestion that people who refer to their works as unsound assembly rather than accomplishment apologue be simply trying to nurse themselves from virtually of the negative c onnotations associated with science legend ( stick out In other worlds)? reason in relation to at least two works. acquisition parable is often peg downd as a wide literary musical musical literary music genre related to assemblyal stories. It contains many subgenres, such as space opera, cyberpunk, utopia, dystopia, alternate(a) histories and bad prevarication. Although there are an extensive number of subgenres, many writers, as Margaret Atwood, have been trying to differentiate spoilt lying from science prevarication. Maybe this wideness of subgenres existing under the genre science legend is exactly the reason wherefore Atwood found interesting to present this differentiation. When we consider science fiction stories, many different things clear came up to our mind, such as aliens, intergalactic travel, artificial intelligence and utopian (or dystopian) societies. Considering that, as we can notice in these examples, these topics can differ a lot from separate ly other and it might be understandable that Atwoodwanted to differentiate (more than just defining different subgenres) the kind of fiction related to more plausible things (things that could really happen, as she says).Definitely, speculative fiction books have a completely different scenario from cyberpunk, aliens or space opera works and this could awake a desire to disconnect them in a more significantly manner. However, it is attainable to affirm that this distinction between science and speculative fiction is not useful and that there is no reason for making it, especially considering that speculative fiction is just one more subgenre of science fiction. This thesis willing be supported by a number of points presented throughout this essay. Firstly, it will be argued that the subgenre speculative fiction fits perfectly into the explanations and requisites related to science fiction.Secondly, it will be discussed that Atwoods definition of speculative fiction is timid and can change according to interpretation, and to a fault that it can be utilise to define as speculative fiction other books that she clearly had assort as belonging to science fiction. Thereby, her definition can be seen as not clear, which makes it not useful at all. Finally, it will be presented that Atwood seems to reinforce this division specially because distinguishing speculative fiction from science fiction is agreeable for her. There are some evidences for that, for example, Le Guin once give tongue to Atwood was trying to value herself from negative connotations associated with science fiction. This is change surface noticeable considering that many of her attempts to define the genre contained irony and clichs.Firstly, it will be discussed that speculative fiction fits perfectly into the definitions and requisites related to the science fiction subgenres, which makes un needed and not useful the distinction between them. It was stated before that science fiction has a big number of subgenres and it is clear that they differ considerably from severally other. However, despite their singularities, all of them have one kind of cohesive fixings in common, which brings each subgenre to be defined as part of the genre science fiction. To define this common element noticed in all the science fiction subgenres, it is useful to consider two Suvins definitions about science fiction SF is, hence, a literary genre whose necessary and sufficient conditions are the presence and interaction of estrangement and cognition,and whose main conventional device is an imaginative framework alternative to the authors data-based environment (Suvin 1979, p. 7) and Science Fiction is distinguished by the narrative command or hegemony of a fictional novum (novelty, innovation) validated by cognitive system of logic (Suvin 1979, p. 63).Considering these two definitions, it is possible to affirm then that the necessary and sufficient conditions to grade one science fiction work are the presence of a novum and the presence of a cognitive logic, the logical consistency which makes the novum sour part of our knowledge about real things. With this in mind, we can probe the book The Handmaids Tale from Atwood. She clearly have classify this book as not universe science fiction, however, it is well to identify the novum and overly the cognitive logic in her book. The novum is represented by the whole system of political organization in the Republic of Gilead describe on the book and the cognitive logic is precondition by some similarities that can be noticed between our society and the society depict on the book.In the same way, for the book of H. G. Wells, The War of the Worlds, we can also identify the novum, which is given by the Martians and their technology and the cognitive logic, given by the similarities existing between both societies. Thus, it can be affirm that both books The Handmaids Tale and The War of the World belongs to the genre science fiction, contradicting Atwoods previous proposition. This proves that although Atwoods book can be classified as speculative fiction, it truly belongs to science fiction, leading us to verify again that speculative fiction is just one more subgenre of science fiction. It makes clear then that the division between science and speculative fiction is not useful and not justifiable.Secondly, it will be presented that Atwoods definition of speculative fiction is imprecise and also can be used to define as speculative fiction other books that were categorized as science fiction by her. In order to illustrate these points, we will analyse Atwood (2011) definition about speculative fiction as things that really could happen but just hadnt completely happened when the authors wrote the books. This is a vague and inaccurate idea. It could hatch different definitions because the range of things that could really happen is high gearly dependent of each personsbeliefs and ideas, what makes this definition extremely subjective. Also, with just a few exceptions, it is not possible to say for sure what is and what is not going to happen.Besides, Atwood even gives us another definition Oryx and Crake is not science fiction. Science fiction is when you have chemicals and rockets. (Watts 2003, p. 3). Considering both definitions given by her, it could be tacit that she considers rockets and chemicals as things that really could not happen, as they belong to science fiction. However, it is know that rockets and chemicals are not things impossible to happen, especially because nowadays we can see some examples of them. Both definitions become contradictory then. Considering her first definition, books about this typography would be classified as speculative fiction however, she decided to use these two themes to exemplify science fiction. Atwoods definitions about speculative fiction are imprecise, therefore, what is the purpose in using an imprecise and miry de finition? It is simply not useful to distinguish science from speculative fiction then.Thirdly, it will be presented that Atwood seems to reinforce this division specially because distinguishing speculative fiction from science fiction is convenient for her. Le Guin (2009) states that Atwood was trying to protect herself from negative connotations associated with science fiction and also from being relegated to a genre still shunned by hidebound readers, reviewers and prize-awarders. Considering Le Guins remarks, it is possible to commemorate that science fiction was not a literary genre with appreciable prestige in the intellectual audience. This could reduce her reputation on the high literary society. One possible reason for science fiction being underestimated is that science fiction could be related to some works produced for great deal audience like Star Trek and Dr Who and intellectuals would associate her books to these works. Then it would be interesting for her to disso ciate the connection between her books and the genre science fiction once it was not so appreciated by the intellectual audience.And this is also noticed by considering that some of her remarks about science fiction contains irony, as she frequently uses clichs to refer about it, such as rockets, chemicals, blood-sucking Martians, public lecture squids in outer space, and skin-tight clothing. Thus, it is possible to verify why Atwood reinforces the division between speculative and science fiction. Andconsidering her reasons we can see that they are not justifiable and strong enough to make the distinction between speculative and science fiction useful. Finally, this essay discussed a number of points in order to support the thesis that the distinction between speculative and science fiction is not useful. Firstly, it was stated that although it may be hard to define some literary genres it is noticeable that speculative fiction fits perfectly in most of definitions of science ficti on, making it a subgenre only.Secondly, it was presented that Atwoods definition about speculative fiction is vague and could classify as speculative fiction some books that she clearly classified as science fiction. Thirdly, it was discussed that is convenient for her to separate speculative fiction from science fiction since the genre of science fiction was not so appreciated by reviewers and prize awarders and was associated to some mass audience works. She does not want to be linked to this propose so she tries to put her works under a different literary classification. This point shows us clearly that there is no consistent and universal reason for her to do the distinction. In conclusion, this essay illustrated that is not useful to distinguish between science fiction and speculative fiction and the reason for this was explained by all of the arguments stated previously.ReferencesAtwood, M 1985, The Handmaids Tale, Anchor Books, unsanded York.Atwood, M 2011, In Other Worlds SF and the Human Imagination, Doubleday.Le Guin, U 2009, The social class of the Flood by Margaret Atwood, The Guardian, 29 August. Available at http//www.theguardian.com/books/2009/aug/29/margaret-atwood-year-of-floodSuvin, D 1979, Metamorphoses Of Science Fiction, Yale University Press, New HavenWatts, P 2003, Margaret Atwood and the Hierarchy of Contempt, On Spec, vol. 15, no. 2, summer, pp. 3-5.Wells, H 1898, The War of the World, New York Review Books, New York.