Fantastic– comes from the Greek concept “phantastike” (the art of imagining).
In the modern understanding, fantasy can be defined as one of the types of literature that is capable of creating a magical, wonderful picture of the world, contrasting existing reality and concepts familiar to us all.
It is known that science fiction can be divided into different directions: fantasy and science fiction, hard science fiction, space fiction, combat and humor, love and social, mysticism and horror.
Perhaps these genres, or subtypes of science fiction as they are also called, are by far the most famous in their circles.
Let's try to characterize each of them separately.
Science fiction (SF):
So, science fiction is a genre of literature and film that describes events that occur in the real world and differ from historical reality in any significant respect.
These differences can be technological, scientific, social, historical and any other, but not magical, otherwise the whole intent of the concept of “science fiction” is lost.
In other words, science fiction reflects the influence of scientific and technological progress on the everyday and familiar life of a person.
Among the popular plots of works of this genre are flights to uncharted planets, the invention of robots, the discovery of new forms of life, the invention of new weapons, etc.
The following works are popular among fans of this genre: “I, Robot” (Azeik Asimov), “Pandora’s Star” (Peter Hamilton), “Attempt to Escape” (Boris and Arkady Strugatsky), “Red Mars” (Kim Stanley Robinson) and many other wonderful books.
The film industry has also produced many films in the science fiction genre. Among the first foreign films, Georges Milies' film “A Trip to the Moon” was released.
It was made in 1902 and is truly considered the most popular film to be shown on the big screen.
You can also note other films in the science fiction genre: “District No. 9” (USA), “The Matrix” (USA), the legendary “Aliens” (USA). However, there are also films that have become classics of the genre, so to speak.
Among them: “Metropolis” (Fritz Lang, Germany), filmed in 1925, struck with its idea and representation of the future of humanity.
Another film masterpiece that has become a classic is “2001: A Space Odyssey” (Stanley Kubrick, USA), released in 1968.
This picture tells the story of extraterrestrial civilizations and is very much reminiscent of scientific material about aliens and their lives - for viewers back in 1968, this is truly something new, fantastic, something they have never seen or heard before. Of course, we can’t ignore Star Wars.
Episode 4: A New Hope" (George Lucas, USA), 1977.
Each of us has probably watched this film more than once. It is so captivating and attractive with its special effects, unusual costumes, luxurious scenery and heroes unknown to us.
Although, if we talk about the genre in which this film was shot, I would rather classify it as space fiction than science.
But, to justify the genre, we can say that probably not a single film is made in a certain genre in its pure form; there are always deviations.
Hard science fiction as a subgenre of SF
Science fiction has a so-called subgenre or subtype called “hard science fiction.”
Hard science fiction differs from traditional science fiction in that scientific facts and laws are not distorted during the narrative.
That is, we can say that the basis of this subgenre is a natural scientific knowledge base and the entire plot is described around a certain scientific idea, even a fantastic one.
The storyline in such works is always simple and logical, based on several scientific assumptions - a time machine, super-high-speed movement in space, extrasensory perception, etc.
Space fiction, another subgenre of SF
Space fiction is a subgenre of science fiction. Its distinctive feature is that the main plot takes place in outer space or on various planets in the Solar System or beyond.
Planetary romance, space opera, space odyssey.
Let's talk about each type in more detail.
A Space Odyssey:
So, A Space Odyssey is a storyline in which actions most often take place on space vessels (ships) and the heroes need to complete a global mission, the outcome of which determines the fate of a person.
Planetary Romance:
A planetary novel is much simpler in terms of the type of development of events and the complexity of the plot. Basically, all the action is limited to one specific planet, which is inhabited by exotic animals and people.
A lot of works in this type of genre are dedicated to the distant future in which people move between worlds on a spaceship and this is a normal phenomenon; some early works of space fiction describe simpler plots with less realistic methods of movement.
However, the goal and main theme of a planetary novel is the same for all works - the adventures of the heroes on a specific planet.
Space Opera:
Space opera is an equally interesting subtype of science fiction.
Its main idea is the maturation and growth of a conflict between heroes with the use of powerful high-tech weapons of the future to conquer the Galaxy or liberate the planet from space aliens, humanoids and other cosmic creatures.
The characters in this cosmic conflict are heroic. The main difference between space opera and science fiction is that there is an almost complete rejection of the scientific basis of the plot.
Among the works of space fiction that deserve attention are the following: “Paradise Lost”, “The Absolute Enemy” (Andrei Livadny), “The Steel Rat Saves the World” (Harry Harrison), “Star Kings”, “Return to the Stars” (Edmond Hamilton ), “The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy” (Douglas Adams) and other wonderful books.
And now let’s note several bright films in the “space science fiction” genre. Of course, we cannot ignore the well-known film “Armageddon” (Michael Bay, USA, 1998); "Avatar" (James Cameron, USA, 2009), which blew up the whole world, is distinguished by unusual special effects, vivid images, and the rich and unusual nature of an unknown planet; “Starship Troopers” (Paul Verhoeven, USA, 1997), also a popular film in its time, although many film fans today are ready to watch this picture more than once; It’s impossible not to mention all the parts (episodes) of “Star Wars” by George Lucas; in my opinion, this masterpiece of science fiction will be popular and interesting to viewers at all times.
Fighting fiction:
Combat fiction is a type (subgenre) of fiction that describes military actions taking place in the distant or not very distant future, and all actions take place using super-powerful robots and the latest weapons unknown to man today.
This genre is quite young; its origins can be dated back to the mid-20th century during the height of the Vietnam War.
Moreover, I note that combat science fiction became popular and the number of works and films increased, in direct proportion to the increase in conflicts in the world.
Among the popular authors representing this genre are: Joe Haldeman “Infinity War”; Harry Harrison "Steel Rat", "Bill - Hero of the Galaxy"; domestic authors Alexander Zorich “Tomorrow War”, Oleg Markelov “Adequacy”, Igor Pol “Guardian Angel 320” and other wonderful authors.
A lot of films have been made in the genre of “combat science fiction”: “Frozen Soldiers” (Canada, 2014), “Edge of Tomorrow” (USA, 2014), Star Trek: Into Darkness (USA, 2013).
Humorous fiction:
Humorous fiction is a genre in which unusual and fantastic events are presented in a humorous form.
Humorous fiction has been known since antiquity and is developing in our time.
Among the representatives of humorous fiction in literature, the most striking are our beloved Strugatsky Brothers “Monday Begins on Saturday”, Kir Bulychev “Miracles in Guslyar”, as well as foreign authors of humorous fiction Prudchett Terry David John “I’ll Put on Midnight”, Bester Alfred “Will You Wait? ", Bisson Terry Ballantine "They are made of meat."
Romance fiction:
Romance fiction, romantic adventure works.
This type of fiction includes love stories with fictional characters, magical countries that do not exist, the presence in the description of wonderful amulets with unusual properties, and, of course, all these stories have a happy ending.
Of course, we cannot ignore films made in the genre. Here are a few of them: “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” (USA, 2008), “The Time Traveler’s Wife (USA, 2009), “Her” (USA, 2014).
Social fiction:
Social fiction is a type of science fiction literature where the main role is played by relationships between people in society.
The main emphasis is on creating fantastic motifs in order to show the development of social relations in unrealistic conditions.
The following works were written in this genre: The Strugatsky Brothers “The Doomed City”, “The Hour of the Bull” by I. Efremov, H. Wells “The Time Machine”, “Fahrenheit 451” by Ray Bradbury.
Cinema also has films in the genre of social science fiction: “The Matrix” (USA, Australia, 1999), “Dark City” (USA, Australia, 1998), “Youth” (USA, 2014).
Fantasy:
Fantasy is a genre of fiction that describes a fictional world, most often the Middle Ages, and the storyline is built on the basis of myths and legends.
This genre is characterized by such heroes as gods, sorcerers, gnomes, trolls, ghosts and other creatures. Works in the Fantasy genre are very close to the ancient epic, in which heroes encounter magical creatures and supernatural events.
The fantasy genre is gaining momentum every year and has more fans.
Probably the whole secret is that our primitive world lacks some kind of fairy tale, magic, miracles.
The main representatives (authors) of this genre are Robert Jordan (fantasy book series “The Wheel of Time”, including 11 volumes), Ursula Le Guin (book series about Earthsea - “A Wizard of Earthsea”, “The Wheel of Atuan”, “On the Farthest Shore”, “Tuhanu” "), Margaret Weis (the series of works "DragonLance") and others.
Among the films shot in the “Fantasy” genre, there is quite enough to choose from and are suitable for even the most capricious film fan.
Among the foreign films I will note the following: “The Lord of the Rings”, “Harry Potter”, the all-time favorites “Highlander” and “Fantômas”, “Kill the Dragon” and many other wonderful films.
These films draw us in with excellent graphics, acting, mysterious plots, and watching such films gives us emotions that you cannot get from watching films in other genres.
It is fantasy that adds additional colors to our lives and delights us again and again.
Mysticism and horror:
Mysticism and horror - this genre is probably one of the most popular and attractive for both the reader and the viewer.
It is able to give such unforgettable impressions, emotions and increase adrenaline like no other genre of fiction.
At one time, before films and books about traveling into the future became popular, horror was the most unusual and favorite genre among lovers and admirers of everything fantastic. And today interest in them has not disappeared.
Prominent representatives of the book industry in this genre are: the legendary and beloved Stephen King “The Green Mile”, “The Dead Zone”, Oscar Wilde “The Picture of Dorian Gray”, our domestic author M. Bulgakov “The Master and Margarita”.
There are a great many films in this genre, and it is quite difficult to choose the best and brightest of them.
I’ll list just a few: everyone’s favorite “A Nightmare on Elm Street” (USA, 1984), Friday the 13th (USA 1980-1982), “The Exorcist” 1,2,3 (USA), “Premonition” (USA, 2007 ), “Destination” -1,2,3 (USA, 2000-2006), “Psychic” (UK, 2011).
As you can see, fantasy is such a versatile genre that anyone can choose what suits them in spirit, by nature, and will give them the opportunity to plunge into the magical, unusual, terrible, tragic, high-tech world of the future and inexplicable for us - ordinary people.
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 see 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 the novel by A.N. Tolstoy "Hyperboloid of 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 A.N.’s style. 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 of Engineer Garin".
Chapter 1. Science fiction and its style
The uniqueness of the science fiction genre
Science fiction (SF) is a genre in literature, cinema and other forms of art, one of the varieties of science fiction. Science fiction is based on fantastic assumptions in the fields of science and technology, including both the natural sciences and the humanities. Works based on non-scientific assumptions belong to other genres. Themes of science fiction works are new discoveries, inventions, facts unknown to science, space exploration and time travel.
The author of the term “sci-fi” is Yakov Perelman, who introduced this concept in 1914. Before this, a similar term - “fantastic scientific travels” - was used in relation to Wells and other authors by Alexander Kuprin in his article “Redard Kipling” (1908).
There is much debate among critics and literary scholars about what constitutes 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 technology and scientific discoveries (either proposed or already accomplished), their exciting possibilities, their positive or negative impact, and the paradoxes that may arise. SF in this narrow sense awakens the scientific imagination, makes us think about the future and the possibilities of science.
In a more general sense, SF is fantasy without the fabulous and mystical, where hypotheses are built about worlds without necessarily otherworldly forces, and the real world is imitated. Otherwise, it’s fantasy or mysticism with a technical touch.
Often, SF takes place in the distant future, which makes SF similar to futurology, the science of predicting the future world. Many sci-fi writers devote their work to literary futurology, attempts to guess and describe the real future of the Earth, as Arthur Clarke, Stanislav Lem and others did. Other writers use the future only as a setting that allows them to more fully reveal the idea of their work.
However, future fiction and science fiction are not exactly the same thing. The action of many science fiction works takes place in the conventional present (The Great Guslyar by K. Bulychev, most of the books of J. Verne, the stories of H. Wells, R. Bradbury) or even the past (books about time travel). At the same time, the action of works not related to science fiction is sometimes placed in the future. For example, many fantasy works take place on an Earth that has changed after a nuclear war (Shannara by T. Brooks, Wake 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 the fantastic assumption.
G. L. Oldie conventionally divides science fiction assumptions into natural science and humanities. 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. This is how works of social fiction, utopia and dystopia are created. Moreover, one work can combine several types of assumptions simultaneously.
As Maria Galina writes in her article, “It is traditionally believed that science fiction (SF) is literature, the plot of which revolves around some kind of 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 SF is usually based on one or several scientific assumptions (a time machine, faster-than-light travel in space, “supradimensional tunnels,” telepathy, etc.) are possible.”
The emergence of science fiction was caused by the Industrial Revolution in the 19th century. Initially, science fiction was a genre of literature that described 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 fiction 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 technology coexists with total social control and the power of all-powerful corporations. In works of this genre, the basis of the plot is the life of marginal fighters against the oligarchic regime, as a rule, in conditions of total cybernization of society and social decline. Famous 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.
Even 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 outlined his views on science and technology in the form of fictional stories. But before the revolution, SF was not an established genre with its regular writers and fans.
In the USSR, science fiction was one of the most popular genres. There were seminars for young science fiction writers and clubs for science fiction fans. Almanacs were published with stories by novice authors, such as “The World of Adventures,” and fantastic stories were published in the magazine “Technology for Youth.” At the same time, Soviet science fiction was subject to strict censorship restrictions. She was required to maintain a positive outlook on the future and faith in communist development. Technical accuracy was welcomed, mysticism and satire were condemned. In 1934, at the congress of the Writers' Union, Samuil Yakovlevich Marshak defined the fantasy genre as a place on a par with children's literature.
One of the first in the USSR to write science fiction was Alexey Nikolaevich Tolstoy (“Engineer Garin’s Hyperboloid”, “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 (“Struggle on the Air”, “Ariel”, “Amphibian Man”, “The Head of Professor Dowell”, etc.) and “alternative geographical” novels by V. A were published . Obruchev (“Plutonia”, “Sannikov’s Land”), satirical and fantastic 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 H. G. Wells, who was himself a socialist and visited the USSR several times.
In the 1950s, the rapid development of astronautics led to the flourishing of “short-range science fiction” - hard 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 science fiction. During this period, books by the Strugatsky brothers, Kir Bulychev, and Ivan Efremov appeared, which raised social and ethical issues and contained the authors’ views on humanity and the state. Often fantastic works contained hidden satire. The same trend is reflected in science fiction films, in particular in the works of Andrei Tarkovsky (“Solaris”, “Stalker”). In parallel with this, in the late USSR, a lot of adventure fiction for children was filmed (“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 of older genres such as utopia and alternative history.
The genre of the novel we are considering by A.N. Tolstoy is “hard” science fiction, so we would like to dwell on him in more detail.
Hard science fiction is the oldest and original genre of science fiction. Its peculiarity is its strict adherence to scientific laws known at the time of writing. The works of hard science fiction are based on a natural science assumption: for example, a scientific discovery, invention, novelty in science or technology. Before the advent of other types of SF, 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 the magazine Astounding Science Fiction.
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, Marakot's Abyss), works by H.G. Wells, Alexander Belyaev are called classics of hard science fiction. A distinctive feature of these books was a detailed scientific and technical base, and the plot was usually based on a new discovery or invention. The authors of hard science fiction have made many “predictions”, correctly guessing the further development of science and technology. Thus, Verne describes a helicopter in the novel “Robur the Conqueror,” an airplane in “Lord of the World,” and space flight in “From the Earth to the Moon” and “Around the Moon.” Wells predicted video communications, central heating, lasers, atomic weapons. Belyaev in the 1920s described a space station and radio-controlled equipment.
Hard SF was especially developed in the USSR, where other genres of science fiction were not welcomed by censorship. “Short-range science fiction” was especially widespread, telling about the events of the supposed near future - first of all, the colonization of the planets of the solar system. The most famous examples of “short-range” fiction include books by G. Gurevich, G. Martynov, A. Kazantsev, and early books by the Strugatsky brothers (“Land of Crimson Clouds”, “Interns”). Their books told about the heroic expeditions of astronauts to the Moon, Venus, Mars, and the asteroid belt. In these books, technical accuracy in the description of space flights was combined with romantic fiction about the structure of neighboring planets - at that time 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 centuries, many authors turned to this genre in the second half of the 20th century. For example, Arthur C. Clarke, in his series of books “A Space Odyssey,” relied on a strictly scientific approach and described the development of astronautics very close to reality. In recent years, according to Eduard Gevorkyan, the genre is experiencing a “second wind.” An example of this is the 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 the fantastic element is another structure of society, completely different from the actually existing one, or taking it to extremes.
2) Chrono-fiction, temporal fiction, or chrono-opera is a genre that tells about time travel. Wells's The Time Machine is considered the key work of this subgenre. Although time travel had been written about before (for example, Mark Twain's A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court), it was in The Time Machine that time travel was first intentional and scientifically based, and thus the plot device was introduced specifically in science fiction.
3) Alternative history - a genre that develops the idea that some event happened or did not happen in the past, and what could come out of it.
The first examples of this kind of assumptions can be 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 Livy discussed what would have happened if Alexander the Great had gone 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 Things Had Turned Out 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, environmental disaster, epidemic).
Post-apocalypticism gained real momentum during the Cold War, when a real threat of nuclear holocaust loomed over humanity. During this period, such works as “The Song of Leibowitz” 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 even after the end of the Cold War (for example, “Metro 2033” by D. Glukhovsky).
5) Utopias and dystopias are genres dedicated to modeling the social order of the future. Utopias depict an ideal society that expresses the views of the author. In dystopias, there is the complete opposite of the ideal, a terrible, usually totalitarian, social system.
6) “Space Opera” was dubbed an entertaining adventure science fiction story published in popular pulp magazines in the United States in the 1920s-50s. The name was given in 1940 by Wilson Tucker and, at first, was a contemptuous epithet (by analogy with “soap opera”). However, over time, the term took root and ceased to have a negative connotation.
The action of a “space opera” takes place in space and on other planets, usually in a fictitious “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, works of this genre were purely entertaining, but later the techniques of “space opera” were included in the arsenal of authors of artistically significant fiction.
7) Cyberpunk is a genre that examines the evolution of society under the influence of new technologies, a special place among which is given to telecommunications, computer, biological, and, last but not least, social. The background in 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 using 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 science fiction classics as Jules Verne and Albert Robida, and on the other, being a type of post-cyberpunk. Sometimes dieselpunk is separately distinguished from it, corresponding to the science fiction of the first half of the 20th century. It can also be classified as an alternative history, since the emphasis is on the more successful and advanced development of steam technology instead of the invention of the internal combustion engine.
FICTION IN LITERATURE. Defining science fiction is a task that has generated an enormous amount of debate. The basis for no less controversy was the question of what science fiction consists of and how it is classified.
The question of isolating fantasy as an independent concept arose as a result of developments in the second half of the 19th and early 20th centuries. literature firmly connected with scientific and technological progress. The plot basis of science fiction works was made up of scientific discoveries, inventions, technical foresights... Herbert Wells and Jules Verne became the recognized authorities of science fiction of those decades. Until the middle of the 20th century. science fiction stood somewhat apart from the rest of literature: it was too closely connected with science. This gave theorists of the literary process grounds to assert that fantasy is a completely special kind of literature, existing according to rules unique to it and setting itself special tasks.
Subsequently, this opinion was shaken. The statement of the famous American science fiction writer Ray Bradbury is typical: “Fiction is literature.” In other words, there are no significant partitions. In the second half of the 20th century. previous theories gradually retreated under the onslaught of changes taking place in science fiction. Firstly, the concept of “fantasy” began to include not only “science fiction” itself, i.e. works that basically go back to the examples of Juulverne and Wells production. Under the same roof were texts related to “horror” (horror literature), mysticism and fantasy (magical, magical fiction). Secondly, significant changes have also occurred in science fiction: the “new wave” of American science fiction writers and the “fourth wave” in the USSR (1950–1980s of the 20th century) led an active struggle for the destruction of the boundaries of the “ghetto” of science fiction, its merging with literature “mainstream”, the destruction of the unspoken taboos that dominated old-style classic science fiction. A number of trends in “non-fantastic” literature have in one way or another acquired a pro-fantasy sound and borrowed the ambiance of science fiction. Romantic literature, literary fairy tale (E. Schwartz), phantasmagoria (A. Green), esoteric novel (P. Coelho, V. Pelevin), many texts lying in the tradition of postmodernism (for example, Mantissa Fowles), are recognized among science fiction writers as “theirs” or “almost theirs,” i.e. borderline, lying in a wide zone, which is covered by the spheres of influence of both “mainstream” literature and fantasy.
At the end of the 20th and the first years of the 21st centuries. The destruction of the concepts of “fantasy” and “science fiction”, which are familiar to fantastic literature, is growing. Many theories were created that in one way or another assigned strictly defined boundaries to these types of fiction. But for the general reader, everything was clear from the surroundings: fantasy is where witchcraft, swords and elves are; Science fiction is where robots, starships and blasters are. Gradually, “science fantasy” appeared, i.e. “scientific fantasy” that perfectly combined witchcraft with starships, and swords with robots. A special type of fiction was born - “alternative history”, which was later supplemented by “cryptohistory”. In both cases, science fiction writers use both the usual ambiance of science fiction and fantasy, and even combine them into an indissoluble whole. Directions have emerged in which it does not matter much whether one belongs to science fiction or fantasy. In Anglo-American literature this is primarily cyberpunk, and in Russian literature it is turborealism and “sacred fantasy”.
As a result, a situation has arisen where the concepts of science fiction and fantasy, which previously firmly divided fantastic literature into two, have blurred to the limit.
Science fiction as a whole today represents a continent very variegatedly populated. Moreover, individual “nationalities” (trends) are closely related to their neighbors, and sometimes it is very difficult to understand where the borders of one of them end and the territory of a completely different one begins. Today's science fiction is like a melting pot in which everything is fused with everything and melted into everything. Inside this cauldron, any clear classification loses its meaning. The boundaries between mainstream literature and science fiction have almost disappeared, or at least there is no clarity here. A modern literary critic does not have clear, strictly defined criteria for separating the first from the second.
Rather, it is the publisher who sets the boundaries. The art of marketing requires appealing to the interests of established reader groups. Therefore, publishers and sellers create so-called “formats”, i.e. form the parameters within which specific works are accepted for publication. These “formats” dictate to science fiction writers, first of all, the setting of the work, in addition, plotting techniques and, from time to time, the thematic range. The concept of “non-format” is widespread. This is the name given to text that does not fit any established “format” in its parameters. The author of an “unformatted” work of fiction, as a rule, has difficulties with its publication.
Thus, in fiction, the critic and literary critic do not have a serious influence on the literary process; it is directed primarily by the publisher and bookseller. There is a huge, unevenly outlined “world of the fantastic”, and next to it there is a much narrower phenomenon – “format” fiction, fantasy in the strict sense of the word.
Is there at least a purely nominal theoretical difference between science fiction and non-fiction? Yes, and it applies equally to literature, cinema, painting, music, theater. In a laconic, encyclopedic form, it reads as follows: “Fiction (from the Greek phantastike - the art of imagining) is a form of displaying the world in which, on the basis of real ideas, a logically incompatible (“supernatural”, “wonderful”) picture of the Universe is created.
What does this mean? Science fiction is a method, not a genre or a direction in literature and art. This method in practice means the use of a special technique - a “fantastic assumption”. And the fantastic assumption is not difficult to explain. Every work of literature and art presupposes the creation by its creator of a “secondary world” built with the help of imagination. There are fictional characters acting in fictional circumstances. If the author-creator introduces elements of the unprecedented into his secondary world, i.e. the fact that, in the opinion of his contemporaries and fellow citizens, in principle could not exist in that time and in the place with which the secondary world of the work is connected, this means that we have before us a fantastic assumption. Sometimes the entire “secondary world” is completely real: for example, this is a provincial Soviet town from A. Mirer’s novel Home of the Wanderers or a provincial American town from the novel by K. Simak Everything is alive. Suddenly, inside this reality familiar to the reader, something unthinkable appears (aggressive aliens in the first case and intelligent plants in the second). But it could also be completely different: J. R. R. Tolkien created the world of Middle-earth with the power of his imagination, which never existed anywhere, but nevertheless became the 20th century for many people. more real than the reality around them. Both are fantastic assumptions.
The quantity of a work unprecedented in the secondary world does not matter. The very fact of its presence is important.
Let's say times have changed and a technical miracle has turned into something commonplace. For example, high-speed cars, wars with the massive use of aircraft or, say, powerful submarines were practically impossible in the times of Jules Verne and H.G. Wells. Now this won’t surprise anyone. But the works of a century ago, where all this is described, remain fantasy, because for those years they were so.
Opera Sadko- fantasy, because it uses the folklore motif of the underwater kingdom. But the ancient Russian work about Sadko itself was not fantasy, since the ideas of people who lived at the time when it arose allowed for the reality of the underwater kingdom. Movie Nibelungs– fantastic, because it has an invisibility cap and “living armor” that makes a person invulnerable. But the ancient German epic works about the Nibelungs do not belong to fantasy, since in the era of their appearance, magical objects could seem like something unusual, but still really existing.
If an author writes about the future, then his work always refers to fantasy, since any future is, by definition, an incredible thing, there is no exact knowledge about it. If he writes about the past and admits the existence of elves and trolls in time immemorial, then he finds himself in the field of fantasy. Perhaps the people of the Middle Ages considered it possible that there were “little people” in the neighborhood, but modern world studies denies this. Theoretically, it cannot be ruled out that in the 22nd century, for example, elves will again turn out to be an element of the surrounding reality, and such a concept will become widespread. But even in this case, the work is 20th century. will remain fantasy, given the fact that it was born as fantasy.
Dmitry Volodikhin
Greek phantastike - the art of imagining) is a form of reflection of the world in which, based on real ideas, a logically incompatible picture of the Universe is created. Widespread in mythology, folklore, art, social utopia. In the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Science fiction is developing.
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FANTASTIC
Greek phantastike - the art of imagining), a type of fiction where artistic fiction receives the greatest freedom: the boundaries of fiction extend from the depiction of strange, unusual, fictional phenomena to the creation of one’s own world with special patterns and possibilities. Fiction has a special type of imagery, which is characterized by a violation of real connections and proportions: for example, the severed nose of Major Kovalev in N.V. Gogol’s story “The Nose” itself moves around St. Petersburg, has a rank higher than its owner, and then miraculously finds itself back on its own place. At the same time, the fantastic picture of the world is not pure fiction: it transforms and raises to a symbolic level the events of real reality. Science fiction in a grotesque, exaggerated, transformed form reveals to the reader the problems of reality and reflects on their solution. Fantastic imagery is inherent in fairy tales, epics, allegories, legends, utopias, and satire. A special subtype of fantasy is science fiction, in which imagery is created by depicting fictitious or actual scientific and technological achievements of man. The artistic originality of fiction lies in the opposition of the fantastic and real worlds, therefore each work of fiction exists, as it were, on two levels: the world created by the author’s imagination is somehow correlated with reality. The real world is either taken outside the text (“Gulliver’s Travels” by J. Swift) or present in it (in “Faust” by J. V. Goethe, the events in which Faust and Mephistopheles participate are contrasted with the lives of the rest of the townspeople).
Initially, fantasy was associated with the embodiment of mythological images in literature: thus, ancient fantasy with the participation of gods seemed to authors and readers to be quite reliable (“Iliad”, “Odyssey” by Homer, “Works and Days” by Hesiod, plays by Aeschylus, Sophocles, Aristophanes, Euripides and etc.). Examples of ancient fiction can be considered Homer's "Odyssey", which describes many amazing and fantastic adventures of Odysseus, and Ovid's "Metamorphoses" - the story of the transformation of living beings into trees, stones, people into animals, etc. In the works of the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, this trend continued: in the knightly epic (from Beowulf, written in the 8th century, to the novels of Chrétien de Troyes in the 14th century) images of dragons and wizards, fairies, trolls, elves and other fantastic creatures appeared. A separate tradition in the Middle Ages was Christian fiction, which described miracles of saints, visions, etc. Christianity recognizes evidence of this kind as authentic, but this does not prevent them from remaining part of the fantastic literary tradition, since extraordinary phenomena are described that are not typical for the usual course of events. The richest fantasy is also represented in Eastern culture: tales of the Arabian Nights, Indian and Chinese literature. During the Renaissance, the fantasy of chivalric novels was parodied in “Gargantua and Pantagruel” by F. Rabelais and in “Don Quixote” by M. Cervantes: Rabelais presents a fantastic epic that rethinks the traditional cliches of fantasy, while Cervantes parodies the passion for fantasy, his hero sees fantastic creatures everywhere, which do not exist, falls into absurd situations because of this. Christian fiction in the Renaissance is expressed in the poems of J. Milton "Paradise Lost" and "Paradise Regained".
The literature of the Enlightenment and classicism is alien to fantasy, and its images are used only to give an exotic flavor to the action. A new flowering of science fiction began in the 19th century, during the era of romanticism. Genres based entirely on fantasy emerge, such as the Gothic novel. The forms of fantasy in German romanticism are diverse; in particular, E. T. A. Hoffmann wrote fairy tales (“The Lord of the Fleas”, “The Nutcracker and the Mouse King”), Gothic novels (“The Devil’s Elixir”), enchanting phantasmagoria (“Princess Brambilla”), realistic stories with a fantastic background (“ The Golden Pot”, “The Bride’s Choice”), philosophical fairy tales-parables (“Little Tsakhes”, “The Sandman”). Fiction in the literature of realism is also common: “The Queen of Spades” by A. S. Pushkin, “Shtoss” by M. Yu. Lermontov, “Mirgorod” and “Petersburg stories” by N. V. Gogol, “The Dream of a Funny Man” by F. M. Dostoevsky etc. The problem arises of combining fantasy with the real world in the text; often the introduction of fantastic images requires motivation (Tatyana's dream in Eugene Onegin). However, the establishment of realism pushed fiction to the periphery of literature. They turned to it to give a symbolic character to images (“The Portrait of Dorian Gray” by O. Wilde, “Shagreen Skin” by O. de Balzac). The Gothic tradition of fiction is developed by E. Poe, whose stories present unmotivated fantastic images and collisions. A synthesis of various types of fiction is presented by M. A. Bulgakov’s novel “The Master and Margarita”.
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Fantastic motifs are one of the main techniques for creating a certain key situation in works of not only Russian but also world culture.
In Russian literature, writers of various directions have addressed these motifs. For example, in Lermontov’s romantic poems there are images of the other world. In "Demon" the artist depicts the protesting Spirit of Evil. The work carries the idea of protest against deity as the creator of the existing world order.
The only way out of sadness and loneliness for the Demon is love for Tamara. However, the Spirit of Evil cannot achieve happiness because it is selfish, cut off from the world and from people. In the name of love, the Demon is ready to renounce his old revenge against God, he is even ready to follow Good. It seems to the hero that tears of repentance will regenerate him. But he cannot overcome the most painful vice - contempt for humanity. The death of Tamara and the loneliness of the Demon is an inevitable consequence of his arrogance and selfishness.
Thus, Lermontov turns to fiction in order to more accurately convey the mood and intent of the work, to express his thoughts and experiences.
A slightly different purpose of fantasy in the works of M. Bulgakov. The style of many of this writer’s works can be defined as fantastic realism. It is easy to notice that the principles of depicting Moscow in the novel “The Master and Margarita” clearly resemble the principles of depicting Gogol’s Petersburg: a combination of the real with the fantastic, the strange with the ordinary, social satire and phantasmagoria.
The narration in the novel is carried out simultaneously in two plans. The first plan is the events taking place in Moscow. The second plan is a story about Pilate and Yeshua, composed by a master. These two plans are united, brought together by the retinue of Woland - Satan and his servants.
The appearance of Woland and his retinue in Moscow becomes the event that changed the lives of the heroes of the novel. Here we can talk about the tradition of the romantics, in whom the Demon is a hero, sympathetic to the author with his intelligence and irony. Woland's retinue is as mysterious as he himself. Azazello, Koroviev, Behemoth, Gella are characters who attract the reader with their uniqueness. They become the arbiters of justice in the city.
Bulgakov introduces a fantastic motif in order to show that in his contemporary world it is only possible to achieve justice with the help of an otherworldly force.
In the works of V. Mayakovsky, fantastic motifs are of a different nature. Thus, in the poem “An Extraordinary Adventure that Vladimir Mayakovsky had in the Summer at the Dacha,” the hero has a friendly conversation with the sun itself. The poet believes that his activity is similar to the glow of this luminary:
Let's go, poet,
The world is in gray trash.
I will pour my sunshine,
And you are yours
Thus, Mayakovsky, with the help of a fantastic plot, solves realistic problems: he explains his understanding of the role of the poet and poetry in Soviet society.
Without a doubt, turning to fantastic motifs helps domestic writers more vividly, accurately and clearly convey the main thoughts, feelings and ideas of their works.
