Gregory Benford believes that science fiction is a controlled way of thinking and dreaming about the future. Ray Bradbury believes that science fiction is truly a sociological study of the future. Terry Carr believes that science fiction is literature about the future, telling stories about the wonders of tomorrow that we hope to see--or that our descendants will see--perhaps the next century, perhaps the next century. An infinite stretch of time.
Yes, what they said is good. But they only mentioned one type of science fiction literature - prophetic science fiction. Most science fiction works have nothing to do with prophecy.
Science fiction novels based on some real cutting-edge topics in science and technology are prophetic science fiction novels. The main events of this type of novel are entirely based on cutting-edge topics in science and technology. Among all science fiction works, they happen to be the least numerous.
Grasping the key points of this concept is a "real cutting-edge issue." Verne is often called a great prophet by laymen. But if we examine it according to the strict definition of prophetic science fiction, only "Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea" and "Robiel the Conqueror" can be considered prophetic science fiction. I don’t know how many articles say that Verne invented the submarine in this novel. In fact, submarines had already existed at that time. Verne only examined the submarine technology at that time and the current status of oceanographic research, and based on this knowledge As material, I wrote my own novel.
In "Robier the Conqueror", Verne specifically examined a cutting-edge topic at the time-whether man-made objects with a specific gravity greater than air could fly. The work begins with a record of two opposing views at the time. One believes that the future of man-made aircraft is airships, and the other believes that the future of man-made aircraft will be aircraft with a specific gravity greater than air. Only the latter can overcome the resistance of air flow.
None of Wells's early works had anything to do with prophecies, but his own creativity. In the later period, he began to write about scientific research topics that existed in reality. In "The Days of Liberty," Welles describes a nuclear war. At that time, nuclear physicists discovered the phenomenon of "half-life." So in this work, the nuclear bomb is imagined as a weapon that can explode continuously. It is essentially different from the later real nuclear bombs.
"Night Ship" is also a prophetic science fiction. When Kipling wrote this work, airships were already flying in the sky. He synthesized the actual scientific and technological knowledge and described the prospects of airships.
Some natural scientists and engineering technology experts also occasionally create individual works to expand the impact of their research. For example, Tsiolkovsky wrote his staged rocket principle into a science fiction novel. Later, in the field of science fiction, works such as "Solar Sails" and "Fountain of Paradise" appeared that described the development prospects of a specific technology. In addition, there are individual examples such as the behavioral science fiction novel "Walden II" written by Skinner, a psychologist and pioneer of behavioral science, in order to illustrate his own academic views.
During the Cold War, Western scholars wrote some prophetic works that accurately described disasters such as "nuclear winter". These works remind people of their sanity time and time again, firmly establishing the concept that nuclear war equals the collective destruction of mankind in the minds of ordinary people, and establishing a kind of public opinion "firewall" for mankind to finally bid farewell to the threat of nuclear war. Nowadays, science fiction works about the population crisis and environmental crisis are also ringing new alarm bells for people from time to time. These all reflect the social value of prophetic works.
In China, prophetic science fiction is rarely touched. "The Mist of the Ancient Gorge" is regarded as the first science fiction novel in New China to reach the level of "novel". It is a piece of prophetic science fiction. The author Tong En is a professional worker in archaeology. "The Mists of the Ancient Gorge" is based on a real topic in archaeology: the mystery of the missing Cubans. In the novel, the author assumes that the remnants of the Ba people eventually disappeared into the mountains. It can be compared with Tong Enzheng's "The Stalagmites", which is also an archaeological novel. Among the archaeological discoveries: a strange stone tablet called a stalagmite, which was an alien rocket that eventually lifted into the sky.
Therefore, the light and funny "Beauty Trap" and "Perfect Earth Standard" are particularly outstanding. Zheng Jun's "The Flying Insects and Ants Are Frightening" is also a representative of humorous science fiction.
Although many science fiction works have some light conversation and humorous plots. But science fiction writers characterized by a humorous style have yet to emerge. This can be regarded as a small direction for the development of science fiction literature. Horror novels are considered a literary category. It is even listed as one of the three major categories of fantasy literature along with science fiction and fantasy ("The Art of Imagination - Science Fantasy, Horror and Fantasy Art in the 20th Century", edited by Frank Robinson and others from the United States). The author is quite puzzled by this. Because this is confusing subject matter and style. Any subject matter, realistic or surreal, past or present, can be processed into a horror style or not. Horror and science fiction have a "horizontal" and "vertical" relationship.
Whether a novel is scary or not depends on whether its main event is suspense. Suspense is different from suspense. Suspense is an unsolved mystery, and suspense is a plot that makes readers excited and fearful. It doesn't have to be unknown. For example, the typical horror-style science fiction film "Alien" explains the background at the beginning: scientists received genetic information transmitted from alien radio waves and used it to cultivate an alien. This person escapes from the base and seeks males everywhere in order to mate and produce offspring. The man was killed by her after mating with her. There is no suspense in this movie, only suspense: how aliens harm people. Can anyone in danger escape her murder.
As mentioned before, science fiction novels that developed from Gothic novels often have a horror color in their early works. "Frankenstein" and "Dr. Jekyll" are typical horror science fiction novels. After the twentieth century, they were adapted into many versions of horror science fiction films. Verne and Welles were not known for their horror style. But the former also created the horror science fiction "The Castle of the Carpathians", and the latter's "The Invisible Man" and "The Island of Dr. Moreau" also have obvious horror overtones. In the fifth volume, the author will introduce American science fiction movies before the arrival of the "blockbuster" era. Due to subpar stunts, early American science fiction films often chose horror themes to attract audiences by creating suspense. The “neo-gothic science fiction” introduced in the previous chapter is almost all horror-style science fiction.
Speaking of horror science fiction, there is a special example to mention. Known as the "horror novelist", Stephen King's works include both fantasy and science fiction themes. His "The Man Mowing the Lawn" describes how human consciousness is transformed into a virtual computer program, and was later adapted into a science fiction film of the same name. His "Dead Zone" is also a typical science fiction novel. However, from what I have seen, this work published in China with the words "horror novel" printed on the cover is not horror at all in style, but a science fiction novel in the style of a drama.