1. Well, after doing some reading, that's what I have understood: Science fiction is a form of speculative fiction principally dealing with the impact of imagined science and technology upon society and persons as individuous, usually set in the future. It is fiction which includes science-fictional elements but which is perceived to fall outside that genre. Speculative fiction is an all-encompassing term which includes science fiction, alternative history (fiction), horror and fantasy; it is a type of fiction that asks the classic 'what if?' question and attempts to answer it. In some contexts, it has been used as an inclusive term covering a group of fiction genres that speculate about worlds that unlike the real world in various important ways. The emphasis between the two terms falls on the presence of 'science', or at least scientific method, as a necessary part of fiction. Please, do comment on this summary as I find it a little complicated.
Hi Everyone, 1.Yes Yasodhara, I also had to do some research and reading in order to answer this question and comment on your post. What I understand is that SCIENCE FICTION is a broad genre of fiction that often involves "speculations based on current or future science and technology".SPECULATIVE FICTION is a broader category that includes science fiction ,fantasy,alternate stories (which may not have particular scientific or futuristic component) and even literary stories that contain fantastic elements may fall in the SPECULATIVE FICTION category,that means that here we can include the works of Magic Realism writers such as Allende and Borges. SPECULATIVE FICTION is a type of fiction that ask the classic question what if and tries to answer it.So I think what I just said agrees very much with your answer.
Hi Everyone, 1.Yes Yasodhara, I also had to do some research and reading in order to answer this question and comment on your post. What I understand is that SCIENCE FICTION is a broad genre of fiction that often involves "speculations based on current or future science and technology".SPECULATIVE FICTION is a broader category that includes science fiction ,fantasy,alternate stories (which may not have particular scientific or futuristic component) and even literary stories that contain fantastic elements may fall in the SPECULATIVE FICTION category,that means that here we can include the works of Magic Realism writers such as Allende and Borges. SPECULATIVE FICTION is a type of fiction that ask the classic question what if and tries to answer it.So I think what I just said agrees very much with your answer.
2.Although. there is a certain controversy when defining the genre for "The Man in the high castle",I think it belongs to the Speculative Fiction category (the author has asked the "what if" question to elaborate the plot), more precisely it belomgs to the sub genre called ALTERNATE HISTORY or as Brown calls it ALTERNATIVE WORLD.
2.I think it is the insight in the minds of real, fully developed characters moulded by circumstance; it is a 'what if' glimpse of another world, a reality we are invited to compare with our own (please, correct me there as I am confused).
3.The central themes and concerns are: justice and injustice (through Frink's fleeing from Nazi persecution), gender and power (through Juliana's relationship with Joe), shame and identity (through Childan's new confidence in American culture from his limiting, backwards-looking obssession with nostalgia and antiquities) and the effects of fascism and racism on culture (through the novel, especially sections that deal with the lack of value of life in the wake of Nazi dominance of the world, and assumptions of ethinic superiority and racism that Japanese, American and German occasianlly indulge in). The most prominet theme is the question of the penetration of true reality into a false reality. The inter-relations of history, truth and creativity; and Dick advances the idea that there is a connection among these three terms, and that they need to be understood in relation to one another (please, correct me).
Q1. Yes I also agree with you Yasodhara. Also I think Science Fiction describes realistic speculation about possible future events based on adequate knowledge of the real world, from the past and the present. Also, to sum up Speculative Fiction it is based in a more realistic background which includes Science Fiction, ,horror, and fantasy and also deals with possible events of reality. I definetly agree that it is also a type of question that asks "what if?", which makes it more obvious as to which fiction the novel you are reading is. I also agree with Yasodhara's emphasis between the two fictions that it is about "science" or a "scientific method".
Q2. I also agree with you two on this question. I also believe "The Man in the High Castle" belongs to Speculative Fiction. You can guess this quite easily because it asks the "what if?" question. Also the novel doesnt concentrate so much on technology its more about creating a believable reality which is another giveaway as to how it is Speculaitve Fiction rather than Science Fiction.
Q3. I agree with Yasodhara again for this question, she has shown al the important central themes in the novel. Some other points that I though were relevant are. According to Brown (2001) "Central themes in Dicks novel appear to be the idea of percieved reality because, he finds that Dick was obsessed with the notion that the universe was only apparently real an illusion behind which the truth might dwell".
Therefore Dick utilises SF to explore his obsession with metaphsics, the nature of perceieved reality, good and evil and the abuse of power (Page 308).
Also Brown (2001) also states that "another of his cpncers was what constitutes a true human being, as opposed to a fake (Page 308).
Q4. I was a bit confused with this question and couldnt really find antyhing to associate with this question. Please correct me if what I have wrote is wrong or you find more information on the question.
Dicks early novels conformed to type: he used popular leitmotifs of SF, alien words, precognition, ray guns - but employed them to his own agenda. Also he wrote about big ideas in his fiction, but never lost sight of the fact that science fiction is about the effect of events on individuals. One of the many strenghts of his work was the empathy with which he wrote about ordinary people in extraordinary circumstances.
Q5. I Ching has been used in the novel to help plot the movement of the story and help in the organsation of the narrative. According to Mountfort (2006) Dick recieveed from the I Ching :when he posed it question at various critical junctures in the novel regarding the situations hsi characters faced, how they should interpret events, what they should do next, and what the result would be" Also "these consultation provide a record of Dick himself seeing advise as to how we should proceed in the writing of the novel and its plot development. Dick regarded the I Ching itself as having in a sense written in The Man in the High Castle".
Q6. According to Mountfort (2006), 'the use of the deivce illuminates the subterranean fate-lines that connects the character who never meet but whose decisions are actions effect each other in concrete ways'.
Q7. Philip Dick initially took to the I Ching with great enthusiasm. He strongly believed that it wasn't a predictive device, but rather a diagnostic one. To him, the I Ching was much like a doctor's exam. An exam can show strong and weak points in a person current state, and what has a high and low chance of going wrong if no changes are made. Although the I Ching had served very well as a guide right up to a point, Dick could not make out anything from it which would give a satisfactory conclusion. This is something which he would notice many times over from the I Ching. It would lead him well, but only up to a certain point. Then, it would either give incorrect or nonsensical advice. Quotes from Philip K. Dick on the I Ching: Well, the I Ching gives advice beyond the particular, advice that transcends the immediate situation. The answers have a universal quality. For instance: 'The mighty are humbled and the humbled are raised.' If you use I Ching long enough and continuously enough, it will begin to change and shape you as a person. It will make you into a Taoist, whether or not you have heard the word, whether or not you want to be.
Q1. I also agree with the fact that Science Fiction describes realistic speculation about possible future events based on adequate knowledge of the real world, from the past and the present. I agree with you, Yasodhara...the emphasis between the two fictions.
Q2. "The Man in the High Castle" is related to an aspect of Speculative Fiction. this is evident on the question of "what if?" question. Also the novel is not so much on technology its more about creating a believable reality.
Q3. Brown (2001) "Central themes in Dicks novel appear to be the idea of percieved reality because, he finds that Dick was obsessed with the notion that the universe was only apparently real an illusion behind which the truth might dwell". .........
Q5. According to Mountfort (2006) Dick recieveed from the I Ching :when he posed it question at various critical junctures in the novel regarding the situations hsi characters faced, how they should interpret events, what they should do next, and what the result would be"
16 comments:
1. What is the difference in emphasis between the terms science fiction and speculative fiction?
2. Which is The Man in the High Castle?
3. What does Brown (2001) identify as the central themes and concerns of the novel?
4. What elements conform to the wider generic features of SF?
5. According to Mountfort (2006), what role does the I Ching have as an organisational device in the structure of High Castle?
6. How does the use of this device illuminate the character of the novel’s protagonists?
7. What was does Dick (1995) himself theorise about the I Ching?
1. Well, after doing some reading, that's what I have understood:
Science fiction is a form of speculative fiction principally dealing with the impact of imagined science and technology upon society and persons as individuous, usually set in the future. It is fiction which includes science-fictional elements but which is perceived to fall outside that genre.
Speculative fiction is an all-encompassing term which includes science fiction, alternative history (fiction), horror and fantasy; it is a type of fiction that asks the classic 'what if?' question and attempts to answer it. In some contexts, it has been used as an inclusive term covering a group of fiction genres that speculate about worlds that unlike the real world in various important ways.
The emphasis between the two terms falls on the presence of 'science', or at least scientific method, as a necessary part of fiction.
Please, do comment on this summary as I find it a little complicated.
Hi Everyone,
1.Yes Yasodhara, I also had to do some research and reading in order to answer this question and comment on your post.
What I understand is that SCIENCE FICTION is a broad genre of fiction that often involves "speculations based on current or future science and technology".SPECULATIVE FICTION is a broader category that includes science fiction ,fantasy,alternate stories (which may not have particular scientific or futuristic component) and even literary stories that contain fantastic elements may fall in the SPECULATIVE FICTION category,that means that here we can include the works of Magic Realism writers such as Allende and Borges.
SPECULATIVE FICTION is a type of fiction that ask the classic question what if and tries to answer it.So I think what I just said agrees very much with your answer.
Hi Everyone,
1.Yes Yasodhara, I also had to do some research and reading in order to answer this question and comment on your post.
What I understand is that SCIENCE FICTION is a broad genre of fiction that often involves "speculations based on current or future science and technology".SPECULATIVE FICTION is a broader category that includes science fiction ,fantasy,alternate stories (which may not have particular scientific or futuristic component) and even literary stories that contain fantastic elements may fall in the SPECULATIVE FICTION category,that means that here we can include the works of Magic Realism writers such as Allende and Borges.
SPECULATIVE FICTION is a type of fiction that ask the classic question what if and tries to answer it.So I think what I just said agrees very much with your answer.
2.Although. there is a certain controversy when defining the genre for "The Man in the high castle",I think it belongs to the Speculative Fiction category (the author has asked the "what if" question to elaborate the plot), more precisely it belomgs to the sub genre called ALTERNATE HISTORY or as Brown calls it ALTERNATIVE WORLD.
2.I think it is the insight in the minds of real, fully developed characters moulded by circumstance; it is a 'what if' glimpse of another world, a reality we are invited to compare with our own (please, correct me there as I am confused).
3.The central themes and concerns are: justice and injustice (through Frink's fleeing from Nazi persecution), gender and power (through Juliana's relationship with Joe), shame and identity (through Childan's new confidence in American culture from his limiting, backwards-looking obssession with nostalgia and antiquities) and the effects of fascism and racism on culture (through the novel, especially sections that deal with the lack of value of life in the wake of Nazi dominance of the world, and assumptions of ethinic superiority and racism that Japanese, American and German occasianlly indulge in).
The most prominet theme is the question of the penetration of true reality into a false reality. The inter-relations of history, truth and creativity; and Dick advances the idea that there is a connection among these three terms, and that they need to be understood in relation to one another (please, correct me).
Q1. Yes I also agree with you Yasodhara. Also I think Science Fiction describes realistic speculation about possible future events based on adequate knowledge of the real world, from the past and the present.
Also, to sum up Speculative Fiction it is based in a more realistic background which includes Science Fiction, ,horror, and fantasy and also deals with possible events of reality.
I definetly agree that it is also a type of question that asks "what if?", which makes it more obvious as to which fiction the novel you are reading is.
I also agree with Yasodhara's emphasis between the two fictions that it is about "science" or a "scientific method".
Q2. I also agree with you two on this question. I also believe "The Man in the High Castle" belongs to Speculative Fiction.
You can guess this quite easily because it asks the "what if?" question. Also the novel doesnt concentrate so much on technology its more about creating a believable reality which is another giveaway as to how it is Speculaitve Fiction rather than Science Fiction.
Q3. I agree with Yasodhara again for this question, she has shown al the important central themes in the novel.
Some other points that I though were relevant are. According to Brown (2001) "Central themes in Dicks novel appear to be the idea of percieved reality because, he finds that Dick was obsessed with the notion that the universe was only apparently real an illusion behind which the truth might dwell".
Therefore Dick utilises SF to explore his obsession with metaphsics, the nature of perceieved reality, good and evil and the abuse of power (Page 308).
Also Brown (2001) also states that "another of his cpncers was what constitutes a true human being, as opposed to a fake (Page 308).
Q4. I was a bit confused with this question and couldnt really find antyhing to associate with this question.
Please correct me if what I have wrote is wrong or you find more information on the question.
Dicks early novels conformed to type: he used popular leitmotifs of SF, alien words, precognition, ray guns - but employed them to his own agenda.
Also he wrote about big ideas in his fiction, but never lost sight of the fact that science fiction is about the effect of events on individuals. One of the many strenghts of his work was the empathy with which he wrote about ordinary people in extraordinary circumstances.
Q5. I Ching has been used in the novel to help plot the movement of the story and help in the organsation of the narrative.
According to Mountfort (2006) Dick recieveed from the I Ching :when he posed it question at various critical junctures in the novel regarding the situations hsi characters faced, how they should interpret events, what they should do next, and what the result would be"
Also "these consultation provide a record of Dick himself seeing advise as to how we should proceed in the writing of the novel and its plot development. Dick regarded the I Ching itself as having in a sense written in The Man in the High Castle".
Q6. According to Mountfort (2006), 'the use of the deivce illuminates the subterranean fate-lines that connects the character who never meet but whose decisions are actions effect each other in concrete ways'.
Q7. Dick (1995) has stated that, "I Ching enters, since it works on the basis of synchronicity and is a device by which sychonicity can be handled".
Q7. Philip Dick initially took to the I Ching with great enthusiasm. He strongly believed that it wasn't a predictive device, but rather a diagnostic one. To him, the I Ching was much like a doctor's exam. An exam can show strong and weak points in a person current state, and what has a high and low chance of going wrong if no changes are made. Although the I Ching had served very well as a guide right up to a point, Dick could not make out anything from it which would give a satisfactory conclusion. This is something which he would notice many times over from the I Ching. It would lead him well, but only up to a certain point. Then, it would either give incorrect or nonsensical advice.
Quotes from Philip K. Dick on the I Ching:
Well, the I Ching gives advice beyond the particular, advice that transcends the immediate situation. The answers have a universal quality. For instance: 'The mighty are humbled and the humbled are raised.' If you use I Ching long enough and continuously enough, it will begin to change and shape you as a person. It will make you into a Taoist, whether or not you have heard the word, whether or not you want to be.
Q1. I also agree with the fact that Science Fiction describes realistic speculation about possible future events based on adequate knowledge of the real world, from the past and the present. I agree with you, Yasodhara...the emphasis between the two fictions.
Q2. "The Man in the High Castle" is related to an aspect of Speculative Fiction.
this is evident on the question of "what if?" question. Also the novel is not so much on technology its more about creating a believable reality.
Q3. Brown (2001) "Central themes in Dicks novel appear to be the idea of percieved reality because, he finds that Dick was obsessed with the notion that the universe was only apparently real an illusion behind which the truth might dwell". .........
Q5.
According to Mountfort (2006) Dick recieveed from the I Ching :when he posed it question at various critical junctures in the novel regarding the situations hsi characters faced, how they should interpret events, what they should do next, and what the result would be"
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