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Date Posted: 20:59:17 05/08/07 Tue
Author: Fabio Vione
Subject: Re: Task Two - Fabio Vione
In reply to: Fabio 's message, "Re: Task Two - Fabio Vione" on 15:45:35 05/06/07 Sun

I've actually rewritten my essay. I know I'll not get it peer edited but I'm posting it here anyway. Thanks!

______________________________________________
Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais
Faculdade de Letras
Produção de Texto – Inglês - M1
Fabio Victor Vione

TASK TWO
Science fiction sub-genres
Science fiction is usually thought as being a single genre of literary work, containing all the narratives that make use of speculative science. However, there were some specific characteristics in such works that made them impossible to be classified under the same group, leading to the creation of two sub-genres in the aforementioned genre: Soft and Hard Sci-Fi. The distinction between these two sub-groups may not be very clear to every person, thus, the aim of this essay is to classify these sub-genres, pointing out their diverging characteristics.
Generally, a book is usually classified as belonging to the Sci-Fi group when speculative science or technology is used as a main theme for its story. However, by analyzing samples of such books it can be seen that, typically, authors either base their story in sciences known as “hard” (physics, chemistry or astronomy), or on “soft” sciences (anthropology, sociology, psychology, political science etc).
Based on these facts, two sub-genres were created. The first, named “hard” after the class of science it’s based on, is used to classify stories which have more a plausible set of events. For example, Arthur C. Clarke’s 2001 – A Space Odyssey quotes, for instance, a study by the U.S. Department of the Interior entitled “Engineer Special Study of the Surface of the Moon”, and bases an entire chapter of his novel in its content (Clarke, 1975, p. 70, 71). This chapter describes a visit of a scientist from earth to a station built on the surface of the moon, and even if such a base was not yet possible by the late 60’s (when the story was written), earth’s natural satellite was described accurately as well as how humanity achieved that milestone in space colonization.
On the other hand, “soft” science fiction does not care about describing how the fictional technology works, or if the events are plausible, instead focusing on their sociological or psychological consequences, for instance. This usually leads to more implausible stories, since knowledge produced by “hard” sciences are not taken into account. Isaac Asimov’s “Foundation”, for example, is known as “soft” Sci-Fi since the author focuses on the sociological aspects of the Galactic Empire, leaving away details about how Foundation’s atomic facilities work or exactly how they were technological superior from the nearby barbarian planets’.
To sum up, science fiction works can be classified as “soft” and “hard”, depending on the class of science they are based on, or give focus to. The former usually leads to absurd stories, since actual technological knowledge is not usually taken into account, while the former typically leads to more plausible settings and events.


REFERENCES

CLARKE, Arthur Charles. 2001 - Uma Odisséia Espacial. Translation: Stella Alves de Souza. Publisher: Edibolso, 1975. 227 p. Original Title: 2001 - A Space Odyssey.
ASIMOV, Isaac. Foundation. Publisher: Spectra, 1991. 320p
Teaching Genre: Science Fiction. Publisher: Scholastic, 2001. 54p

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