Welcome to the Speculative Dictionary*

• Fantasy -- Fantasy, like science fiction, is considered a genre of writing which takes place in the modern literary scene. However, fantasy distinguishes itself from science fiction by being concerned with Œself-indulgence¹ , rather than the Œrespect for fact¹ characteristic of science fiction (Rose 3). Stereotypically, fantasy is more concerned with world-building than is science fiction, and its typical characters are usually a host of wizards, heroes, and elves, all on various quests. Writers who exemplify this genre of writing are J.R.R. Tolkien, in his Lord of the Rings series, and Lloyd Alexander, in his Chronicles of Prydain. [TLT]
  
• Future History -- The future history, like the alternate history, is a science fiction narrative that is concerned ultimately with Time. Unlike the alternate history, though, the future history is concerned only with the future and not with alternate branches or streams of Time. Often, a science fiction novel of this type will begin with a post-atomic society and extrapolate upon the results of this type of catastrophe upon humanity, as in Walter Miller¹s A Canticle for Leibowitz. [TLT]
  
• Genre -- Broadly, genre is defined as ³a type of literary work characterized by a particular form, style, or purpose² (OED). Rose typifies the development of genre in the following fashion: ³Any genre appears to develop in at least two phases. First by combining and transforming earlier forms, the genre complex assembles and the idea of the genre¹s existence gradually appears. Later, a generically self-conscious phase occurs, one in which texts are based on the now explicit form² (Rose 10). The genre of science fiction has its roots in the utopian and gothic traditions of Thomas More¹s Utopia and Mary Shelley¹s Frankenstein, or the Modern Prometheus. [TLT]
  
• Genius -- Interestingly enough, the meaning of genius has undergone a considerable transmogrification since its pagan roots in spirituality. Where once genius referred to the ³tutelary god or spirit attendant upon a person at his birth,² it now refers to people whose native imagination and original creativity outshine that of other human beings. ³The figure of the heroic and irreplaceable genius is recurrent in American SF...[T]he genius of SF is usually seen as a benign figure. The figure is distinctive for the way it tries to solve a deep problem...The genius is promoted as an egalitarian ideal free of issues of class and social background. At the same time it represents a fantasy of being transcendentally superior to its world² (Huntingdon 45). Geniuses in science fiction range from seemingly harmless characters like Kidder in Theodore Sturgeon¹s short story ³Microcosmic God² to dubious characters like Robur in Jules Verne¹s Master of the World. [TLT]
  
• Gothic -- This term generally refers to something which is associated with the Middle Ages, the mediaeval or romantic periods; in contrast, it may be used to refer to leftovers from the Dark Ages or something having a barbaric, uncouth, uncivilized overtone, in general a thing of bad taste (OED online). In the literary world, Gothic refers to a particular genre of the Romantic Period in which we find characteristics and themes such as wizardry, demons, witchcraft, the occult, the supernatural, the grotesque, and generalized mayhem and misconduct. Some consider the Gothic novel to be a precursor to the SF genre. Gary Wolfe cites Brian Adliss who "sees the sources of the genre [SF] in the Gothic novel, and specifically cites _Frankenstein_ as the Gothic model of science fiction." Wolfe, however, refers us to the earlier works of Ann Radcliffe "who, despite her carefully orchestrated interplay of immanent landscapes and shady characters--the full complement of Gothic trappings--was careful to provide rational explanations for the supernatural events in her narratives...The hideous unknown in her novels is always brought safely into the known, leaving us with a landscape infused not with chaotic powers that transcend human understanding, but only with the fears of the real characters who inhabit it" (6). This demystification of the unknown implies a more scientific, rational perspective of fantastic fiction. ~~ K.A.A.
  
• Hardcore SF-- Hardcore SF is based strictly on what is possible, even real, in terms of science in their speculating possible futures and events. SF writers must know what they are talking about, and not place a spaceship in a story and call it science fiction. Hardcore writers do not invent, but use known models, or speculate as to possible future realities; they do not, as Jules Verne says, "go to Mars in an airship" . Heinlein goes on to say, those "whose writing shows that he knows nothing of ballistics not of astronomy not of any modern technology would do better not to attempt to write science fiction" (Huntington 71). In these terms, a "hyper-drive" that gives a spaceship the ability to travel at light speed can be seen as an eventual possibility, in terms of the genre. This "real possibility" is often achieved by the use of an inordinate amount of scientific jargon, which adds to the realism, as well as makes the writer seem to know what he or she is talking about. The science is there not to teach, but to create a plausible (at least on the surface, and enough for the reader to be able to see the reason behind it) story. (R. S.)
  
• Heuristic -- "Serving to find out or discover...Heuristic methods of teaching are methods which involve our placing students as far as possible in the attitude of the discoverer-methods which involve their finding out, instead of merely being told about things...The aim of heuristics is to study the methods and rules of discovery and invention" (OED online). Book definitions are a means of putting things in perspective. In the 20th Century Speculative Fiction classroom, we are on a mission to seek out our own meanings. It is our responsibility to extract the marrow of the stuff we read, and glean from it all the nutritive value it has to offer. The "methods and rules" we investigate apply to narrative modes, paradigmatic events, themes, genres, icons, and questions of categorization and application of critical theory. Speculation is the vehicle by which we engage in the heuristic process. ~~ K.A.A.
  
• Humanism -- Generally, humanism deals with a concern with human interests and human culture. However, it is intersting to note that humanism, in light of philosophical discourse, deals with the idea that ³technological advance must by guided by awareness of widely understood needs² (OED). This definition could be just as true in regards to recent speculative discourse. Many SF authors are currently involved in extrapolating upon the ideologies or cosmologies which structure the present-day world in an attempt to discover the underlying human concerns imbedded within these structures. In this fashion, authors like Ursula K. Le Guin in The Dispossessed, struggle with notions of community and equality. [TLT]
  
• Icon -- This defines the space and area around us that is known. Euclid was a mathematician who wrote a treatise on geometry. This view of the world is based on provable truths. A non-Euclidean view of something would be a hypothetical situation because one or more of the fundamental principles would be false. i.e. Utopia is "not accessible to Euclidean reason" (LeGuin 81). (R.S.)
  
• Ideology -- Ideology is generally deals with the ³science of ideas² or ³unpractical or visionary theorizing or speculation² (OED). Science fiction tends to exemplify an ideology very strongly, according to Hungtington. Huntington tends to attribute this to SF¹s strong ³self-awareness² in that writers, editors, and readers are constantly in contact with one another in a way that has caused the genre to be ³unusually coherent and consistent ideologically² (Huntington 3). Huntington also bases his premises on that fact that SF was part of a historic shift in the U.S. from a ³capitalism based on a strong and blatant ideology of individual freedom² to one ³based ona technocratic ideology which claimed to have supplanted political tensions and to hav eput in motion a genuine meritocracy² (3). Therefore, SF seems to focus heavily on this technocratic ideal in a unified manner by avoiding political struggles that affected other genres, at least until recently. [TLT]
  
• Inversion -- Inversion generally means ³a turning upside down² or ³a reversal of position, order, sequence, or relation² (OED). In terms of SF, inversion refers to the reversal of what readers would construe as Œnormal.¹ SF writers continually use the technique of inversion throughout their work, which lends itself well to the ironic twists and unexpected turns that modern SF tends to employ. [TLT]
  
• Irony -- When you say one thing and mean another. Sarcasm is the most basic form of technique. In SF, irony acts to show the acts to expose the realities of our own world through discussion of other races and societies. The author will often seem to reveal a truth which we take for granted, when he or she is actually undermining our own reality. This occurs when the reader is given a situation that seems at first alien, but later realize that this earlier case of alienation is really based on our own reality. Irony in SF is linked very closely with the theory of cognitive estrangement. (R.S.)
  
• Known and Unknown -- The terms ³Known and Unknown² are used by Gary Wolfe to describe a dialectical relationship that exists both within SF as well as in the larger arena of the relationship between SF and mainstream fiction. The icon of the Known and Unknown can be used to indicate various interplays within science fiction between alien and human, techonology and mysticism, reason and myth, and the like. SF attempts to explore the unknown in some senses by using the known as a springboard into the mysterious. Not only that, but it attempts to make the unknown into the known. As Gary Wolfe states, ³The unknown is an overwhelming presence in science fiction, and it is the transformation of the unknown into the known, usually by breaching a symbolic barrier that separates the two, that I believe characterizes much of..popular science fiction² (Wolfe 15). [TLT]
  
• Liminality -- This is the beginning, or initial stages of a process; to be on the threshold of something. SF can be seen to have a element of liminality about it, as it attempts to change society's view of itself. LeGuin speaks of it in terms of communitas, as it begins to undermine the structures of society, in her essay "Non Euclidean View of California" (R.S.)