The Importance of Science Fiction as Literature, Part I

"There's no real objection to escapism, in the right places... We all want to escape occasionally. But science fiction is often very far from escapism, in fact you might say that science fiction is escape into reality... It's a fiction which does concern itself with real issues: the origin of man; our future. In fact I can't think of any form of literature which is more concerned with real issues, reality." –Arthur C. Clarke

My original interest in Science Fiction came from a love of the stars. From as far back as I can remember I loved the stars. I would watch them at night in North Carolina wishing I knew more about them. My father would wake my brothers and me at three in the morning to watch a meteor shower. I would watch in amazement as the meteorites would penetrate the Earths atmosphere and burn up in a blazing streak across the sky. When I was thirteen, living then in Hawaii, during a camping trip we laid on our backs staring up at the sky. I had never seen anything like it. There was no light pollution. Nothing to block out the stars light. I remember seeing the galaxy Andromeda. A faint “fuzz” against a black back drop. I knew then that I wanted to study space. I wanted to be an astronomer.

Through this love of astronomy came my desire to read and write science fiction. But soon became extremely picky as to what I would read. “Only the best,” I had resolved.

Admittedly, when asked what it is I write (or read) I am always a little bashful to answer back that I write science fiction, or speculative fiction stories. In fact, for some time I tried to buy some classics of literature such as Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens, or Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain hoping to read them and feel as though my writing abilities, reading abilities and critical thinking would increase. I took a class during my freshman year at school on American Literature after 1865 in attempts to become—for lack of a better term—scholarly. And there were good and important stories or books that I read, but none could bring the satisfaction that science fiction was able to provide.

The purpose of this paper is to show the importance of science fiction literature in todays society and the relationship it can have with individuals. Science fiction touches on many aspects of reality and life, such as humanity, religion, politics, science, class, good and evil, as well as many other topics, however I will focus my arguments mainly on science fictions role in todays sciences, it's religious incites as well as the philosophy behind science fiction. I hope to show that despite clichés, doubt and criticism, science fiction has value in the world on a level akin to what we have so hastily decided to be the important works of literature.

*Next, Part II: Science Fiction and Science.