The divorce of fantasy and science fiction
When you walk into any Barnes and Nobles, you’ll notice that the layout of the store is separated by shelves. Each row of shelves is marked by genre. There’s an isle for Romance, one for History, one for Children’s Books, and New Releases. If you continue walking, you’ll notice an isle titled fantasy and science fiction.
For most of the history of literature, you’ll see these two paired together. Fantasy and science fiction are both genres of fiction and they present worlds where impossible things happen. What’s the difference? In fantasy, the story is driven by mystical and magical forces often in a time and place that isn’t real. In Science Fiction, the story is driven by technologies not yet known or mastered, often with settings in the far off future.
The divide between fantasy and science fiction
Until recently, it made sense to group Science Fiction together with Fantasy. Stories of these genres often shared similar tropes and literary aesthetics and both being worlds of impossibility. However this is quickly becoming less and less true. There is a chasm growing between these genres. This gap grows parallel to the current explosive growth of internet and technology. Famous science fiction novels like The Time Machine and 1000 Leagues Under the Sea would seem far outside the realm of possibility, especially to people during the Victorian era (the era that produced the steam punk aesthetic). But when you compare the fictional plot lines of these same works to what we’re achieving technologically today, you won’t see too much of a difference. Famous classic pieces like Issac Asimov’s, iRobot don’t look very different that the automated world we live in today. In an age of drones, artificial intelligence, and self-driving cars, how far from the future are we?
What does the future hold for these genre?
We’re reaching a point in time where these two genres need their own separate bookshelves and it seems that as humanity changes, so does our literature. As imaginative and timeless as the genre of fantasy can be, the magic that shapes it will sadly never truly exist. As we continue to innovate more and more, science fiction will have to find itself a new name. In what category will we call the stories of the future? What new genres will we create?
