What makes a text a science fiction text? What makes it a fantasy text? In
this study, I would like to discuss why it is impossible to clearly draw a line
between these two genres. In order to do so, I am going to focus on the
“justification” of the unreal, respectively, the supernatural elements of a
story. I shall be discussing why a text can be considered a science fiction
text or a fantasy text – and why, in some cases, there is no clear answer to
the question of which genre a text is belongs to. While one might answer the
two questions put at the beginning of this study rather quickly by stating a
rule of thumb – scientific elements make a text a science fiction text,
magical ones make it a fantasy text – it is obvious that this would lead to a
very broad definition. It is thus necessary to go into detail, which I am going
to do. In order to investigate what, apart from the technical and the magical
elements, are the characteristics of the respective genres mentioned at the
beginning, I am going to give the definitions of these terms which can be
found in standard reference texts. In order to go into detail, I shall add more
information from academic literature about the fantastic genre, which both
science fiction and fantasy are part of. I would then like to go a step further
by testing the definitions with the help of three texts – H.G. Wells's The
War of the Worlds as an example for the science fiction genre and Bram
Stoker's Dracula as an example for a fantasy text. In addition, I shall be
discussing Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley's Frankenstein. In this text, there
are elements of both science fiction and of fantasy. After this, I would like to
conclude my study.
Any selection of texts will necessarily be arbitrary, as it is impossible
to include everything into a study like this. I chose three texts from
approximately the same period, as this will provide a sound basis. In
addition, these texts are widely known, and there is generally no dispute
over the fact that they are part of the fantastic genre.
Table of Contents
1. Introduction
2. The Roots: Fantastic Literature
2.1. Science Fiction: The Literature Of Change
2.2. Toward A Definition Of Fantasy
3. The Three Novels
3.1. What Makes The War Of The Worlds A Science Fiction Text?
3.2. What Makes Dracula A Fantasy Text?
3.3. Frankenstein: Something In Between
4. Conclusion
5. Bibliography
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