Discuss the appeal of science fiction?
Science fiction as the name implies deals with certain scientific facts which are woven into the fabric of fiction. If the novelist is careful in depicting the scientific fact the fiction becomes really interesting. It is not necessary that he must be thorough in his facts but if he can make one believe that story is probable, then he has done a good job.
There had been several writers of such a kinds of science fiction. They are Jules Verne, H.G. Wells and others. ‘Around the World in eighty Days’ and ‘A Trip to the Moon’ by Jules Verne are very popular for what he prophesied have become true. It does take not eighty days but eighty hours or even much less today to go round the world, so with his trip to the moon. The launching site which Verne mentions in his book is almost very near Cape Kennedy and Verne’s moon men landed on the Pacific on their return. Only the fact that Verve’s men did not land on the moon though they went round the moon goes to prove that these writers have some knowledge of science.
The present moon trips have revived the interest in Verne. Many journals have praised the work of Jules Verne. It is a wonder how he could have been so correct in launching and getting back his moon men. The appeal is limited because it is merely of fictional value with a lot of imagination. The emotional value is wanting. One shall agree with this remark when one reads Verne’s ‘Around the World in Eighty Days’ There is enough adventure and several scientific facts are utilized. All modes of transport known in those days are mentioned. Even the geographical fact that as one travels East the time is advanced is being deftly used at the end. We may race with the adventures but once the ‘END’ is reached there may not be any urge to take the book again unless there is a need for reviewing the fact. The human element of romance does not play a major part in such kinds of fiction.
H.G. Wells has written some famous science fictions, the most famous of them being. ‘The Time Machine’. ‘Frankenstein’ is another science fiction and has been notorious for its evil that ‘Frankenstein’ has become almost an idiom for evil and cruelty. It is, in short, the story of a doctor, (scientist?) who wanted to create a man of his own choice. He believed he had found out the way for it. But a mistake committed by his assistant changes the course of the experiment. Instead of creating a superman, the experiment ends in the birth of a demon Frankenstein who revels in murderous aspects. Finally he tries to kill the scientist himself but the demon was burnt by people. It is a horror picture with a moral; it was a parody on science’s claims.
A similar story we see in Robert Louis Stevenson’s Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde’. It may be taken as a big allegory where evil when allowed to grow, kills the good. Again this story has given the idiom ‘Dr. Jekyll’ and ‘Mr. Hyde’ to the English Language.
Whatever may be their merit, those stories or fictions are not for the ordinary men who cannot follow scientific implications.
