Science fiction
The term genre refers to a category of written work which is well established, and is distinguishable from other categories by its unique conventions. Speculative fiction is a relatively recent genre, with the term only being coined by Robert Heinlein in 1941. It is an umbrella term, encompassing the sub genres of fantasy, science fiction and horror, as well as other strange and amazing tales which do not fit any other category. Two speculative fiction texts which both reflect and challenge the genre are George Lucas' Star Wars and Isabel Allende's City of the Beasts. The two works are from entirely different ends of the speculative fiction spectrum. At one end, we have Star Wars, classified under the sub-genre of science fiction. While speculative fiction had gained a newfound popularity in university campuses across the United States in the 1960s, it was not until the release of Star Wars in 1977 that mainstream society was introduced to an already well established alternative sub-genre. Star Wars has become one of the defining texts of science fiction, making its conventions easily recognisable. It helped to establish science fiction iconography such as laser guns, faster than light travel, intergalactic travel and
City of the Beasts maintains its current relevance, having been written in only *1999*. Star Wars will be remembered as one of the defining texts of speculative fiction, and, although its once amazing special effects are now outdated, it has helped to shape the conventions of the genre. Magical realism leaves the responder with the distinct feeling that everything they have just read could be true. While there are perhaps some cautionary themes present, such as the perils of a dictatorship, there are none which stand out as particularly intentional cautionary themes. Bruce Holland Rogers states that "it is. In City of the Beasts, we see two unlikely heroes, Nadia Santos and Alexander Cold, save a tribe of native Indians from a deadly virus injection. " Magical realist authors write the miraculous as ordinary and the ordinary as miraculous. The famous first line which appears on the screen in Star Wars is enough to tell us that we will be experiencing foreign places, species and technologies: "A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away. As in reality, it sees the destruction of many native Indian tribes, with one of the last and smallest tribes being saved by two children who do not understand the corporate worth of the land. While most works reflect the majority of these conventions, some push the parameters of the genre by challenging them. " An entire alternate universe is created, with interplanetary relations, amazing technologies such as the Imperial Death Star, robotic droids and a weird and fantastical array of strange creatures. While a South American reader may be quite familiar with the myths and legends represented in the novel, a reader foreign to these parts would find them extraordinary, and thus a new world is created.
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Acceptance Essays
