The Elements of Science Fiction in Asimov's Foundation
The Elements of Science Fiction in Asimov's Foundation [This essay explores those characteristics of the novel Foundation, which are peculiar to the genre of Science Fiction.] The most fundamental and obvious element of Science Fiction is its dependence on imagined technological advancements. The SF writer exploits the gap between scientific theory and practice to create a world, or at least circumstances, very different from our own reality and yet very believable because of the scientific 'logic' behind it all. The SF writer must provide some kind of scientific explanation as to how the fantastic things that are being talked about have been made possible. Asimov, in his novel Foundation, introduces hyper-spatial travel based on the concept of hyper-space, to make the existence of the Galactic Empire possible. Nuclear power supplies the energy requirements and the use of coal and oil, as Salvor Hardin says in the novel, is considered 'barbaric'. Trantor, the capital of this futuristic Empire has gone a step further to 'make use of the temperature difference between the ground level and a couple of miles under' to supply all the energy required. The 'glorious' picture is completed in the first few pages with Gaal Dornick fol
He and the reader are thus together informed that the people in Trantor hardly ever see the sun or the open sky and actually have to buy a ticket to do so. Lastly, SF portrays the human race as being 'alone', facing Otherness or the immensity of creation, unprotected by supernatural beings or God. Asimov creates a metaphor of the British Empire in the form of the declining Galactic Empire, in at least as much that the fall of the Galactic Empire is inevitable and even desirable. A good SF writer does not get carried away by the brilliance of his innovative ideas, thereby disrupting the flow of the story and burdening the reader with too many facts. Science Fiction, thus, simply uses science as a means to provide a larger canvass to explore the problems faced by the human race and the possible ways to tackle them. The petty Chief Commissioner may ask the narrow-minded question: why 'should we concern ourselves with events of five centuries distance?' but for the psychohistorian, the mathematician-cum-social scientist Hari Seldon, these events are of "overpowering concern" so as to save "one thousand generations of suffering humanity". The elements of science fiction discussed above, viz. The human race is forced to fall back on its own resources to hunt for solutions and to survive. Instead, the information is provided in small capsules as and when possible with the least intrusion. The first is of adolescents, often male and therefore, the young, teenaged protagonist. lowing a light beam for a guide and taking a taxi which rises straight up into the air. Instead, he uses conversation, where at least one of the characters is either young and inexperienced, or does not conform to the prevalent ideas of that society. The second section is that of the marginalized, newly immigrant working class and hence, the immigrant from a marginal planet is the category to which most of the protagonists of Foundation belong. The second device is the most commonly used one; that of the authorial voice, but Asimov takes care never to overuse it.
Common topics in this essay:
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Gaal Dornick,
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Edward James,
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Acceptance Essays
