Has Science Fiction Fallen By The Roadside?
I recently read Paul Goat Allen’s latest article concerning the demise of Science Fiction in Literature on the “Explorations” web page, part of Barnes & Noble.
Paul argued that fantasy had taken over the reading world. The following is my comment to his article:
What was popular in the 1950s and ’60s gets rediscovered and reinvented by later generations.
Book genres fall in and out of fashion like everything else. Nothing is new. Everything gets rediscovered over time.
It is completely understandable that the current generation read fantasy, using the genre as a literary head in the sand approach to the problems of the day.
But subjects like global warming, population explosion, modern-day warfare, famine, and exploitation in the third world are all subjects for future science fiction novels, not fantasy, which to my mind is why the current reading fashion decrees that fantasy is, for the moment, king.
Is science fiction dead? No, merely taking a snooze, waiting for fashion and fads to change once more, putting science fiction back where it belongs at the forefront of literary exploration Paul.”
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