Genre Fiction; Science Fiction; The Quest for Utopia

This paper will discuss the difference between genre fiction and mainstream fiction, the difference between science fiction and other fields of genre fiction, and in particular, the philosophical use of science fiction in our search for a better world.All genres used to be called ″romance″ to distinguish them from ″true″ novels.There were arguments about it in Hawthorne's The House of Seven Gables and in a heated exchange between H.G.Wells and Henry James.I will talk about this difference.All genre fiction pays attention to the external world, but science fiction is the only one of them that looks forward by being grounded in the present.Is science fiction really a genre? There are some doubts.Science fiction is not about science per se, but about the philosophy of science:the study of the external world and its relation to man.It is ideal for ″thought experiments.″ By exploring possible futures, we cannot only examine our present world, but can see ways in which it can be improved.Hence, science fiction is the search for, if not utopia, then at least a better world.This paper will also discuss the ideas of Kim Stanley Robinson, Ursula K.Le Guin, and others in their search for a better future.