Week 4: How is science fiction different from fantasy?

In Le Guin's article Plausibility Revisited; wha Hoppen and what didn't, it talks about plausibility and how it validates fiction by creating for itself an accurate and honest observation of the world outside of the book. Le Guin describes that the "correspondence of the real world and fictional world defines characteristic of realism, which it’s not a defining character of fiction". In stating this Le Guin suggests that plausibility and the intuition of reality gives readers a pretense of a factual report. In doing so the genre of science fiction branches out as part of realism. Science-fiction is able to pretend that the future is part of the present or past as it lies in the unknown so it is able to be a basis of the science fiction genre. 

This is much different compared to fantasy where its fictionality is far more direct than realism and science. This is because fantasy draws on a secondary creation without an agreement to pretend that the story happened or would happen. It takes readers into unknown territory where the world outside of the book is more imaginative and requires readers to be immersed in a fantasy journey, where the characters are fictional as well as the surroundings. For example in A wizard of Earthsea is a story that portrays the idea of magic in a village occupied by ordinary people. The theme of magic is constantly represented through Ged and his hunger to use the power of magic for both good and evil. He does so when he attends the ‘magic school’ on Roke where he exercises his magic in order to prove a point. In doing so he unleashes a shadow monster which becomes a danger to not only Ged’s life but to those he surrounds himself with. He constantly finds himself fighting against the shadow, a representation of the shadow within himself, that of guilt. Le Guin does this through magic to show that the realities of life are also able to be portrayed through fictional characters and settings and does not need to rely on the idea of realism to portray life lessons within the story. She allows readers to identify the allegory within the story of wizard of earthsea, and we in turn are able to see that fantasy can play a major role in interpreting the realities of life through a number of fictional characters and settings.

In contrast realism inserts invented characters into the real world surrounded by real people and real situations. I think that Le Guin is trying to draw comparisons in that science fiction is able to draw reflections to the world outside and is able to draw links between the readers and reality. On the other hand fantasy draws in readers into another world where they are not able to comprehend its surroundings nor is it able to give an idea of what might happen. This is because fantasy uses our most divine and human capacity, which is the imagination.

References

Le Guin, U. K. (2005). Plausibility revisited: Wha hoppen and what didn’t. Retrieved August 23, 2012, from http://www.ursulakleguin.com/PlausibilityRevisited.html

Le Guin, U. K. (2012). A wizard of Earthsea Retrieved August 24, 2012, from  http://www.shmoop.com/wizard-of-earthsea/summary.html