An Introduction

“Whoever you are, no matter how lonely,


the world offers itself to your imagination,


calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting --


over and over announcing your place


in the family of things..”

(Mary Oliver, “Wild Geese”)

If I had an actual commonplace book, this quotation from Mary Oliver’s “Wild Geese” would be the first passage that I would copy into it. Therefore, it seemed only fitting that I should make it the first entry into my “commonplace blog.” Although this poem does not particularly speak to the science fiction theme of this course, I think serves as a suitable introduction to myself, both as a person and as a writer. My dad teaches literature at a high school in California, and would read this poem to each of his classes at least once. The poem must have transferred to me by osmosis, because it has been in the back of my mind for as long as I can remember. It represents the kind of creative writing to which I aspire, although I have yet to come anywhere close. I enjoy reading immensely, but find it much more difficult to take an active role and put my own thoughts into writing. I often find that I have too many ideas to express easily, which I suppose is why I enjoy the simplicity and lyrical quality of this poem.

“… he would have been labeled a science-fiction writer, and nobody would have heard of him again.”

(Bryan Appleyard, “Why Don’t We Love Science Fiction?”)

Although my favorite quotation is not from a work of science fiction, I nevertheless enjoy the genre. I have vivid memories of devouring one science fiction book after another when I was in fifth grade, from Animorphs to A Brave New World. In recent years, my passion for science fiction has transferred itself to a different medium: television shows. I can spend days watching episode after episode of “Doctor Who,” “Firefly,” and “Battlestar Gallactica,” just to name a few. It is interesting to me how my own experience reflects the situation mentioned in Appleyard’s article. He mentions both that literary science fiction is seen as “irredeemably adolescent” while in movies (and, I am guessing to a lesser extent, in TV shows) it is seen as “high art.” And I notice that I do tend to bypass the science fiction shelves in the library or bookstore, not because I don’t enjoy the genre, but because it has been stigmatized. Not only do I feel like I will be judged based on my decision to read it, I don’t even want to read it in the first places because I assume it will be poorly written. My rational self knows that bad writing is to be found in all literary genres, but for some reason when I see the science fiction shelves, that’s what I assume. That is why this quotation at the beginning of the article stood out to me; it conveys the idea that to be labeled a science fiction writer is to be banished from “real” literature, even though the two are not mutually exclusive.

I am quite aware that the themes that science fiction touches on are relevant, and agree with the position that Appleyard takes in his article. I appreciate the way in which science fiction can ask us difficult questions about our own lives and culture by taking them out of context. The appeal this holds for me was one of the main reasons that I signed up for this course. Aliens and robots can have the same moral questions and problems as humans, but by taking topical and controversial issues out of our own cultural context and placing them into a work of science fiction, it can give the reader some needed perspective in order to fully consider the issue from all sides. This can be done badly, I know, with thinly veiled metaphors and obvious allusions to current social or political issues. But when done right, I think the beauty of science fiction is it’s ability to be relevant while at the same time transporting us to galaxies or futures far away.