Space fantasy - stairway to heaven

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

Fiction, more than any other genre of literature, is capable of awakening the reader's interest and flight of thoughts, boundlessly expanding the boundaries of thinking, plunging not only into the unpredictability of the future, but also into the inexplicability of the past.

Space fantasy is the most magical section of this genre, conquering space and time, at the same time making you think about solving absolutely earthly, long overdue and most urgent problems.

Features of the genre

Fantastic assumption and the very notorious element of the extraordinary, crossing all the boundaries of reality and habitual conventions, does not at all interfere with staying in the zone of familiar human relations, with all their nuances, exploits and betrayals, attachments and rejections. It is not in vain that the best examples are born at the intersection of genres - space epics feed on both warning dystopias and even social satire. psychological dramas,social topics are often the basis of the book, space fiction is only a method of conveying to the reader the basic postulates of life. This is how most of the treasury of world literature in this section is written, this is how Sheckley, Bradbury, Asimov, Lem, Heinlein, Strugatsky worked, all the classics of the genre are worth it. Even disillusionment with progress and science, as well as the resulting boom in fantasy (Howard, Tolkien, Zelazny and others), with its mysticism, mythological basis and long-forgotten romance, did not prevent the development of such a powerful channel as space fantasy. Often, new methods simply flowed into the general flow, enriching the genre. Such, for example, is a science fiction novel in four parts by the famous American Dan Simmons.

Dan Simmons

This is the best space sci-fi ever. In addition to the most interesting plot and a sharply twisted plot, even in the translation one can feel the magnificent language of the author, which keeps the reader throughout all the books - until the very last line. And this is not at all the merit of the plot, the reader clearly feels this: the book is not "swallowed" by unchewed pieces, everything, even the most intense plot twists and turns, are carried out slowly, with great taste and without fear of repetitions that increase tension. There are six short stories in the first novel, according to the number of main characters. The action mainly takes place in the Hyperion Universe, which gave the name to the first two parts: "Hyperion", released in 1989 and received two literary awards by 1990 - "Hugo" and"Locus", and "The Fall of Hyperion", written in 1990 and already awarded in 1991. The continuation of this exciting cycle - "Endymion" (1996) and "Rise of Endymion" (1997) - also received a literary award.

Plot

Hijra - the resettlement of earthlings to other planets, has become irreversible, since the beloved cradle of mankind - the Old Earth - was either destroyed, or stolen and hidden in a secluded corner of outer space. The author attaches great importance to the well-considered construction of the hierarchy of the intergalactic social system: the Hegemony, the technocenter and its X-ins, "tramps" (the first astronauts who adapted to life in outer space, opposing the Hegemony). The religious component of the new social system is no less detailed and clearly defined. English poetry (Shakespeare, especially Keats) flows naturally into the narrative, like a stream into a lake. Humanity, as usual, is on the verge of destruction, but the monsters are tamed, secrets began to unfold, time followed the example of space and obeyed the initiates.