Fantastyka i realizm

Abstract

In contemporary Polish terminology, the term “ fantastyka naukowa” [“the scientific fantasy”], which is considered the equivalent of “science fiction”, associates this type of prose with the broadly understood genre of literary fantasy. The author emphasizes the fact that the roots of science fiction are different, with its origins in traditions of realism (and its idea of a writer studying and describing social life). In its entertainment variant, science fiction refers to the tradition of the “adventure romance,” and in this sense it can be linked with the “romance” category, in opposition to the category of “the novel.” It is, however, the only area where SF works may deviate from the probability principle, understood as a rule allowing for the rapport with readers, and for the authentication of the world represented in a novel – also when writers only feign references to science or scientific theories. Such feigning, however, is a key element of the convention and it serves to reinforce the vraisemblance [“likelihood”] of the work.