Literature in SF world

[Mark6]

I noticed that very few SF books make any mention of literature in the world they depict. Yet a major point of science fiction is to portray a world significantly different from our own; shouldn't art and literature in that world reflect the difference?

I wonder what literature would be like in the universe of Reynolds' "House of Suns". Human species and its countless descendants (many of which do no look anything like human) had spread through the Galaxy, but lightspeed limit keeps any one of them from any contact with most others -- and allows only very intermittent contact with remaining ones. Moreover, enough time had passed for several colonization waves to hit just about every habitable planet, so every such planet is covered with ruins of several past civilizations, often separated by hundreds of millennia, and sometimes vastly more powerful than the current occupant. What would one write about if one KNEW that scattered through both the sky and the past are living gods as well as primitives to whom oneself may well be god? And every thousand years or so someone pays a visit?

 

[D'rok]

A galactic travel guide with the helpful phrase "Don't Panic" on the cover?

 

[IMST]

Fascinating question and I look forward to watching this thread with interest. I could also be interested in the literature of settings with active paranormal agents, e.g. gods actively taking action in the world of the story. What would a novel on Discworld look like?

 

[theprestige]

Iain Banks' SF works often refer to the art and literature of the setting. The protagonist of Against a Dark Background makes her living by stealing and fencing the treasures of bygone times. The protagonist (or is he?) of Player of Games is notable for being an aficionado of strategy games of all kinds; this character trait is a driving force of the plot.

C.J. Cherryh, on the other hand, seems to almost never include such references in her SF novels, except in the Chanur series, where works of art are the basis for the entire financial system of one alien civilization.

Popular entertainment media and celebrities play supporting roles in much of William Gibson's "cyberpunk" novels. I'm not sure SenseNet, Tally Isham, and Idoru count as "art and literature", but they do represent the theme of pop culture in the digital future which is prominent in his work. Then there's one of the main arcs in Count Zero, which follows an art gallery owner's quest for an elusive artist that crafts wondrous artworks from found objects...

 

[Denver]

If you want to wind the clock back a bit, when scifi was clumped together with other fiction, H.P. Lovecraft mentioned literature quite a bit in his supernatural fiction - both real literature, and literature specifically made up to support his worlds.

 

[JohnG]

There's always Fahrenheit 451, of course, but I'm guessing that's not quite what you are referring to?

 

[Monketi Ghost]

In Larry Niven's "Protector", there's a short discussion of the literature of a colonized planet and the reasons for the styles developed.

 

[Pope130]

H. Beam Piper's work includes many stories with authors as main characters, also Heinlein and Wells.

 

[Floyt]

Neal Stephenson's "Anathem" contains the extracts and summaries of about a dozen philosophical and scientific works, but most of them are equivalents of those from our own history - it's more of a parallel world treatment.

 

[Wolfman]

There's a sci-fi short story that I read years ago, that has stuck with me ever since; don't remember the title or author (maybe somebody else will?).

The premise was discovering a race of aliens who had a sixth sense...nothing paranormal, but they could 'see' music. For them, the experience of music was both auditory and visual, and led to very different kinds of music that intertwined both.

The human protagonist in the story wants to see what its really like, and one of the aliens tells him that its possible to 'tweak' his brain to be able to experience it the same way the aliens do...but it will only work for a short time. And it only works once.

Of course, he does it, and has the most beautiful and awe-inspiring experience of art that he's ever had. But then it wears off...and he is left to a lifetime of frustration and despair, having glimpsed such a glorious form of art, but now being forever separated from experiencing it again.

The story's not about literature...but the entire story revolved around the idea of how art (and the experience of art) could differ entirely in alien cultures.

 

[Wolfman]

The story's not about literature...but the entire story revolved around the idea of how art (and the experience of art) could differ entirely in alien cultures.

Building on this...think of how art would differ in a culture where the sense of smell was much more vivid than the sense of sight.

Or aliens who could see infra-red...and make art based on heat.

A lot of quite fascinating possibilities

 

[Mojo]

Flann O'Brien's The Third Policeman includes references to the works of De Selby.

 

[Bikewer]

Gene Wolfe's Book Of The New Urth tetrology constantly references "ancient" literature, and libraries figure importantly in the tale.
The protagonist, Severian, constantly quotes from a little of (greatly distorted) classic stories he has, and even relates some of them in their entirety.

 

[LibraryLady]

Ever visit The Invisible Library?

 

[Mark6]

A galactic travel guide with the helpful phrase "Don't Panic" on the cover?

Only as a joke. Without FTL, any galactic travel guide will be obsolete before it was even published.

 

[gtc]

A Canticle for Leibowitz is about a group of monks who strive to maintain the literature of our era in a post nuclear war world. There is discussion of the literature that emerges in that era.

 

[Terry]

There's a sci-fi short story that I read years ago, that has stuck with me ever since; don't remember the title or author (maybe somebody else will?).

Asimov, The Secret Sense

 

[Mar\/in]

There's Poul Anderson's A Midsummer Tempest -- sort of an alternate history where Shakespeare's fantastical works are actually history.

 

[Lensman]

The Number of the Beast, Robert A. Heinlein discusses various stories, eg The Wizard of Oz, ERB's Barsoom stories, The Lensman universe etc.

 

[Mark6]

The Number of the Beast, Robert A. Heinlein discusses various stories, eg The Wizard of Oz, ERB's Barsoom stories, The Lensman universe etc.

Well, I would not use the word "discusses". The protagonists visit all these stories, and discuss them inasmuch as they are IN each story. Also, they only enter stories all four of them (or maybe at least three out of four?) really like. Which prompts Zeb to ask worriedly at one point "Does anyone here besides me like H.P.Lovecraft??" (Because being stuck in the universe of Necronomicon would have been a Very Bad Thing.)