ops@ncsc (07/09/85)
From: ------ Operator <ops@ncsc> Listening to you all arguing among yourselves over what is good literature, or how much more realistic the explosions in one movie are over the explosions in another, or which author is more godlike than another, or whether fantasy is as valid as hard science fiction, or any of the other subjects you bicker over had me wondering if any of you remember the wonder and the awe of realizing that the things you read about in your treehouses and under your covers by flashlight could actually be true and that one day you could have a part in making them be true. I wonder how many of you were as influenced in your lives by science fiction as I have been in mine. Podkayne of Mars told me that girls can have adventures too. Andre Norton's books said it was okay to be different, that my strength lay within me, in my differences. I, Robot fired my imagination so that I ended up in my present career because of the dream of development of robotics in my lifetime, like Susan. Silent Running made me aware of the importance of conservation. Le Guinn inspired me to study Zen and to realize that western thought need not be the world view. Dhalgren's bleak ubanity frightened me into an awareness of modern dispair. Tolkien taught me about personal sacrifice and of the price of honor. Starship Troopers told me of the futility of war. All of the books I have read, no matter how good or bad, have given me something beyond what I had before I read them. That is all I ask from literature. When I was a child, science fiction in all its forms, with all its faults took me on wondrous journeys inside myself and outside of time and space. It does the same for me today, for all its faults and crass commercialism. Science fiction, fiction of any sort, is the dream inside the soul, reaching out to share a vision of life as it is, as it may be, as it could be. Jessie @ NCSC -------
wfi@rti-sel.UUCP (William Ingogly) (07/10/85)
In article <2620@topaz.ARPA> ops@ncsc writes: >Listening to you all arguing among yourselves over what is good >literature, or how much more realistic the explosions in one movie >are over the explosions in another, or which author is more godlike >than another, or whether fantasy is as valid as hard science fiction, >or any of the other subjects you bicker over had me wondering if any >of you remember the wonder and the awe of realizing that the things >you read about in your treehouses and under your covers by flashlight >could actually be true and that one day you could have a part in >making them be true. I wonder how many of you were as influenced in >your lives by science fiction as I have been in mine. We probably wouldn't be reading this newsgroup if we hadn't been strongly influenced by SF. But people are influenced by literature, music, and the other arts in different ways, and people approach their enjoyment of these things from different backgrounds and perspectives. What seems to be 'bickering' or 'arguing' to you is our approach to the enjoyment and understanding of SF; it's just as valid and enjoyable an approach to the genre as reading in a treehouse under covers by flashlight. Wonder and awe was enough for me when I was a teenager. Now that I'm an adult, I demand more from the literature I read. It's a matter of personal taste and experience, and my way of enjoying SF doesn't diminish yours or anyone else's in this group. If you don't care for criticism, skip over the critical discussions when you read the news. -- Cheers, Bill Ingogly