Fantastyka i realizm
Fiction and Realism

Author(s): Krzysztof Uniłowski
Subject(s): Language and Literature Studies
Published by: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Śląskiego
Summary/Abstract: In contemporary Polish terminology, the term “ fantastyka naukowa” [“the scientificfantasy”], which is considered the equivalent of “science fiction”, associates thistype of prose with the broadly understood genre of literary fantasy. The author emphasizesthe fact that the roots of science fiction are different, with its origins intraditions 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 “adventureromance,” and in this sense it can be linked with the “romance” category, in oppositionto the category of “the novel.” It is, however, the only area where SF works maydeviate from the probability principle, understood as a rule allowing for the rapportwith readers, and for the authentication of the world represented in a novel – alsowhen 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.

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