과학소설, 새로운 문학적 영토

Science Fiction, A New Literary Realm

Science fiction which emerged through a computer communication in the late 1980 and early 1990 has formed the basis as a literary genre. Science fiction is a kind of literary form which is composed of 'mimesis' based on the principle of experience and 'fantasy' based on scientific imagination. The imaginary reality of science fiction extrapolates the scientific imagination as its core, from which the effect and situation are systemized and constructed. The imaginary reality is a world established by a new and marvelous fantasy and a possible imaginative fantastic space achieved by violating a principle of experience in reality. Meanwhile, being a future world which can be actualized when a scientific technology is more developed, the imaginary reality presents a perspective for the evolutionary process of human civilization through a connection of the past and present or the present and future. Science fiction gives a critical viewpoint about the influence of development of science and its technology through the imaginary reality based on the scientific imagination. Like this, scientific fiction goes beyond a field of visionary science fiction because it gives a prospect for the future, criticizing and reflecting the reality, not simply staying at an imaginary fantastic world. The history of our science fiction is short and is not so rich as that of the west in quality and quantity of the work. However, according to a situation that the technology is very influential in a whole society, the course of science fiction which is based on the extremely developed science and technology as an axis of literary figuration will be going well and the width and depth of science fiction will be more intensified.