Roundtable: SF Aesthetics
Was piqued almost to the point of saying something last night, but I was drunk. Whatever, it is a new day in uber-snow-challenged London, and so a fast word, amiably consequential upon reading this from Paul Raven:
Beauty is subjective and objective at once, and trying to define it universally is a fruitless effort; understanding how and why beauty arises from our interaction with the universe and the things within it is probably one of the greatest civilisational goals we could aspire to. But you may want to take this with a large pinch of salt, because I have been re-reading Zen & The Art Of Motorcycle Maintenance again recently, and it has a very long-lasting and pervasive influence on my philosophy of aesthetics… 😉
I think it is probably when we try to unpack what we mean by “interaction with the universe and the things within it” — as being “one of the greatest civilisational goals we could aspire to” — that we come closest to what focuses my own take on things: that basically fantastika has no choice but to interact with the universe, if by the universe we mean the necessary grasping to planet-time that marks the fantastika fuzzy set. Which is to say that the only subjective intuition inwards to the ho ho ho innards sweetness of the interior whatness of Seeing Through to Truth that counts is that kind of intuition that also grasps where and when we are, or at least admits that we are here or dead. So I do myself distrust “interaction with the universe”, as the phrase hints to strongly of the transcendental, a whatness I cannot find the route to.
So style in sf is anything we can achieve in words that are storyable with our placement here.
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The ‘beauty’ that Dirac referred to includes an element of ‘getting the job done’. In that respect, any story that gets the job done for the reader contains that element of ‘beauty’.
As at least a couple of the contributors mentioned, this is really nothing more than an exercise in goal post moving. Rather than discussing “what is science fiction”, we’re asking if there is “beauty” to be found in it. A question that will never be answered as we are all looking at different sections of the tapestry.
For me, personally, those elements of writing that are (erroneously) attributed to “literary merit” CAN be incorporated into works of science fiction but do not have to be present to produce a beautiful story. (Cold Equations anyone? Where’s the “depth of character” in that classic?)
Damien lost me, however, with one of his opening paragraphs:
“I strongly object to the idea that science fiction has to be about science.”
For me there is a line, however squishy or nebulous. The absence of science that informs the story, or serves as background or provides the central element removes a story from the ranks. Even stories that ‘act’ like science fiction but that do not have the practices, logical projection/speculation based on science are over that line (the case for many so-called literary works that incorporate elements of SF, but that do not derive from an SF history/community/sensibility/whatever).
I view this as yet another argument “against” science fiction, seeming to come from someone who buys in to the Vonnegut epithet.
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I’m reminded of the remarks of former world chess champion Emmanuel Lasker contrasting his views of beauty in chess with those of title contender Siegbert Tarrasch.
“Dr. Tarrasch is a thinker, fond of deep and complex speculation. He will accept the efficacy and usefulness of a move if at the same time he considers it beautiful and theoretically right. But I accept that sort of beauty only if and when it happens to be useful. He admires an idea for its depth, I admire it for its efficacy. My opponent believes in beauty, I believe in strength. I think that by being strong, a move is beautiful too. – Emanuel Lasker”
In other words, I agree with the previous commenter regarding “getting the job done.” Are the paintings of Hieronymus Bosch beautiful? Deep? I’d say no to both. But they get his points across. The same is true of many highly regarded works in other media.
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