speculative fiction
Speculative fiction is an umbrella term, umbrella genre of fiction that encompasses all the subgenres that depart from Realism (arts), realism, or strictly imitating everyday reality, instead presenting fantastical, supernatural, futuristic, or ...
that describes the elaborate fictional background,
trope
Trope or tropes may refer to:
Arts and entertainment
* Trope (cinema), a cinematic convention for conveying a concept
* Trope (literature), a figure of speech or common literary device
* Trope (music), any of a variety of different things in medi ...
s, images, and conventions that
science fiction
Science fiction (often shortened to sci-fi or abbreviated SF) is a genre of speculative fiction that deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts. These concepts may include information technology and robotics, biological manipulations, space ...
or
fantasy
Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction that involves supernatural or Magic (supernatural), magical elements, often including Fictional universe, imaginary places and Legendary creature, creatures.
The genre's roots lie in oral traditions, ...
narratives share.
History
This collective body of knowledge, utilized by writers and recognized by readers, was first described by
Christine Brooke-Rose
Christine Brooke-Rose (16 January 1923 – 21 March 2012) was a British writer and literary critic, known principally for her experimental novels.Roland Barthes
Roland Gérard Barthes (; ; 12 November 1915 – 25 March 1980) was a French literary theorist, essayist, philosopher, critic, and semiotician. His work engaged in the analysis of a variety of sign systems, mainly derived from Western popu ...
Brooke-Rose describes a subconsciously familiar set of images, attributes and ideas that are shared within a particular genre. She cites examples in several genres, but goes into critical detail when considering
fantasy
Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction that involves supernatural or Magic (supernatural), magical elements, often including Fictional universe, imaginary places and Legendary creature, creatures.
The genre's roots lie in oral traditions, ...
, specifically the work of
J. R. R. Tolkien
John Ronald Reuel Tolkien (, 3 January 1892 – 2 September 1973) was an English writer and philologist. He was the author of the high fantasy works ''The Hobbit'' and ''The Lord of the Rings''.
From 1925 to 1945, Tolkien was the Rawlinson ...
.
Damien Broderick
Damien Francis Broderick (22 April 1944 – 19 April 2025) was an Australian science fiction and popular science writer and editor of some 74 books. ''The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction'' credits him with the first usage of the term ''virtual ...
builds on this concept, separating Brooke-Rose's criticism of Tolkien and the specific exposition in Tolkien's work, from the megatext concept itself''Reading by Starlight: Postmodern Science Fiction'' by
Damien Broderick
Damien Francis Broderick (22 April 1944 – 19 April 2025) was an Australian science fiction and popular science writer and editor of some 74 books. ''The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction'' credits him with the first usage of the term ''virtual ...
. 1995. and introducing other comparable
science fiction
Science fiction (often shortened to sci-fi or abbreviated SF) is a genre of speculative fiction that deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts. These concepts may include information technology and robotics, biological manipulations, space ...
theories, such as the work of
Gary K. Wolfe
Gary K. Wolfe (born Gary Kent Wolfe in 1946) is an American science fiction editor, critic and biographer. He is an emeritus Professor of Humanities in Roosevelt University's Evelyn T. Stone College of Professional Studies.
Life
Wolfe was bo ...
in ''The Known and the Unknown: The Iconography of Science Fiction''. The "mega-text" in Broderick's description is much more clearly identified as a shared cultural experience and interaction between writer and reader.
In his essay "The Evolving Megatext of Fantasy"
Allen Stroud
Allen James Stroud (born 1976/1977) is a researcher and university lecturer at Coventry University. He is currently leading the Creative Futures project, a funded research partnership between Coventry University and the Defence Science and Tech ...
identifies the distinction between the author's specific fictional world mythos (macrotext or world bible) and the way in which the megatext of fantasy has changed, spreading out across multiple media to incorporate many shared concepts into hundreds of different fictions.''The Evolving Megatext of Fantasy'' in ''The BFS Journal 18'' edited by
Allen Stroud
Allen James Stroud (born 1976/1977) is a researcher and university lecturer at Coventry University. He is currently leading the Creative Futures project, a funded research partnership between Coventry University and the Defence Science and Tech ...
. 2018. Stroud notes that many of these concepts are washed of their cultural origins in their new forms, relying instead on more popular contemporary images and archetypes.
References
Sources
*Introduction to ''The Norton Book of Science Fiction'' by
Ursula Le Guin
Ursula Kroeber Le Guin ( ; Kroeber; October 21, 1929 – January 22, 2018) was an American author. She is best known for her works of speculative fiction, including science fiction works set in her Hainish universe, and the ''Earthsea'' fantas ...