Texts Featured:

Sonia Fritzsche, Science Fiction Literature in East Germany

From my reading of the excerpts from Sonia Fritzsche’s Science Fiction Literature in East Germany, I was able to gather from this week’s reading is that the cultures of sf literature in the United States and the Eastern Bloc cannot exactly be grouped together. Due to contrasting values and cultures, we must accept as readers of sf that works from the United States and from the Eastern Bloc present to us distinctive experiences and styles. While American science fiction authors have traditionally ventured more into creating alternate worlds/realties and exploring time travel (amongst other fantastical realties and inventions that are not deeply-rooted in supported science), science fiction authors of the Eastern Bloc were significantly restricted by censorship as well as being influenced by soviet or communist cultural values to focus their attention on scientifically-realistic worlds. The works of Eastern Bloc science fiction authors would also center themselves around realistic technological advancements (mostly space travel). Seeing as the cultures of countries in the Eastern Bloc valued collective good much more than the individualistic society of America, some soviet and european authors felt the need to create realities which would promote scientific thinking and the high value of the scientific field. Of course, it also goes without saying that the strictly-regulated censorship of soviet literature made it necessary for the authors in these regions to write within the realms of possibility. As another result of this, sf was synthesized with utopian literature, meaning that it was popular for socialist authors to create utopian plots based on the government structures of the socialist countries in which they lived. However, despite the obstacles of socialist censorship and the push for realism, this also led to authors using realism as a clever way to critique the leaders and structures of their countries. Sonia Frtizsche maintains that sf authors could be found on both sides of the spectrum, either in dissent or in affirmation of the regimes in place. It is important to note that sf essentially takes influence from all directions and can be used in unique ways according to the will of the author. This being said, the original goal of the author does not always translate to readers – especially those who read without context of the period in which the book was originally written and published.  

Knowing that sf also has the distinctive quality of mixing with all other forms of literature and media, and that it lends itself to rendering “the repressed of excluded meanings of popular culture… most intelligible” (Fritzsche, 33). It’s no wonder that we, as readers, make it a point to look at sf from both the United States and the Eastern Bloc and to make these comparisons based on culture and the historical context. 

(Sep. 27, 2020)