Culture
Speculative Fiction Books Full of Real Horrors
In most cases, truth is stranger than fiction. But sometimes we need strange fiction to show us the truth. My favorite works of science fiction and fantasy take place in a world that largely resembles our own, and shine a spotlight on the issues of today by blending fantastical imagination with real-world commentary.
Take “Buffy the Vampire Slayer.” High school is hell (literally). Coming out (as a Slayer) is hard. The man you love could transform after sex into someone you no longer recognize (say, a vampire). Allusions to the speculative are common in everyday speech: The untested drug is a “magic pill,” the horrible boss is the “devil himself,” or the female politician is “possessed by a Jezebel spirit.” Taking these propositions seriously can shine a light on what ails us (corporate greed, worker exploitation, good old-fashioned misogyny — take your pick). It’s also what inspired me to play with the idea of actual monsters haunting an abortion clinic in my latest novel, “We Dance Upon Demons,” after I was called a “demon” while volunteering at Planned Parenthood.
When used well, speculative elements take a familiar concept that our brains might otherwise gloss over as familiar and make it just different and exciting enough that we can see new or deeper dimensions. In contemporary stories, they create a gateway for the reader to put herself in a character’s shoes. It’s hard to imagine, for example, how I would fare in the Hunger Games (poorly, I’m sure), but I definitely know what I would do if I started seeing demons at work (Google symptoms of a brain tumor).
Here are some of my favorite books that make a contemporary feast out of the simple question: What if?
Welcome to Lit Trivia, the Book Review’s regular quiz about books, authors and literary culture. This week’s challenge tests your memory of books that made huge impacts on society after they were published — some of them even spurring changes to American laws. In the five multiple-choice questions below, tap or click on the answer you think is correct. After the last question, you’ll find links to the books if you’d like to do further reading.
Where do you turn when you need advice? A chatbot? A life coach? A wise and trusted friend?
How about a poet? Poets may not be famous for making the best life choices, but because they subject the mess of human existence to the discipline of language, they can be as helpful as any therapist or mentor.
Good poets know the rules and when to break them, which is something they can teach the rest of us.
To wit:
Giving advice is a peculiar literary undertaking. It flourishes in certain popular genres — graduation speeches, newspaper columns, country and western songs and poems like this one — but what, in these contexts, is it really for?
I’m thinking of situations when you don’t urgently need help but nonetheless enjoy reading answers to questions you may not have thought to ask. What interests you isn’t the content of the advice — you could get all the life hacks you want from A.I. — so much as the voice of the person dispensing it.
Wendy Cope is an English poet, born in 1945, who has been a fixture of her country’s literary scene since the 1980s. More recently, her short, buoyant poem “The Orange” has been widely memed online, bringing her to the attention of new readers beyond Britain.
Cope favors rhyme, meter, brisk jokes and tart aperçus. She addresses romance, friendship and the petty absurdities of modern life with disarming good humor. The last line of “The Orange” is “I love you. I’m glad I exist.” Somehow she makes it the opposite of cringe.
This isn’t the kind of poetry you would describe as “confessional.” And yet …
Question 1/7
Stop, if the car is going “clunk”
Or if the sun has made you blind.
Don’t answer e–mails when you’re drunk.
Tap a word above to fill in the highlighted blank.Want to learn this poem by heart? We’ll help.
Fill in the missing words below. You can always refer to the reading by A.O. Scott and full
text above.Let’s start with the first stanza.
A strong sense of place can deeply influence a story, and in some cases, the setting can even feel like a character itself. This week’s literary geography quiz highlights places where authors were born (or lived) that later became locations in their books. To play, just make your selection in the multiple-choice list and the correct answer will be revealed. At the end of the quiz, you’ll find links to the works if you’d like to do further reading.
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