Beyond Narcissism: What Science Fiction Can Offer Literature

Abstract

1. Never did it occur to me that I would ever be this closely associated with the world of literature, especially as I to this day feel no particular fondness for it. Many roads lead into the courtyard of science fiction: some spring from the love of literature, others from the passion for science. I took the latter path. Nowadays, humans can circle the globe in less than an hour, yet the light of the farthest visible galaxies has traveled for fifteen billion years before reaching us. If one were to see all of time—from the birth of the universe to now—as a single year, humanity would emerge in the very last second. But in all my limited experience with literature, I constantly hear a whisper in my ear, telling me that only this speck of a world and that tiny flash of a moment since humanity’s appearance is worth experiencing and representing. The entire vastness of all other space and time is not even worth a glance. After all, it is devoid of humans and of humanity, and literature is the epicenter of the humanities. In the world of literature, humanity exceeds all other attractions and the Sun and all other stars revolve around us. If the universe is the Sahara, then all that makes the Earth a grain of gold within it is that particular bacteria called humanity that clings to its surface. It means nothing to the whole of the desert. In literature, however, the Sun exists for no other reason than to illuminate the pure, unadulterated countryside, the Moon has no other reason to shine than to cast the shadows of seaside lovers—and the Milky Way need hardly exist at all. Because of this, literature has always given me the impression of indulging an intense anthropocentric narcissism. Of course, within a four-light-year radius we are the only intelligent life form (we are sure of that, at least at the moment), which grants humanity some cause for narcissism. Even so, some people want to experience more than this. They do not want their minds to be limited solely to this cosmic speck of dust and so are doing all they can to transcend this narcissism. In the field of literature, the most conscious effort in this regard is being made in the field of science fiction.