Representation of Non-anthropomorphic Consciousness in Science Fiction Literature: Linguistic Fiction, S. Lem, Strugatsky Brothers

Abstract

Since the middle of the 20th century a specific direction, which has gained the status of a serious philosophical (intellectual) fiction prose, has been developing in science fiction literature. Its most illustrative example is the work of Polish science fiction writer Stanislaw Lem (1921–2006). One of the tasks that fantasy writers try to solve by literary means is the representation of non-anthropomorphic consciousness. This task is internally contradictory: it requires one to speak of the nonhuman, which implies going beyond ones own boundaries, alienation from ones own essence. At the same time, since the writer is faced with the need to explore the boundaries of being and thinking, the approaches to its solution amount to the philosophical search. The article discusses the ways of representation of non-anthropomorphic consciousness offered by science fiction, with special attention paid to linguistic fiction (J. Vance, S. Delany, I. Watson, T. Chiang). On the example of the works of S. Lem and Soviet fantasy writers A. and B. Strugatsky, it is concluded that one of the most effective ways is to turn to folklore models, which are embedded in the mainstream of traditions that have developed languages of description of man’s alienation in the context of twentieth-century literature and culture.