Literary Science Fiction
What are the best Literary SF books out there?
I find this a difficult question to answer. In my mind, ‘Literary’ means primarily concerned with observations into the human condition, detailed portrayals of realistic characters, and emphasis on the beauty of language and expression.
This knocks most of my favorite books out the the running from the get-go. My tastes run to GALACTIC PATROL, and Black DuQuesne is my idea of an in-depth character study, my idea of true poetry is “Bugs, Mr. Rico! Zillions of ’em!”
I cannot list anything by CS Lewis, much as I love his work, because his characters were simple, and nothing of background, description, or art is remarkable in his tales. NINETEEN EIGHTY-FOUR is perhaps the most famous SF book paid honors by the literary establishment (regarded so highly that most people refuse to call it SF), but it has neither characters nor description worth mentioning, nor is it a meditation on any deep human question aside from the intellectual dishonesty of totalitarianism. ATLAS SHRUGGED is arguably dystopian SF addressing deep philosophical ideas, but the characters are deliberately romanticized into perfect heroes and utter villains.
Lemme see…
1. SHADOW OF THE TORTURER by Gene Wolfe. Wolfe is the best living novelist in America today, and all Academia would be enraptured by him, were it not that he writes what is marketed as SF. Like all geniuses, he simply transcends genre. Don’t get me wrong: THE DYING EARTH by Jack Vance is SF; so is ZOTHIQUE by Clarke Ashton Smith. Both men wrote things I very much admire—but SHADOW OF THE TORTURER is something else, deeper, richer, grander. Read them side by side and you will see what I mean.
2. LORD OF THE RINGS by Professor Tolkein. I am not sure if his characters are sufficiently detailed to count as ‘literate’, but they surely suffer and overcome, and ponder the meanings of deep things in the world, the nature of man and mortality, the meaning of honor, the character of mercy. The language is elevated, and in places soars to poetry, not to mention the actual poetry in the text. He not merely transcends genre, he created it. The fantasies written before him, such as VOYAGE TO ARCTURUS or THE WORM OROBOROS were a different sort of creature, more odd and more unreal, not speaking in plain terms to the pains and pleasures of common men.
3. LITTLE BIG by John Crowley. Good, if odd, character development, many passages showing poetry and craft, but a little weak on weight and depth of speaking to the great ideas. I add it here because I honestly cannot think of any other literary SF at all.
Also a genre-breaker. One might argue that is actually a mainstream book with fantasy elements, not really a fantasy; but in truth it can be classified only with itself.
4. Honorable mention goes to: HYPERION by Dan Simmons. The artist here changes his narrative style in this retelling of Canturbury Tales, and does indeed touch on the great ideas of literature: predestination and hope, freedom and security, God and Time. The characters are better developed and studied more in depth than John Crowley’s quirky Drinkwater family.
About John C Wright
John C. Wright is a practicing philosopher, a retired attorney, newspaperman, and newspaper editor, and a published author of science fiction. Once a Houyhnhnm, he was expelled from the august ranks of purely rational beings when he fell in love; but retains an honorary title.
