…There's often a literal side to SF [science fiction] language. There are many strings of words that can appear both in an SF text and in an ordinary text of naturalistic fiction. But when they appear in a naturalistic text we interpret them one way, and when they appear in an SF text we interpret them another. Let me illustrate this by some examples I've used many times before. The phrase her world exploded in a naturalistic text will be a metaphor for a female character's emotional state; but in an SF text, if you had the same words— her world exploded—you'd have to maintain the possibility that they meant: a planet belonging to a woman blew up…
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About Samuel R. Delany
Samuel R. Delany was a contemporary American author, critic, and academic. Samuel R. "Chip" Delany is an American writer and literary critic. Read more on Wikipedia →