模式?还是科幻小说的启示?(英文)

Models,or,Learning from Science Fiction

文学系统一个最强大最有价值的产品是它反映了现实的模式,然而本文却认为,文学能够引发思维实验,而其目的是不仅反映现实的模式(即能被认识的模式),而且为现实创造模式(即全新的认知)。本文以科幻小说为个案进行了研究。科幻小说作为一种文学样式,虽然仍然不为人们普遍看好,却凸显出对世界的构建。科幻小说构建世界首先基于某种"如果……又怎样"的前提,而后在此基础上进行不同程度的系统的理性的推断。例如,阿尔弗雷德.贝斯特的科幻小说《星辰我的终点》(1956年)为20世纪50年代中期两极分化的冷战现实构思了一个替代版,推演出一个"全球化"(实际上是"美国化")的世界。换言之,像贝斯特小说这类科幻小说就引发了思维实验,人们可以从中学会一点,即如何把奥斯丁的小说或者塞万提斯的《堂吉诃德》这类经典化的名著作为能够引发全新认知的思维实验来理解。

One of the most powerful and valuable products of the literary system is models of reality. But the present paper argues that literature can conduct thought-experiments the purpose of which is to produce not just models of reality （recognizable models） but models for reality （fresh, novel cognitions）. The case investigated here is that of science fiction, still a somewhat disreputable literary genre, but one that foregrounds world-building, proceeding from certain ＂what if？＂ premises and extrapolating its alternative worlds more or less rationally and systematically from those premises. One example is Alfred Bester＇ s science-fiction novel The Stars My Destination （ 1956）, which projects an alternative to the polarized, Cold War reality of the mid-Fifties, extrapolating a ＂globalized＂ （ in effect, ＂Americanized＂ ） world. In other words, science fictions such as Bester＇ s novel conduct thought-experiments. One can learn from the example of science fiction how to be thinking about even canonical classics such as Jane Austen＇ s novels or Cervantes＇ Don Quixote as thought-experiments capable of producing fresh cognitions.