A Flaw in Contemporary Horror?

[Knygathin]

I may be wrong, but it seems to me that criticism has taken a forefront of attention in the last few decades. Critics (and journalists) appear to be big stars today. And their analysis, their evaluation, and strong opinions, may perhaps intimidate writers from playfulness. According to the critics, fantastic fiction and horror fiction today, should be "important", "meaningful", "say something relevant about the present times", be "symbolic and informative of human psychological conditions", be "helpful", and must strictly follow present standards of "political correctness".

We live in an analyzing time era, that is preoccupied with details and demands correctness more than anything else. Perhaps writers today are afraid to trust deeper instincts and larger perspectives and write from a state of pure ecstasy. On the other hand, the greatest driven artists have always moved their own ways, regardless of critics. Great artists must break free from social inhibitions of the human aquarium! They must stand alone.

I was reading Van Vogt recently, and he had some wonderfully romantic, ecstatic visions of men in space-suits. Translucent space-suits, glittering and flashing with different colors, like folie, . . . and yet made of metallic material. (Hey, what's that all about?! Not very logical?)
This was before Man had landed on the Moon. Before we knew how a "real" space-suit looks. Before science fiction became "scientifically correct".

[DoktorH]

Quote Originally Posted by Knygathin

I was reading Van Vogt recently, and he had some wonderfully romantic, ecstatic visions of men in space-suits. Translucent space-suits, glittering and flashing with different colors, like folie, . . . and yet made of metallic material. (Hey, what's that all about?! Not very logical?) This was before Man had landed on the Moon. Before we knew how a "real" space-suit looks. Before science fiction became "scientifically correct".

it can go the other way as well. off the top of my head, the little handheld computers from Star Trek: The Next Generation seem to be the inspiration for modern tablets/ipads in form and function. translucent metal is a real thing too, typically as ceramics or glassware.

I've also seen a distinction made between science fiction that adheres closely to what is real and features what could be possible if enough time/resources were spent making it (hard science fiction) and science fiction that is more focused on an interesting story with engaging characters and doesn't worry about whether the tech could actually be built (soft science fiction).

I haven't read any van vogt, but looking at the dates on his Wikipedia entry, he may have been in between hard and soft science fiction in the story you reference: rockets already existed, so it was just a matter of figuring out how to safely convey people out of earth's atmosphere with one, clear spacesuit with lights makes for a more enjoyable story than utilitarian safety equipment.

I see I've posted a lot of junk on this thread but, after dumping the non-relevant stuff, still 100% stand by my position that weird fiction, at its best, is a significant form of literature. It may not have the intellectual cache it merits, when compared to mimetic fiction, but that's more due to a lack of imagination in our culture than anything else.

Mark S.

[xylokopos]

Quote Originally Posted by DoktorH

Quote Originally Posted by Robert Adam Gilmour Quote Originally Posted by Speaking Mute my favorite fantastic works are plotless travelogues and fictious encyclopedias/atlases....they strike me as much richer and varied than the more straightforward narrative fiction. Got any recommendations? World of Ice and Fire. a fictional history textbook written for Tommen's use in the Song of Ice and Fire series.

I remembered two more:

Ashton's Curious Creatures in Zoology [ don't let the title fool you, he is indulging in pure cryptozoology. I got the book courtesy of forgottenbooks.com; you can read the entire text and enjoy all the illustrations for free on Project Gutenberg]

Eco's Baudolino. Eco pretty much borrowed the aforementioned bestiary by Ashton and used it to populate the lands between Constantinople and the fabled Christian kingdom of Prester John; so Baudolino contains both a listing of imaginary creatures and a mythical travelogue.

[miguel1984]

Alberto Manguel & Gianni Guadalupi: The Dictionary of Imaginary Places

Jorge Luis Borges: Fantastic Zoology

Jorge Luis Borges: The Book of Imaginary Beings

[DoktorH]

realized another one tonight. Stories about a group of paranormal investigators visiting an abandoned building of some kind. it seems like half the new horror that comes out is this, and it is all very badly done. i believe it is all coming from one company that is doing it on purpose to discredit and eventually shut down the horror genre as a whole.

[Ancient History]

Quote Originally Posted by DoktorH

realized another one tonight. Stories about a group of paranormal investigators visiting an abandoned building of some kind. it seems like half the new horror that comes out is this, and it is all very badly done. i believe it is all coming from one company that is doing it on purpose to discredit and eventually shut down the horror genre as a whole.

That kinda gets back to the root of things though. If you accept that contemporary horror was essentially born from Edwardian and Victorian ghost stories and Spiritualist/parapsychology movement of the era, then one of the quintessential horrors yarns is the ghostbreaker (or parapsychologist, or medium, etc.) and the haunted house. It's fundamental in a couple of William Hope Hodgson's Carnacki stories, it's the basis of H. P. Lovecraft's "The Rats in the Walls"... it's certainly a trope, and probably one that's being abused, but it's part of the whole essence of the thing, the idea that people would go into the forbidden/taboo/sacred area and face the mysteries.