Since I wrote my last post there's been something niggling me: I described Star Wars as science fiction but on reflection I don't think I was correct.
I've just consulted the most authoritative source I could find - i.e. In Other Worlds: SF and the Human Imagination by Margaret Atwood - where she records a discussion that she had with Ursula Le Guin (and I'd love to have been present for that) about the difference between science fiction and fantasy.
Both Atwood and Le Guin define "science fiction" as speculative fiction about things that really could happen, whereas things that really could not happen are fantasy. Thus Star Wars belongs in fantasy along with Doctor Who and dragons.
On this basis the Discworld, although many of its elements strangely echo similar elements in the Roundworld, is definitely a creation of fantasy. I'd love to see a dragon for real but it's far safer just to read about them or watch them on a screen.
I've just consulted the most authoritative source I could find - i.e. In Other Worlds: SF and the Human Imagination by Margaret Atwood - where she records a discussion that she had with Ursula Le Guin (and I'd love to have been present for that) about the difference between science fiction and fantasy.
Both Atwood and Le Guin define "science fiction" as speculative fiction about things that really could happen, whereas things that really could not happen are fantasy. Thus Star Wars belongs in fantasy along with Doctor Who and dragons.
On this basis the Discworld, although many of its elements strangely echo similar elements in the Roundworld, is definitely a creation of fantasy. I'd love to see a dragon for real but it's far safer just to read about them or watch them on a screen.
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