600
MICHEL BUTOR
requirements of "science," the planets or the epochs which are closer at
hand. Similarly the divination of a future science affords, surely, a great
freedom, but we soon discover that it is above all a revenge of the
authors against their incapacity to master the entire range of contem–
porary science.
The day is long past when an Aristotle could be the first researcher
of his age in every domain, and the day when a Pico could claim to
defend a thesis
De Omni R e Scibili;
but the day is almost past when a
Verne could easily handle the notions implied in all the technological
applications achieved in his age, and anticipate other applications while
remaining perfectly clear to the high school students who formed his
public.
Today the notions implied in devices as common as a radio set or
an atomic bomb exceed by a good deal the average reader's level of
scientific culture. He uses without understanding; he accepts without
asking explanations; and the author takes advantage of this situation,
which frequently causes him to multiply his blunders, for he too generally
lacks a sufficient knowledge of the notions he is obliged to use or else
seem backward, a grave possibility when one is claiming to reveal the
mysteries of two hundred thousand years hence.
As a result SF, which should derive the greatest part of its prestige
from its precision, remains vague. The story does not truly manage to
take shape.
And when the scientists themselves begin writing, they quite
often prove their ignorance of the disciplines unfamiliar to them and
their difficulty in vulgarizing their specialty.
SF is distinguished from the other genres of the fantastic by the
special kind of plausibility it introduces. This plausibility is in direct
proportion to the solid scientific elements the author introduces.
If
they
fail, SF becomes a dead form, a stereotype.
IV
Hence we understand why few authors risk specifying the details of
their image of a transformed world. It is an undertaking, indeed, which
supposes not only a scientific culture far above the average, but also
a knowledge of present reality comparable to that supposed by a novel
of the realistic type, and finally an enormous effort of coordination. The
author is generally content to evoke a future world "in general," one
which might just as well be located in 1975 as in 19750, a world
characterired by the widespread use of plastic substances, of television and
of atomic-powered rockets. It is within this setting that he will briefly
