I was particularly intrigued by the reference to hard science fiction as a genre favored by autistics for its technical precision. What immediately leaped out at me, but was not explicitly mentioned in the article, is that early works in this genre tended to have very sketchy characters. The story wasn't about the characters; it was about the idea. There are different literary focal points that a story can have, as people's tastes do vary. What some readers see as a flaw, others see as an attraction. In this case, some writers were just writing the kind of story they wanted to read -- and since they were far more interested in the science than in the people, that came through in the finished work. In retrospect, this makes the stories a lot more understandable, and I think it could be fascinating to examine them in a context of neurotype analysis. The worlds you make, what does that say about how you think?
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- Elizabeth Barrette (
ysabetwordsmith) wrote,
Elizabeth Barrette
ysabetwordsmith
- Mood:
busy
Autism and Culture
I was particularly intrigued by the reference to hard science fiction as a genre favored by autistics for its technical precision. What immediately leaped out at me, but was not explicitly mentioned in the article, is that early works in this genre tended to have very sketchy characters. The story wasn't about the characters; it was about the idea. There are different literary focal points that a story can have, as people's tastes do vary. What some readers see as a flaw, others see as an attraction. In this case, some writers were just writing the kind of story they wanted to read -- and since they were far more interested in the science than in the people, that came through in the finished work. In retrospect, this makes the stories a lot more understandable, and I think it could be fascinating to examine them in a context of neurotype analysis. The worlds you make, what does that say about how you think?
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July 29 2012, 00:47:53 UTC 8 years ago Edited: July 29 2012, 00:49:16 UTC
Yes...
July 29 2012, 00:50:41 UTC 8 years ago
Re: Yes...
July 29 2012, 02:54:32 UTC 8 years ago Edited: July 29 2012, 02:59:16 UTC
This Alien Shore, I also enjoyed. I didn't find it quite so engaging, but it raised some interesting technical/ethical issues, so bonus points for thoughts, provoking of.
Wave Without A Shore is one of the strangest, most vivid books I have ever read, notable for its depictions of alien culture (especially the human one) and alien states of mind and the power of peer pressure and the power of perception and the nature of power. Did I like it? I've read it at least /t/h/r/e/e/ four times, and I'm still not sure. Would I recommend it? In an instant.
Speed of Dark, I thought, made the central character very engaging and his challenges and dilemmas heartbreakingly real. (No, chances are, you can't have it all ... whichever "all" you're after.) OT: For a while, I had this book's plot and another's tangled in my head; I miss that book!
Re: Yes...
July 29 2012, 03:16:04 UTC 8 years ago
The line I most remember from Commitment Hour was "You can have what you want most in life. Not even the gods can guarantee that you get your second choice too." They'd started out with a wonderfully genderflexy opportunity and then just utterly, completely pooched it. It's one of the few books that ever made me cry over the sheer loss of potential.