The first essay by Ursula K. LeGuin, “American SF and The Other”, essentially rips apart the genre from the inside out by highlighting the racial, sexual, and even class hierarchy that rules the character development, or lack of in her sentiments, in modern American science fiction. She criticizes the ethno- and Eurocentric flavor that every storyline seems to follow in terms of who is the redeemer and the hero, and the tendency for females to be prey, sacrificial, overly sexualized, or otherwise an obstruction if not downright useless. The term “The Other” is used in reference to anyone who is different from yourself, in term alienating everyone individually. It is used as a criticism for the portrayal of anyone or thing that is unlike the status quo, which in LeGuin’s argument is anything that is other than European Colonial “norms”.
The second essay, “What is Science Fiction?”, is more about the core or methodology that goes into writing in the genre. Breaking down the assumption that science fiction authors are creating works based from how they feel the future is going to unfold, she sheds a different perspective that they are all full of it and are just skilled descriptive writers with imagination. LeGuin clarifies, in her own words on the first page, “Prediction is business of prophets . . . A novelists business is lying.” This essay was written as an introduction to an upcoming book and I feel she wanted to present everything out in the open that her fiction, and that of other great sci-fi writers is nothing to be studied, analyzed, or looked into any further than being creative and enjoyable, for those who enjoy it at least. I don’t think this is a catch all statement, that all science fiction is completely bull. And I don’t think that LeGuin is pushing that either, more so that some people may overlook from time to time that since the genre deals with human groups in a future timeframe, that does not necessarily mean that it can be accredited as a prediction. It is still art. No matter how much research or legitimacy there is to the science in the stories, it is based off of present technology and reimagined for the sake of art and entertainment.
