Sadie Wyant

Though C.S. Lewis wrote 3 acclaimed science fiction novels, he is not always identified with the sci-fi genre. Aside from his fiction, Lewis also provided some useful criticism on science fiction stories in his essay, “On Science Fiction,” where he analyzes multiple different “species” of the genre.

Lewis begins by explaining why it is important for a critic to somewhat like the genre or category of story that he or she plans to critique. He stresses that disliking a specific genre is fine, but one should not critique any work from that genre so that personal bias will not overrule any helpful analysis. As Lewis specifically says,

Many reviews are useless because, while purporting to condemn the book, they only reveal the reviewer’s dislike of the kind to which it belongs (60).

Lewis goes on in his critique of science fiction to reveal five different subspecies of this sort of literature: Displaced Persons, the Engineers, Speculative, Eschatological, and Fantasy. He ranks these from worst to best, respectively.

Lewis talks about the Displaced Persons subspecies of Science Fiction first. Though he ranks it as his least favorite, some important ideas can be taken from his analysis. Lewis explains that in this subspecies, an author takes an ordinary story and transports it into a different realm, whether that be the future time or space. He says, “The faintly imagined, and sometimes strictly unimaginable, scene and properties, only blur the real theme and distract us from any interest it might have had” (61). What Lewis is saying here is that if an author tries to give their writing some science fiction-y theme, then they are missing the whole point of their work. He does acquiesce in saying, “A leap into the future…is a legitimate ‘machine’ if it enables the author to develop a story of real value which could not have been told…in any other way” (61).

Lewis does admit that this type of story can redeem itself if it is plausible that the true theme of the story can only occur in the setting in which the author has created it. Lewis reiterates,

I am, then, condemning not all books which suppose a future widely different from the present, but those which do so without a good reason, which leap a thousand years to find plots and passions which they could have found at home (62).

Overall, Lewis asserts that the Displaced Persons subspecies of science fiction is only valid if it does not take ordinary plots and transport them to a surreal reality.

Lewis’s critique of these subspecies of science fiction can ring true in some newer movies. For example, the 2015 film Jupiter Ascending, Mila Kunis plays a girl whose destiny is revealed when a space hunter comes looking for her. The movie has similar plots to any other romantic comedy/adventure movie, and only differs in that it is set in a futuristic world dominated by consumerism.

Though Jupiter Ascending is not necessarily “bad” in the sense of production, the film would have definitely been criticized by Lewis as one that employs the same ideas as the Displaced Persons stories. The film also employs some Greek mythological themes, which are shown in a new light, but ultimately fall right under the description of the subspecies that Lewis loathes the most.

Lewis’s critique inspires me to analyze my own work for the same themes that he brings up in his essay. As an aspiring writer, I want to strive to stay clear of the trap Lewis details in his analysis of the Displaced Persons subspecies of science fiction. Though it is difficult for me to not follow the general themes of novels, I would like to be able to create a story “of real value which could not have been told…in any other way.”

(1). Lewis, C.S. Of Other Worlds: Essays and Stories. Ed. Walter Hooper. New York: Harvest Book, Harcourt, Inc. 1994.