I. アシモフのSF作品における言語運用の工夫と効果
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In one of his SF magazine column essays "ImagiRation", Asimov er[iphasizes theneed for realism even in science fictien. No doubt SF stories cannot do without somefictitious arrangements: a time machine, warp navigation, a gravitator etc. However,Asimov still wants to achieve plausibility by adding some realistic expressions to thesubsidiary details: warp navigation cannot be omitted, but by adding the passengers'feeling of their physiological wrongness at the time of the warp he can achieve a senseof reality. Also in SF works, the author cannot do without giving the readers somesclentific informatiofl, which generally tends to disturb the natural smooth flow of thestory. The readers rnay be reluctant to accept the author's position as a scienceteacher.In his early short story "Marooned eff Vesta", Asimov tries to make up for suchunnatural, cumbersome weak points through some literary devices. He creates threecharacters: A somewhat unintelligent individual, an ordinary individual, and a scholarlyhero. The conversations between them have the effect of laying the groundwork forthe readers, who can get the necessary information more smoothly through the gradualphasing-in of the exposition. Also, the readers can preserve their honor because theydo not need to be so conscious of their scientific innocence. The twe of the characters,the somewhat unintelligent person, and the ordinary man, serve to disclose theirinnocence in place of the readers. Besides, Asimov gives some repetitive expesition ofthe story of the way to make it surer to the readers: not by giving a mechanicallypedagogic way of review as practised in school, but by an intelligent game of analogy.The third person, the intelligent hero, tries to compare their broken spaceship to anatural satellite of the asteroid Vesta. It outlines the story of the accident of thespaceship and the present urgeitt situatioll of the three survivors so cleverly that thereaders can be tmconscious of the repetitive quality of the narration.Asimov also shows his superb technique in his stylistic spproach to realism. Indescribing the hero's inexperieflced spacewalk, he subtlely uses an unbalanced, awkwardsentence-construction which illustrates the dangerous possibility of the hero'sbreaking away from the spaceship.All in all, Asimov's work "Marooned off Vesta" is cleverly informative, keepingthe readers least conscious of the author's inevitable pedagogic role of imposingessential scientific knowledge, thanks to the natural, exquisite flow and development of his story-telling, his kind consideration for the readers' pride, and his superb stylistictechnique for realistic description. These literary devices and tactics should be appliednot only to SF works but also to our actual, practical communication of any scientificinformation
- 九州大学の論文
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