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| | Reviews: July 1997 |
 | | Despite his sympathy for science as a human activity, and his desire to explode the cold/hot dichotomy, he still draws distinctions between science and "human values," as if science were not one of them and were not employed in the service of other human values. |
 | | I include as "givens" of hard sf a relatively short "shelf life," congruence with human values, importation of story types from other fiction, didacticism, elevation of scale and scope, fixation on problems, use of limitations as story-telling tools, and dependence on human language to express the almost inexpressible. |
 | | Yet this does prevent science fiction critics--and I include myself here --from presenting grand theories, general observations, and profound commentaries about the nature and purpose of science fiction--all based on their knowledge of only a small fraction of the genre. |
| www.depauw.edu /sfs/birs/bir72.htm (11044 words) |
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