That is something I might have brought up on the Bookshare list when
that discussion started. I have never read the Left Behind series myself
and even though I am a bit curious I probably won't. I get beat over the
head with religion enough without seeking it out. I have noticed,
though, that on web sites that categorize books into genres that series
is always categorized as science fiction. It is also categorized as
Christian or something else, but it is always categorized as science
fiction. Again, I have not read it, but as I understand the plot that is
not science fiction. Sometimes people seem to get confused about what
the difference is between fantasy and science fiction or else think it
is the same thing, but I maintain that the two genres are the least
related of all fiction genres. Here is how I explain it. Both fantasy
and science fiction are speculative fiction. By speculative I mean that
there is always the implicit question of what if. When phrased as a
question what follows after the word if is a fantastic supposition. A
fantastic supposition is a supposition of an event or scenario unlike
any even that anyone has ever experienced. The difference, though, is in
what the origin of the fantastic supposition is. The word science in
science fiction is not there for nothing. Science is the study of
reality. That means that in a science fiction story the fantastic
supposition, even if it is completely impossible, is assumed within the
context of the story to be a manifestation of reality. In the fantasy
story, on the other hand, the fantastic supposition is assumed to be a
manifestation of the supernatural. Most fantasy is based on defunct
religions and the defunct religions are usually ancient Nordic or Celtic
religions. That is where all the elves and trolls come from. But it does
not have to be based on those defunct religions. It can be based on
other religions including extant religions or on no religion at all. It
just has to be assumed within the context of the story that the
fantastic supposition is a manifestation of the supernatural. As I
understand it the Left Behind series is based on the tribulation and
other supernatural pronouncements in the bible. That makes it solidly
fantasy. And since the whole idea of the series is to promote the
Christian religion it would be Christian fantasy. Now, the difference
between fantasy and science fiction is a profound difference. It is the
difference between chemistry and alchemy. It is the difference between
astronomy and astrology. It is the difference between medical treatment
and faith healing. Nevertheless, any multiple genres of fiction overlap
to some extent and fantasy and science fiction do too. That always
bothers me. An example I can think of is Stephen King's The Stand. It is
a really good science fiction story and I enjoyed it, but I was still
irritated by it all the way through because supernatural happenings just
kept being introduced. I liked his novel, It, better. All the fantastic
suppositions in that novel were assumed to be manifestations of the
supernatural. I also liked his novel, The Tommyknockers, better because
that one was solidly science fiction and all the fantastic suppositions
were assumed to be manifestations of reality. As far as I know, though,
all of the fantastic suppositions in the Left behind series are assumed
to be supernatural and so that series is simply mislabeled as science
fiction.
On 9/18/2015 6:13 PM, Martian.Lady wrote:
HI
Isn't it interesting how popular the "Left Behind" series is? People who read it must assume they would never be "left Behind"? Very smug.
Marsha
