Journal Article

Contemporary Women's Speculative Fiction and Reproductive Rights

Curtis, Abi

2023

Overview

Although speculative fiction has been variously defined as a subgenre of science fiction, a distinct genre, or a super-category for all non-mimetic genres, I am particularly interested in the notion that it explores the possible, without necessarily relying heavily on technological or scientific details, but rather extrapolates from philosophical or political realities and expands their scope. Judith Merril gives us a strong and productive definition here: 'a special sort of contemporary writing which makes use of fantastic or inventive elements to comment on, or speculate about, society, humanity, life, the cosmos, reality. And any other topic under the general heading of philosophy' (Merril 1967: 3). But I would also propose that speculative fiction might be thought of as a mode of writing. This would be analogous to the way in which elegy is not a poetic form, but a poetic mode, in which certain kinds of dynamics are played out and explored. In the examples that follow, I argue that this is what takes place. But I also argue that speculative fictions which explore women's reproductive rights have distinct approaches to speculation, and that they can, on being read closely, help us to further define the mode of speculative fiction.There are two further elements to the definition of speculative fiction which I would like to propose. One comes from the etymology of the word 'speculate' itself, which can be traced back to the following roots: speculari ('to spy out' or 'to examine'); specularis ('like a mirror'); and specula ('watchtower'). All three of these imply looking at what already exists in reality, but either examining it closely or watching from a distance, as it comes towards us or moves away. I want to bear these dynamics in mind as a way of thinking about speculative fiction. The second set of definitions that are very useful relate to Darko Suvin's notion of the novum and his concept of cognitive estrangement'. Whilst Suvin's discussion could be considered dated, it remains a seminal set of conceptual frameworks for thinking about science fiction and speculative fiction. Taking his cue from the Russian Formalists, he proposes cognitive estrangement as vital to science fiction: 'SF is, then, a literary genre whose necessity and sufficient conditions are the presence and interaction of estrangement and cognition, and whose main formal device is an imaginative framework alternative to the author's empirical environment (Suvin 1979: 6-7; italics in original). Suvin also proposes the term novum or 'strange newness' as an element of any science fiction (4). This estrangement is at least partly about presenting the world in such a way that even elements of it that already exist seem unfamiliar and, thus, draws attention to them. For speculative fiction which explores reproduction, I would like to offer a different slant on these concepts. Maternal dystopias offer the reader a bodily estrangement as well as a cognitive one, where the reproductive body becomes a site of estrangement both to the characters and their readers. I would also offer the notion of the verum as a slightly different version of the novum, not 'new strangeness' but 'true strangeness' of the already known. This is a deliberately political proposal in that it pertains to disempowered groups and refers to a truth that is already obvious, but culturally neglected. Again, this relates very closely to the maternal dystopian texts I will discuss, and signals that they will not contain strong elements of unknown or new science or any great detail in terms of unrealistic world building.

• Publisher: Science Fiction Foundation
• Subject: Abortion / Babies / Bodily integrity / Fiction / Mackintosh, Sophie / Narratives / Oppression / Politics / Quality of life / Reproductive rights / Science fiction & fantasy / Society / Speculative fiction / Suvin, Darko (1930- ) / Trends / Women / Zumas, Leni