Quote:
Originally Posted by Catlady
I've read 1984, Brave New World, and Dorian Gray, and I'd never consider any of them science fiction. They're general fiction.
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A Brave New World is about a dystopian future in which genetic engineering, artificial wombs, and designer drugs are used to control the population. Huxley himself said it was an extension of and reaction to an earlier work by H. G. Wells (one of the godfathers of science fiction). The only reason that it’s not considered such is because of the historical bias that science fiction is lightweight or unworthy, and therefore anything good must not be science fiction.
1984 is similar.
They are both also philosophical books, political commentary, and dystopian visions—like many books, they fall into multiple genres.
Dorian Gray isn’t science fiction, it’s fantasy. The central conceit is of a character who’s granted a wish for a magical painting. The fact that the conceit is used to examine Dorian’s personality and other broader themes doesn’t make it not fantasy, it just makes it good.
I'm not sure I know what “general fiction” connotes as opposed to simply “fiction”.