Of course there is yet another category:
(vi) Works of fiction that refer to Martians without claiming that the Martians are real, e.g., in James Blish's contemporary novel, Fallen Star, a character claims to be a Martian. However, I learned in conversation with Blish that we were supposed to regard that characters as psychotic! I am not sure that a reading of the text fully supports that view but, in any case, the question remains unresolved by the end of the novel. Similarly, The Autocracy Of Mr. Parham and Star Begotten by HG Wells feature Martians existing only in their human characters' minds.
Poul Anderson has a short story in which some spacemen fake an alien attack. This is not a faked Martian attack but nevertheless a faked alien attack, thus the same sort of idea. If fictional characters do not meet aliens, they can nevertheless refer to them just as we do.
3 comments:
Kaor, Paul!
I remember that story, you had Anderson's "The Alien Enemy" in mind. Intriguing, once I thougt of it, faking an attack by aliens over interstellar distances which had to be traversed using STL means.
Ad astra! Sean
Sean,
"The Alien Enemy" fits the description I gave but it is not the story I meant. In the story I meant, guys in the Solar System disguised their ship to make it look alien.
Paul.
Kaor, Paul!
That one I'll have to think about, no names immediately pops to mind.
Ad astra! Sean
Post a Comment