10 December 2015
What Draws People to Science Fiction

National conference “Problems of Contemporary Science Fiction” was held at Kazan University.

The conference was organized by the Institute of Philology and Intercultural Communication on December 7th – 8th. It was dedicated to Ray Bradbury, the 95th anniversary of whose birth is celebrated this year. Yelena Shevchenko, Associate Professor of the Department of Russian and World Literature, told that three main areas were discussed – the national specifics of science fiction, its interaction with other genres, and functions of fantastical elements in a work of fiction. She also said that science fiction is mainly popular among young people.

The young scientists from Moscow, Perm, Nizhny Novgorod, Yelabuga, and Kazan mostly confirmed her statement. PhD candidate at Moscow State University Artyom Zubov opined that science fiction is a very attractive object of research because it still has many unexplored sides. Moreover, the sci-fi world comprises not only books but also comic books, video games, film, and other domains, thus bringing a plethora of interdisciplinary research opportunities.

The genre, he added, develops very quickly, many new works come out in different languages, and many of them are translated into Russian. Although the interest towards science fiction in Russia is not as high as in the 1990s, it can still be very appealing to the masses – which fact this very conference can attest, said Artyom Zubov.

Материал из раздела: Main page \ News