Aspects of perception: science fiction in film and literature

The thesis focuses on distinct aspects of the aesthetic perception of the sci-fi genre in film and literature. The paper examines both literary (Hirsch, Iser) and film (Altman, Chatman) theories of the genre. The literary genre is treated from the perspective of E. D. Hirsch and his concept of the author's intention (mens auctoris), in contrast to which, however, the concept of the implied reader seems more workable. Thus, from a pragmatic point of view, we arrive at a labelling without the ground of biographism. This argumentative approach is reconfirmed in the case of film genres, which are shaped as processes of systemization (dynamic vs. fixed forms), on three levels (the level of expectation, the genre corpus, and rules/norms). Proceeding from an examination of these, mutual interactions, potential overlappings and fusions of genres are then demonstrated. The central aim of the paper was to identify and explore the specificity of the aesthetic reception of the sci-fi genre against the background of the dynamic aesthetic norm, in its function not merely as a regulative norm, but emphasizing the norm-as-impulse aspect. The paper presents facets of the aesthetic reception of the sci-fi genre from the viewpoint of the apprenticeship of the reader/viewer, the cultural/fictional encyclopaedia,..