Английская Википедия:Earth in science fiction

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Файл:The Earth seen from Apollo 17.jpg

The iconic photo of Earth known as The Blue Marble, taken by the crew of Apollo 17 (1972). This and similar images might have popularized Earth as a theme in fiction.Шаблон:Rp

An overwhelming majority of fiction is set on or features the Earth, as the only planet home to humans. This also holds true of science fiction, despite perceptions to the contrary. Works that focus specifically on Earth may do so holistically, treating the planet as one semi-biological entity. Counterfactual depictions of the shape of the Earth, be it flat or hollow, are occasionally featured. A personified, living Earth appears in a handful of works. In works set in the far future, Earth can be a center of space-faring human civilization, or just one of many inhabited planets of a galactic empire, and sometimes destroyed by ecological disaster or nuclear war or otherwise forgotten or lost.

Related vocabulary

Шаблон:See also In a number of works of science fiction, Earth's English name has become less popular, and the planet is instead known as Terra or Tellus, Latin words for Earth.Шаблон:Rp Inhabitants of Earth can be referred to as Earthlings, Earthers, Earthborn, Earthfolk, Earthians, Earthies (this term being often seen as derogatory), Earthmen (and Earthwomen), Earthpersons, Earthsiders, Solarians, Tellurians, Terrestrials, Terrestrians, or Terrans.Шаблон:Rp

In addition, science fiction vocabulary includes terms like Earthfall for landing of a spaceship on planet Earth; or Earth-type, Earthlike, Earthnorm(al) and terrestrial for the concept of "resembling planet Earth or conditions on it".Шаблон:Rp

The concept of modifying planets to be more Earth-like is known as terraforming. The concept of terraforming developed from both science fiction and actual science. In science, Carl Sagan, an astronomer, proposed the terraforming of Venus in 1961, which is considered one of the first accounts of the concept. The term itself, however, was coined by Jack Williamson in a science-fiction short story ("Collision Orbit") published in 1942 in Astounding Science Fiction,Шаблон:Rp although the concept of terraforming in popular culture predates this work; for example, the idea of turning the Moon into a habitable environment with atmosphere was already present in La Journée d'un Parisien au XXI^e siècle ("A Day of a Parisian in the 21st Century", 1910) by Шаблон:Interlanguage link.

Themes

In general, the vast majority of fiction, including science fiction, takes place on Earth.Шаблон:Rp To the extent that Earth is more than the obvious but forgettable background where the action of the story takes place, a number of themes have been identified.Шаблон:Rp

Earth

Many works of science fiction focus on the outer space, but many others still take place on Earth; this distinction has been subject to debates among the science fiction authors, visible for example in J. G. Ballard's 1962 essay Which Way to Inner Space?. Some critics of the "outer space adventures" have pointed to the importance of "earthly" concepts and imagery closer to contemporary readers' everyday experience.Шаблон:Rp While it has been argued that a planet can be considered "too large, and its lifetime too long, to be comfortably accommodated within fiction as a topic in its own right," this has not prevented some writers from engaging with said topic.Шаблон:EfnШаблон:Rp

Some works that focus on Earth as an entity have been influenced by holistic, "big picture" concepts such as the Gaia hypothesis, noosphere and the Omega Point, and the popularizing of the photography of Earth from space.Шаблон:Rp Others works have addressed the concept of Earth as a Goddess GaiaШаблон:Efn (from Greek mythology; another prominent goddess of Earth whose name influenced science fiction was the Roman Terra or TellusШаблон:Rp). Bridging these ideas, and treating Earth as a semi-biological or even sentient entity, are classic works like Arthur Conan Doyle's When the World Screamed (1928) and Jack Williamson's Born of the Sun (1934).Шаблон:Rp

Shape

Файл:Map of the Interior World.png

A map of "The Interior World", from The Goddess of Atvatabar by William Bradshaw (1892)

Depictions of the Earth as being flat are uncommon in modern works, the sphericity of the planet having been proved around 200 B.C. by Archimedes and Eratosthenes. Exceptions to this include Terry Pratchett's satirical Discworld series—which was inspired by Hindu cosmology—and deliberately provocative works like S. Fowler Wright's novel Beyond the Rim from 1932.Шаблон:RpШаблон:Rp There have also been fictional accounts of a hollow Earth, such as Edgar Allan Poe's 1838 novel The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket inspired by John Cleves Symmes Jr.'s model featuring openings at the north and south poles whereby the interior can be accessed.Шаблон:Rp A few writers have likewise engaged with another old fringe theory, that of Counter-Earth – a hypothetical body of the Solar System that orbits on the other side of the solar system from Earth.Шаблон:EfnШаблон:Rp

Many stories portray Earth as known to modern science, but the exploration of its subterrean depths, relatively consistent with the knowledge of modern geology, is still subject to a number of works. Brian Stableford listed among "notable accounts of burrowing expeditions" into such an Earth works such as Harry Harrison's "Rock Diver" (1951).Шаблон:Rp

Planetary engineering

Large scale planetary engineering includes ideas such as adjusting the Earth's axial tilt,Шаблон:Efn or moving the Earth from its orbit.Шаблон:EfnШаблон:Rp Some works deal with geoengineering, a term usually referred to large-scale projects attempting to deal with the problem of climate change; a theme common in many works of climate fiction. In the extreme case, Earth can be consumed in its entirety, all of its mass repurposed in construction of megastructures such as a Dyson sphere.Шаблон:EfnШаблон:Rp

Файл:Science Fiction Quarterly Summer 1940.jpg

Cover of Science Fiction Quarterly Summer 1940, depicting the destruction of Earth

The end of Earth

Various versions of the future of Earth have been imagined. Some works focus on the end of the planet; those have been written in all forms – some focused on "ostentatious mourning";Шаблон:Efn others more of a slapstick comedy;Шаблон:Efn yet others take this opportunity to explore themes of astronomy or sociology.Шаблон:EfnШаблон:Rp The genre of climate fiction can often mix the themes of near and far future consequences of the climate change, whether anthropogenicШаблон:Efn or accidental.Шаблон:EfnШаблон:Rp In other works, often found in the apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic fiction and the Dying Earth genres, Earth has been destroyed or at least ruined for generations to come; many such works are therefore set in the background of Earth changed into a wasteland.Шаблон:Efn Some of the works in these genres overlap with the climate change genre, as climate change and resulting ecological disasters are a commonly used plot device for events that trigger the fall of human civilization (other plots involve the destruction of Earth from human warfare, alien invasions,Шаблон:Efn or from various sorts of man-made incidentsШаблон:Efn or accidental disasters).Шаблон:Rp Many such works, set either during the disaster, or in its aftermath, are metaphors for environmental concerns or otherwise warnings about issues the writers think humanity needs to be concerned about.Шаблон:Rp

One planet among many

For many works set in the far future, Earth is just one of many inhabited planets of a galactic empire, federation or larger civilization, and many similar planets have been found or created (common themes in space opera), all of which challenges the idea of Earth's uniqueness.Шаблон:EfnШаблон:Rp In some works, Earth is still a center of the known universe, or at least a significant player on the galactic scene.Шаблон:EfnШаблон:Rp In others, Earth has become of so little importance that it is a mostly forgotten backwards world.Шаблон:EfnШаблон:RpШаблон:Rp In Clifford D. Simak's Cemetery World (1973) Earth is a planet-size cemetery and in Gordon R. Dickson's Call Him Lord (1966), a museum.Шаблон:Rp At its extreme, in some settings, knowledge of Earth has been simply lost, making it a mythological place, whose existence is questioned by the few who even know the legends about it.Шаблон:Efn In some of these works, a major plotline can involve future civilizations or intrepid explorers seeking the "lost cradle" or Earth.Шаблон:Efn Finally, some stories told from the perspective of aliens focus on their discovery of Earth.Шаблон:EfnШаблон:Rp

A different history

Some works look backwards – or perhaps sideways, not to the future of Earth, but to its past; here, works of science fiction can overlap with historic fiction as well as prehistoric fiction. This can happen particularly through the genres of alternate historyШаблон:Efn as well as time travel (where as Gary Westfahl observed, most time travellers travel through time much more than space, visiting the past or future versions of Earth).Шаблон:Rp

See also

<imagemap> File:Solar system.jpg|alt=A photomontage of the eight planets and the Moon|thumb|Clicking on a planet leads to the article about its depiction in fiction. circle 1250 4700 650 Neptune in fiction circle 2150 4505 525 Uranus in fiction circle 2890 3960 610 Saturn in fiction circle 3450 2880 790 Jupiter in fiction circle 3015 1770 460 Mars in fiction circle 2370 1150 520 Earth in science fiction circle 3165 590 280 Moon in science fiction circle 1570 785 475 Venus in fiction circle 990 530 320 Mercury in fiction </imagemap>

• Class M planet
• Earth Is Room Enough
• Ecofiction
• Moon in fiction
• Mythopoeia
• Near future in fiction
• Pastoral science fiction

Further reading

• Шаблон:Cite book