Humanistic Belief In Scientific Fiction

As one of the most classical writers of the Golden Age of Science Fiction in America,Isaac Asimov represents a milestone in contemporary science-fiction hisrtory.His creative career began in the 1940s,when science fiction came into the first climactic stage of modern development,and had gone through an adaptive progress with the whole genre in the next half century.The Foundation metaseries not only recorded the evolvement of his writing style from the early 1940s to the late 1980s,but also became a symbol of this popular genre in 20th-century.This study aims to prove that the reason why Foundation metaseries can be respected by generations of readers is that it always contains profound humanistic beliefs in grand scientific fantasy,and the theme evolution and narrative achievements of this metaseries will be the best evidence.The argumentation consists of three sections.First is the analysis of the creative background of Asimov’s science fiction,including two aesthetic turns of the whole American science fiction genre in 20th century.From this,we can see Asimov’s courage to face the changing social reality and how did he deal with it in the creation;The second part is based on several specific texts and try to unscramble the theme evolution in the Foundation metaseries.In the trilogy,Asimov depicted a future history of the decline and fall of a future empire,which warned the reality with fictitious crisis in parallel space.During this period,he imagined the brighter future as a civilization based on technological and economic power.In the later creation of the 1980s,instead of emphasizing the overwhelming leadership of a civilized regime,Asimov tried to look for the possibility of cooperation among divisive groups within humankind.The plotline of this metaseries also turned to the retrospect of traditional lifeway and building a super human community.The third part discusses the literary achievements of this metaseries in roles shaping and artistic style.Asimov’s portrait of heroes and model of robots changed the stereotype in early science fiction.And his works finally promoted the way of science-fiction creation from popular culture to consciously carrying the humanistic thinking.