speculative fiction

English

Noun

speculative fiction (countable and uncountable, plural speculative fictions)

1. (uncountable) A class of fiction involving fantastic, supernatural or futuristic elements, including fantasy, horror, and science fiction, dealing with worlds, themes, and characters not part of everyday life. [from 20th c.]
   • 1947, Robert A. Heinlein, On the Writing of Speculative Fiction:

     There are at least two principal ways to write speculative fiction—write about people, or write about gadgets.

   • 1987, Angela Carter, “Bruce Chatwin: The Songlines”, in Shaking a Leg, Vintage, published 2013, page 588:

     And the speculation shows signs of turning into very sophisticated science fiction – science fiction in the purest sense; speculative fiction about science.

   • 2021 November 16, Omar El Akkad, “Neal Stephenson’s Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World”, in The New York Times‎^[1], →ISSN:

     Stephenson is one of speculative fiction’s most meticulous architects, and here he’s got sheets and sheets of blueprint.

2. (countable) A particular work belonging to this class.

Usage notes

• Sometimes seen as being more literary or serious than terms such as science fiction or fantasy.

Synonyms

• See Thesaurus:speculative fiction

Hyponyms

• alternate history
• apocalyptic
• dystopian
• fantasy
• horror
• post-apocalyptic
• science fiction
• speculative erotica
• superhero
• supernatural
• utopian

 

Translations

class of fiction involving fantastic, supernatural or futuristic elements

• Afrikaans: spekulatiewe fiksie sg, fantastiese fiksie sg
• Arabic: خيال تأملي m
• Azerbaijani: fantastika sg
• Belarusian: фантастыка f (fantastyka)
• Bengali: কল্পসাহিত্য (kolpośahitto)
• Bulgarian: фантастика (bg) f (fantastika)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 推想小說／推想小说 (tuīxiǎng xiǎoshuō)

• Dutch: speculatieve fictie f
• Estonian: ulme (et) sg
• Finnish: spekulatiivinen fiktio sg
• French: littératures de l’imaginaire f pl
• Georgian: სპეკულაციური მხატვრული ლიტერატურა (sṗeḳulaciuri mxaṭvruli liṭeraṭura), ფანტასტიკური ლიტერატურა (panṭasṭiḳuri liṭeraṭura), სპეკულაციური ბელეტრისტიკა (sṗeḳulaciuri beleṭrisṭiḳa)
• German: Fantastik f, Phantastik f
• Hebrew: ספרות ספקולטיבית f
• Icelandic: spáskáldskapur m
• Italian: fantastico (it) m, fiction speculativa f, letteratura dell'immaginario f
• Japanese: スペキュレイティブ・フィクション (supekyureitibu fikushon), 思弁小説 (しべんしょうせつ, shiben shōsetsu)
• Kazakh: фантастика (fantastika)
• Korean: 사변물 (sabyeonmul)
• Kyrgyz: фантастикалуулук (fantastikaluuluk)
• Latvian: fantastika f
• Norwegian: spekulativ fiksjon m
• Persian: ادبیات گمانه‌زن
• Polish: fantastyka (pl) f
• Portuguese: ficção especulativa f
• Romanian: ficțiune speculativă f
• Russian: фанта́стика (ru) f (fantástika)
• Serbo-Croatian: spekulativna fikcija f
• Spanish: ficción especulativa f
• Swedish: fantastik c, spekulativ fiktion c
• Tamil: ஊகப்புனைவு (ūkappuṉaivu)
• Thai: จินตนิยาย
• Turkish: spekülatif kurgu sg
• Ukrainian: фанта́стика f (fantástyka)
• Uzbek: fantastika (uz), taxayyulot
• Welsh: ffuglen ddamcaniaethol f
• West Frisian: spekulative fiksje c