Liu Cixin won the Hugo Award, one of the most important awards in science fiction, with his English translation in 2015. ‘Three body problem’ The beginning of a trilogy first published in 2007. This is the first time a Chinese author has received this award, sparking interest in Chinese science fiction in the West, and similar interest in his own country has resurfaced with the upcoming release of the feature book. The anticipated adaptation of the novel by its creators ‘game of Thrones‘. Netflix released the trailer of the series, which will premiere in March.
‘The problem of three bodies’ (published in Spain by Nova, which inverts the author’s first and last name in Western style) attracted the attention of readers from all over the world with an original and complex approach. A scientist retaliating during the cultural revolution When he comes into contact with an extraterrestrial civilization, it has alarming consequences for the human race. To announce to the universe that we are here, in our warm blue sphere, Possible visit of these aliens after 400 years. The threads intersect in such a way that the reader is forced to decide whether this is a dream hallucination, a virtual reality game, or the story of a strange civilization trying to survive in a nearby solar system with three stars in chaotic orbits.
The classic problem of three bodies is what caused the origin of the plot. “It all started with my fascination with this physical formulation that is very difficult to predict mathematically. What strikes me is how can science understand the universe if just three bodies and their laws of gravity can no longer predict their motion? “I was also intrigued by the idea of understanding what the inhabitants of a planet in this system would be like… From then on, I used my imagination,” explains Liu.
The most universal type
Regarding the characteristics of Chinese science fiction, Liu Cixin is quite skeptical: “There are far more commonalities between Chinese science fiction and science fiction in the rest of the world than there are differences. It is the most universal genre because it envisions the human race as a single entity.” Although there are cultural differences, of course. “There are always traces of religious culture behind science fiction in foreign countries.. For example, cloning. In the West, if people were cloned, it would be an anti-religious act because creation belongs to God. In China, on the other hand, this is considered scientific progress.“, continues the author. “Another fundamental issue – he adds – is that of apocalypse, which is a very recurring theme in the West, whereas this concept is practically absent in the East. However, this difference is gradually decreasing due to influences from the classic authors of Western science fiction. For example, in this novel that apocalyptic element emerges.”
And this There is a horizon of ecological disaster in the book (with references to classics such as ‘Silent Spring’) but also with a negative outlook towards more technophobic, anti-growth green approaches, he is portrayed as a perverted fundamentalist and is perhaps better understood in a context such as China (and also considering his profession Liu, engineer at a power plant). “The environment must be protected through technological progress, which does not mean a return to the stone age. I openly support the environmental movement, but I think: Merely having environmental protection measures is not enough to guarantee the survival of the human race. long-term. “Man will need to go to space to obtain resources or establish civilization elsewhere.”
‘Hard science fiction’
‘Three-body problem’ is labeled as: ‘hard science fiction’ is science fiction with a strong scientific basis. However, unlike Neal Stephenson, for example, Liu is not content with the plausible evolution of existing technologies and scientific knowledge, instead indulging in fantasy. Protons deployed in the fourth dimension are transformed into intelligent mechanisms. “Imagination is the soul of science fiction. Science fiction novels are surreal but not unnatural; they must always be based on the laws of nature,” he argues.
The universe resembles a dark forestIt will also appear in the next book of the trilogy, where we tend to shoot as soon as we hear a strange sound. “I don’t want to be a prophet,” Liu says, “but we must be conservative as a responsibility to our own civilization. The example of this is the example of the people themselves: When two civilizations meet, as when Spain conquered the Americas, the weaker has everything to lose.“.