閱讀筆記：Margaret Atwood, “Perfect storms: writing Oryx and Crake” (2003)

本篇是《末世男女》（Oryx and Crake）的創作心路歷程。但也因此引發了一場關於科幻的完美風暴。
Atwood在2001年《盲眼刺客》的澳洲宣傳行程之後，前往Arnheimland季風雨林賞鳥行程，並參觀當地原住民與自然生態和諧共存的生活後開始成形。

接著Atwood闡述她一輩子都在思索 “what if” 情節，以及在科學家親戚間成長的經歷，因此科普閱讀與剪報就成為她的休閒，同時 “noting with alarm that trends derided ten years ago as paranoid fantasies had become possibilities, then actualities” … “Human civilizations are subject to the same law” (of biology and physics)

接著敘述她很快地寫完 Part 7，準備前往紐約迎接《盲眼刺客》平裝版，坐在多倫多機場構思Part 8時，九一一發生了。

再來就是引起科幻圈軒然大波的一段：（可參見這裡）

Like The Handmaid’s Tale, Oryx and Crake is a speculative fiction, not a science fiction proper. It contains no intergalactic space travel, no teleportation, no Martians. As with The Handmaid’s Tale, it invents nothing we haven’t already invented or started to invent. Every novel begins with a what if, and then sets forth its axioms. The what if of Oryx and Crake is simply, What if we continue down the road we’re already on? How slippery is the slope? What are our saving graces? Who’s got the will to stop us?

跳過一段停筆後再動筆的喟嘆，直到最後一段：

…, writers write about what worries them, and the world of Oryx and Crake is what worries me right now. It’s not a question of our inventions -- … -- but of what might be done with them; …

讀者可以從字裡行間看出 Atwood 關於思索人類未來的使命感和優越感，其實文中也隱含著她的思維乃是基於科學，而非充斥於科幻作品中的空想（對我而言這就是本格科科了）。不可否認她因此培養出死忠信徒，包括 Ian Morris 就邀她一起參與《人類憑什麼》的探討。然而，撇開心態不論，光談術語，她這裡最大的問題就在於重新發明 speculative fiction 與 what if 這兩顆輪子，卻在面對長久孕育這兩者的類型科幻時，顯露出基於無知的鄙視。