Week 12: Diverse Position Science Fiction

The short story I read for week 12, investigating the diversification of science fiction as a genre, was I Live with You by Carol Emshwiller. This story was particularly interesting because its rather difficult for me to see where it actually falls into the science fiction genre. The writing is beautiful and the nuanced changes in language slowly transforming from the use of "I" to "We" to "You" as a reflection of how the main character views her relationship with Nora was extremely well done, however, the overall plot felt much more like a psychological thriller to me. The whole 'someone's hiding in your house without you knowing' seems like a rerun of a Criminal Minds episode as opposed to something like say Star Trek that is classic science fiction. (Though I could concede that the general eeriness of the idea could fit well something like the Twilight Zone.)

That being said, I do think it can be argued that it does pertain to the diverse position science fiction in a rather round about way. Nora's imposter and Nora are in completely different socio-economic spheres though the language used is equalizing and the imposter identifies with her so strongly that she blurs the line between their two selves almost completely in some parts of the text. It can be argued that this is some bastardized parody of the "we're all the same inside" line of thinking though it is a bit or a grasping at straws argument and less of a concrete lesson depicted in the text.