Although I’m not too big on leaving the house, I attended this talk by Robert J. Sawyer and William Gibson at the Toronto Reference Library.
Aside from trips to the tailor and organizing my cupboards, This is the sort of thing I get excited about. I’ve been wanting to see these two in conversation for years.
Reason being is that I think there’s two forms of science fiction: The first takes the very strange and makes it familiar and the other takes the very familiar and makes it strange. Sawyer belongs to the former camp and Gibson belongs to the latter. Sawyer can take some of the most difficult ideas in science and make them instantly comprehensible and entertaining. Gibson can take the most normal sort of scene and warp it into something strange.
This difference informs many of the differences in their writing. Sawyer is clear, Gibson is evocative. Sawyer’s work is extroverted and engaged in the world around it while Gibson’s is inward looking, alienated and a product of an interior terrain. Relationships form the backbone of Sawyer’s work while Gibson’s characters are alienated. Sawyer is often seen as an optimist while Gibson is seen as a pessimist.
I don’t have a value judgement to make about these different types of writing. I enjoy both.
And I could not think of two people who better represent their camp. Both are amongst the best at what they do.
It was a genuine treat to see.
