The Clash of Civilizations and Cultural Self-Consciousness: Science Fiction and Social Reality in The Three-Body Problem Trilogy

Abstract

In the view of the relation between science fiction and social reality, the core question of Liu Cixin’s The Three-Body Problem trilogy is the clash of civilizations between human and Trisolaran, which causes the future possibility of the end of human history. The narrative perspectives of the trilogy are the intelligentsia narrative by Wang Miao (The Three-Body Problem), the heroic narrative by Luo Ji (The Three-Body Problem II: The Dark Forest), and the narrative of “the last man” by Cheng Xin (The Three-Body Problem III: Death’s End). If the future civilization of the human beings is likely to encounter the cosmic catastrophe which is caused by the clash of civilizations between human and aliens, contemporary human elite have to rethink the values of morality and civilization, and bravely creating new history of human by rejecting the temptation of era of the end of history.

Keywords

The Three-Body Problem / Liu Cixin / science fiction / social reality / clash of civilizations / cultural self-consciousness

RIGHTS & PERMISSIONS

2020 Higher Education Press