Die Verfremdungseffekt: "All that Outer Space Allows" by Ian Sales

All That Outer Space Allows (Apollo Quartet) (Volume 4) - Ian Sales

Published 2015.

 

"One of the strengths of science fiction is its capacity to literalise metaphors."

 

In " "All that Space Allows" by Ian Sales

 

If Shakespeare broke the 4th wall in several instances, why shouldn’t Ian Sales be allowed to do it? “A Midsummer Night's Dream” deserves special mention for Puck's ending speech, which can be condensed into "We're sorry if you didn't like the play." Even before that, Oberon seems to be addressing the audience when he explains how he is Invisible to Normals. It also deserves a secondary mention for the continuous breaking of the 4th (5th?) wall in the Pyramus and Thisbe sequence. Frequently the action stops so Bottom can reply to the characters watching the play. Plus, the prologues. Oh, the prologues. And of course in Henry V where the opening monologue is an extended apologia for not showing the tremendous battles that are going on in-between the play's scenes. Made doubly strange because it was retained in both the Olivier and Branagh films of the play, where they do show the battles. Also, any time Iago opens his mouth he is likely to address the audience by the end of the speech. And don’t forget one of Hamlet's many soliloquies (this one in Act II, scene ii) includes the lines "I have heard that guilty creatures sitting at a play/Have by the very cunning of the scene/Been struck so to the soul that presently/They have proclaimed their malefactions..."

 

If you're into SF, read on.