| Science fiction, being a special literary form in the era ofscience and technology, was formally recognized in theperiod of Romanticism in the West, combining the traditionof imagination with the scientific spirits. Its concern isfocused on the societal effects the technological advancemight have taken. Though the world it describes is alwaysimagery, it should not be simply regarded as "escapism"just as some critics indicate. In fact, it is a "literature full ofthoughts" instead.lssac Asimov (1920?995) is a great master of sciencefiction and known is he as a science writer as well. Hepublished more than 400 books all through his life while thetwo series, the Foundation series and the Robot seriescreated in his early period of creation, established his fameas an international science fiction writer. The FoundationTrilogy, the representative one of the foundation series setagainst a faraway future, is integrated with history,philosophy and sociology. Not only have the people beentouched by the grand scenes in the novel, but have beenattracted to care more about the future of human beings. I,the Robot, the representative of the other series, hasclearly put forward the Three Laws of Robotics with whichhe worked out striking stories, showing a strong scientificoptimism. No doubt his other stories deserve to be noticed,but it is the two masterpieces above that pushed him to thepeak of science fiction. He became the cornerstone for theperiod of the Golden Age in the history of science fiction,paving the way for its further advance. However, anatmosphere has not yet been produced to study sciencefiction; it is even of a rarer case to touch upon Asimov. Thus,VI venture to try out in this field and, in particular, dwell onthe two works just mentioned. Both the themes and thenarrative skills, which, if properly learnt, will also bebeneficial to the creation and development of Chinesescience fiction, are the main aspects I want to cover.This thesis consists of seven parts, including forewordand conclusion:The foreword points out the values of science fictionand states why I choose this topic as my subject of study.Chapter one analyses the necessary backgrounds andconditions for the birth of science fiction, defining itsessence and briefly summarizing the history of westernscience fiction.Chapter two tells the life story of Asimov as well as thefeatures of his creations. His greatest contributions to thegenre are singled out so that his status should be confirmedagainst the frame of science fiction.Chapter three introduces specific works to bear out thegrand themes Asimov had prepared well in minds in TheFoundation Trilogy. The philosophical implication behindthe language is also discussed in details.Chapter four is the discussion of the theme variations inI, the Robot. His robots, for the first time, turned out to behuman's friends, which is distinguished from the others andshows Asimov's scientific optimism.Chapter five mainly concentrates on Asimov's artisticsuspense. Any work is composed of words while differentarrangements can present various language styles. Asimovhad his own way of narration and characterization, which iscomprehensively examined and declared in order tosummarize his general features and historical values in hisearly period of creations.In the conclusion, I will summarize this paper andaddress Asimov's limitations in creations.
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