Tim Lott on science novelists
"But by and large, novelists, when they have addressed science and technology, have been obscure and overly intellectual about the subject, as if disguising their own ignorance about the strangeness of the universe."
– Tim Lott, novelist
In this recent Guardian piece, Lott makes a passionate argument for better implementation of "lab lit" by writers. Lott goes on to say: "It is as if physics, which is so manifestly weird, is faintly embarrassing– almost like it was fiction itself, rather than one of the deepest forms of truth. Thus any real writer who engages with concepts of physics and technology is often written off as a writer of science fiction."
Another particularly insightful observation: "[The indifference of novelists to science] is partly because they are not interested – art looks down on science and vice versa – but also because they are uneasy with the demands that technology and science make on them. But more profoundly, most novelists think of science and technology as irrelevant to their central subject: human nature."
You can read the full article here.