By default, most stories are about people. It makes sense since most authors are people and most audiences can only relate to people. Even when a story is about aliens or zombies or whatever, it’s usually still ultimately about people. Xenofiction dares to interrogate the idea of fiction from the perspective of non-humans, written by humans, for humans.
Personification is a narrative devicein which a non-human animal or object is given human-like traits. Most stories about animals wind up personifying their main characters, if only for the benefit of the audience. It’s easier for both the author and the audience to relate to a character who is human on the inside, but some creatives take on the extra challenge.
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Xenofiction is a subset of speculative fiction that attempts to capture, in human terms, the life of a non-human animal. The name comes from the Greek xenos, which means stranger, guest, or foreigner. Xenofiction typically follows the perspectiveof either normal animalsor wildly non-humanlike aliens. Any being that would require a great deal of work to sympathize with can lead a story in this subgenre. The strangest examples follow aliens who experience life through senses and circumstances that mankind would have no frame of reference for. The subject can be granted an enhanced degree of intelligence, but the key element of Xenofiction is that the subject cannot be personified. Sometimes they observe human behavior to offer an outside look at our own absurdities. Sometimes theirworld is so smallor large that it bears no resemblance to that of humanity. Sometimes the story just tries to find the pathos in an animal’s real-life natural journey.
Arguably, the seminal work in this subgenre is Felix Salten’s 1923 classicBambi, a Life in the Woods. Written 100 years ago, the story does feature a great deal of social commentary, but crucially, it doesn’t turn its protagonists into people. The coming-of-age story follows the titular Bambi as he matures. Bambi is a roe deer who goes through all the typical life stages of his species. His mother gradually distances herself from him after weaning him, culminating suddenly in her tragic death.Hunters are framed as eldritch horrors. The deer fathers aren’t very present in the lives of their fauns. Bambi even loses interest in Faline after their mating season concludes. The story gives intelligence to the real natural events of a deer’s life, creating an interesting narrative out of real nature. It’s a pure story from the perspective of a non-human animal, finally giving mankind a glance into the life of an animal.
Disney could be thought of as the go-to home for Xenofiction, but they often distance themselves from the concept.Their take onBambidoes add some anthropomorphic elements to its adorable cartoon deer, making it a bit more child-friendly. One great animated example of Xenofiction that is often mistakenly credited to Disney would beWatership Down. Based on Richard Adams’s 1972 novel of the same name, the film follows rabbits as they attempt a seemingly impossible journey. The novel is perhaps the go-to example of Xenofiction, but the film handles it well. The principal characters think like the twitchy herbivores that they are, their intelligence and belief structures are completely informed by their little lagomorph lives. It’s as close as a person can get to experiencing a rabbit’s perspective.
Most great Xenofiction stories are delivered on the page, but some video games have managed to grasp the concept. The classic 90s SEGAfranchiseEcco the Dolphinchallenges players to survive an alien invasion from the perspective of a cetacean mammal. As many fans have discovered, doing so is borderline impossible. Rebellion’s 2010 gameAliens vs. Predatoris the latest in a long line of games that combined those two beloved extraterrestrial carnivores, but it’s the first that really allows players to inhabit the beasts. Fans get a glimpse of life from the perspective of a Xenomorph and that of a Yautja. Perhaps most interestingly, theutterly forgotten 2009 Wii gameDeadly Creaturesallowed players to see life through the many eyes of a tarantula and a scorpion. The story takes place around the two arachnids, following a pair of humans who seek a buried treasure. It’s not a great game, but it is a fascinating experiment in perspective.
Xenofiction is a simple concept that requires a great deal of introspection to pull off. One might think that writing a story about animals would be easy, but committing to seeing through their eyes can be challenging. Sure,any nature documentary canadd narration to footage of penguins and bears to simulate a story, but that’s just a fun way to personify the lovable creatures. Xenofiction attempts to finally allow mankind what they’ve all wanted since the firstAnimorphsbook hit store shelves.
