The literary genre of science fiction is diverse and since there is little consensus of definition among scholars or devotees, its origin is an open question. A literary genre is a category of literary composition Genres may be determined by Literary technique, tone, Content, or even (as in the case of fiction Some offer works like the Sumerian Epic of Gilgamesh as the primal texts of science fiction. Sumer ( Sumerian: sux-Latn [[Ki (earth ki]]-[[EN (cuneiform en]]-'''ĝir15''', Akkadian: Šumeru; possibly Biblical Shinar The Epic of Gilgamesh is an epic poem from Ancient Mesopotamia and is among the earliest known works of literary fiction. Others argue that science fiction began in the late Middle Ages,^[1] or that science fiction became possible only with the Scientific Revolution, notably discoveries by Galileo and Newton in astronomy, physics and mathematics. The period which many historians of science call the Scientific Revolution can be roughly dated as having begun in 1543 the year in which Nicolaus Copernicus published Galileo Galilei (15 February 1564 &ndash 8 January 1642 was a Tuscan ( Italian) Physicist, Mathematician, Astronomer, and Philosopher Sir Isaac Newton, FRS (ˈnjuːtən 4 January 1643 31 March 1727) Biography Early years See also Isaac Newton's early life and achievements Astronomy (from the Greek words astron (ἄστρον "star" and nomos (νόμος "law" is the scientific study Physics (Greek Physis - φύσις in everyday terms is the Science of Matter and its motion. Mathematics is the body of Knowledge and Academic discipline that studies such concepts as Quantity, Structure, Space and Some place the origin with the gothic novel, particularly Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. Gothic fiction (sometimes referred to as Gothic horror) is a genre of literature that combines elements of both horror and romance. Mary Shelley ( Née Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin; 30 August Frankenstein or The Modern Prometheus, generally known as Frankenstein, is a Novel written by the British author Mary Shelley

Science fiction developed and boomed in the 20th century, as the deep penetration of science and inventions into society created an interest in literature that explored technology's influence on people and society. Science (from the Latin scientia, meaning " Knowledge " or "knowing" is the effort to discover, and increase human understanding An invention is a new form composition of matter device or Process. Literature is the Art of written works Literally translated the word means "acquaintance with letters" (from Latin littera letter Technology is a broad concept that deals with a Species ' usage and knowledge of Tools and Crafts and how it affects a species' ability to control and adapt Today, science fiction has significant influence on world culture and thought. It is represented in all varieties of ordinary and advanced media. "Popular press" redirects here note that the University of Wisconsin Press publishes under the imprint "The Popular Press"

Early science fiction

Early precursors

The Epic of Gilgamesh

There have been attempts by various historians to claim an ancient history for the genre of science fiction. The Epic of Gilgamesh is an epic poem from Ancient Mesopotamia and is among the earliest known works of literary fiction. This claim is now a minority opinion, with the majority placing these works at best as examples of proto-science fiction.

Lester del Rey has stated that the first work of science fiction was the first recorded work of literature, The Epic of Gilgamesh. Lester del Rey ( June 2 1915 &ndash May 10 1993) was an American Science fiction author and editor. Gilgamesh features a flood scene that in some ways resembles work of apocalyptic science fiction; however, it is probably better categorized as fantastic literature, as there is little of science or technology in it. Fantasy is a Genre that uses magic and other Supernatural forms as a primary element of plot, theme, and/or setting

L. Sprague de Camp and others cite Lucian's True History, which tells of an interplanetary trip, as another example, but Kingsley Amis wrote that "It is hardly science-fiction, since it deliberately piles extravagance upon extravagance for comic effect. Lyon Sprague de Camp, ( November 27 1907 – November 6 2000) was an American science fiction and fantasy author Lucian of Samosata (Λουκιανός ὁ Σαμοσατεύς Lucianus c " Other Greek works with science fiction-like elements include Aristophanes' The Clouds and The Birds, and Plato's descriptions of Atlantis. Aristophanes (Ἀριστοφάνης ˌærɪˈstɒfəniːz in English ca The Clouds (Νεφέλαι / Nephelai) is a comedy written by the Ancient Greek playwright Aristophanes lampooning the Sophists The Birds ( Greek: Ornithes) is a comedy written by the Ancient Greek playwright Aristophanes in 414 BC Biography Early life Birth and family Plato was born in Athens Greece Atlantis (in Greek,, "island of Atlas " is the name of a Legendary Island, first mentioned in Plato 's dialogues

The first page of Beowulf

Early elements of science fiction are also found in ancient Indian epics such as the Ramayana, which had mythical Vimana flying machines that were able to fly within the Earth's atmosphere, and able to travel into space and travel submerged under water. Beowulf is an Old English Heroic epic poem of anonymous authorship dating as recorded in the Nowell Codex manuscript from between Indian epic poetry is the Epic poetry written in the Indian subcontinent. The Rāmāyaṇa ( Devanāgarī: sa रामायण is an ancient Sanskrit epic attributed to the Hindu sage ( Maharishi) Valmiki A vimāna (विमान is a mythical flying machine described in the Sanskrit epics.

Works of fantastic literature from Ovid's Metamorphoses telling of Daedalus and Icarus to Beowulf and the Nibelungenlied to Dante's The Divine Comedy and Shakespeare's The Tempest have also been claimed to contain science fictional elements, with varying degrees of success. Publius Ovidius Naso ( March 20, 43 BC – 17 AD was a Roman poet known to the English -speaking world as Ovid who wrote on many topics including The Metamorphoses by the Roman poet Ovid is a narrative poem This article is about the mythological character For other uses see Daedalus (disambiguation. Icarus ( Greek:, Latin: Íkaros, Etruscan: Vicare) is a character in Greek mythology. Beowulf is an Old English Heroic epic poem of anonymous authorship dating as recorded in the Nowell Codex manuscript from between The Nibelungenlied, translated as The Song of the Nibelungs, is an epic poem in Middle High German. The Divine Comedy William Shakespeare ( baptised The Tempest is a comedy written by William Shakespeare. It is generally dated to 1610-11 and accepted as the last play written solely by him although The Tempest contains one Renaissance prototype for the mad scientist story (the Faust legend is another), and it was adapted as the science fiction film Forbidden Planet. Faust or Faustus ( Latin for "auspicious" or "lucky" is the protagonist of a classic German Legend in which he makes Forbidden Planet is a 1956 Science fiction film directed by Fred M

Arabic proto-science fiction

The earliest example of a proto-science fiction^[1] novel is the Arabic theological novel,^[2] Fādil ibn Nātiq (known as Theologus Autodidactus in the West), by the Arabian polymath writer Ibn al-Nafis (1213–1288). A novel (from Italian novella, Spanish novela, French nouvelle for "new" "news" or "short story Arabic literature ( Arabic: الأدب العربي Al-Adab Al-Arabi) is the writing produced both Prose and Poetry, by speakers The araB gene Promoter is a bacterial promoter activated by e L-arabinose binding A polymath ( Greek polymathēs, πολυμαθής "having learned much" is a person whose knowledge is not restricted to one subject area TemplateInfobox Muslim scholars --> Ala al-Din Abu al-Hassan Ali ibn Abi-Hazm al-Qarshi al-Dimashqi ( The story deals with various science fiction elements such as spontaneous generation, futurology, eschatology, resurrection, and the afterlife, but rather than giving supernatural or mythological explanations for these events, Ibn al-Nafis attempted to explain these plot elements using the scientific knowledge of anatomy, biology, physiology, astronomy, cosmology and geology known in his time. In the Natural sciences, Abiogenesis, or origin of life, is the study of how Life on Earth emerged from Inanimate Organic Futures Studies, Foresight, or Futurology is the science art and practice of postulating possible probable and preferable futures and the worldviews Eschatology (from the Greek, Eschatos meaning "last" and -logy meaning "the study of" is a part of Theology This article concerns itself with Jesus Christ Christian, Islamic and other religious interpretations of resurrection in general AfterLife is a film drama set in Scotland directed by Alison Peebles made in 2003 about an ambitious Scottish journalist forced to choose between Geology (from Greek γη gê, "earth" and λόγος Logos, "speech" lit ^[1] The novel was later translated into English as Theologus Autodidactus in the early 20th century.

Other examples of early Arabic proto-science fiction include "The City of Brass" and "The Ebony Horse" stories within the One Thousand and One Nights (Arabian Nights),^[3] al-Farabi's Opinions of the residents of a splendid city about a utopian society, and al-Qazwini's futuristic tale of Awaj bin Anfaq about a man who travelled to Earth from a distant planet. A story within a story is a Literary device or Conceit in which one story is told during the action of another story TemplateInfobox Muslim scholars --> Abū Nasr Muhammad ibn al-Farakh al-Fārābi ( Nastaliq:) or Abū Nasr al-Fārābi Utopia is a name for an ideal community taken from the title of a book written in 1516 by Sir Thomas More describing a fictional Island in the Abu Yahya Zakariya' ibn Muhammad al-Qazwini ( أبو يحيئ زكريا بن محمد القزويني) (born 1203 - died 1283 was a Persian physician ^[4]

European proto-science fiction

Literature that resembles modern science fiction emerged in the 16th century. The discoveries in the sciences and the dawning of the Enlightenment inspired literature informed by these advances. The Age of Enlightenment or The Enlightenment is a term used to describe a phase in Western philosophy and cultural life centered upon the eighteenth century

One of the earliest instances is the superior country imagined in Thomas More's 1515 novel Utopia. Sir Thomas More (7 February 1478 – 6 July 1535 from 1935 Saint Thomas More, was an English Lawyer, author and statesman who in his lifetime gained De Optimo Republicae Statu deque Nova Insula Utopia (translated On the Best State of a Republic and on the New Island of Utopia) or more simply More's name for a perfect world would be borrowed by many later science fiction writers, and the Utopia motif is a common one in science fiction. Utopia is a name for an ideal community taken from the title of a book written in 1516 by Sir Thomas More describing a fictional Island in the It is notable that More and Francis Bacon, leading humanist and philosopher of science, wrote works of proto-science fiction. Francis Bacon 1st Viscount St Alban KC QC (22 January 1561 – 9 April 1626 was an English Philosopher, Statesman, and author Bacon's fantasy The New Atlantis was published in 1627.

The Age of Reason followed scientific developments that gave speculative writers ideas for their stories. 17th century philosophy in the Western world is generally regarded as being the start of Modern philosophy, and a departure from the medieval approach Imaginary voyages to the moon in the 17th century, first in Johannes Kepler's Somnium (The Dream, 1634), and then in Cyrano de Bergerac's Comical History of the States and Empires of the Moon (1656). Imaginary Voyage is a studio album by French Jazz-Fusion artist Jean-Luc Ponty. Johannes Kepler (ˈkɛplɚ ( December 27 1571 &ndash November 15 1630) was a German Mathematician, Astronomer Somnium ( Latin for The Dream) is a fantasy written between 1620 and 1630 by Johannes Kepler in which a student of Tycho Brahe is transported Hector Savinien de Cyrano de Bergerac (6 March 1619 &ndash 28 July 1655 was a French Dramatist and Duelist who is now best remembered for the many works ^[5] Space travel also figures prominently in Voltaire's Micromégas (1752), which is also notable for the suggestion that people of other worlds may be in some ways more advanced than those of earth. François-Marie Arouet ( 21 November 1694 30 May 1778) better known by the Pen name Voltaire, was a French Micromégas (1752 is a Short story written in the 18th century by the French Philosopher and Satirist Voltaire.

Other early works of significance include the alternate world found in the Arctic by a young noblewoman in Margaret Cavendish's 1666 novel, The Description of a New World, Called the Blazing-World, the account of life in the future in Louis-Sébastien Mercier's l'An 2440, and the descriptions of alien cultures in Jonathan Swift's Gulliver's Travels (1726) and in Ludvig Holberg's Niels Klim's Underground Travels. See Margaret Cavendish (1661-1717 for the later Duchess of Newcastle of this name The Description of a New World Called The Blazing-World, better known as The Blazing World, is a 1666 work of prose fiction by English Louis-Sébastien Mercier ( 6 June 1740 - 25 April 1814) was a French Dramatist and Writer. Jonathan Swift (30 November 1667 Gulliver's Travels (1726 amended 1735 officially Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World in Four Parts Ludvig Holberg Baron of Holberg ( December 3, 1684 – January 28, 1754) was a writer essayist philosopher historian and playwright born in Niels Klim's Underground Travels, originally published in Latin as Nicolai Klimii Iter Subterraneum (1741 is a satirical science-fiction/fantasy novel written by Ludvig In 1733, Samuel Madden wrote Memoirs Of the Twentieth Century, in which the narrator in 1728 is given a series of state documents from 1997–1998 by his guardian angel, a plot device which is reminiscent of later time travel novels although the story does not explain how the angel obtained these documents. Samuel Madden (1686-1765 was an Irish author His works include Themistocles The Lover of His Country, Reflections and Resolutions Proper for the Gentlemen Time travel is a common theme in Science fiction and is depicted in a variety of media

Also worthy of note are Simon Tyssot de Patot's Voyages et Aventures de Jacques Massé (1710), which features a Lost World, La Vie, Les Aventures et Le Voyage de Groenland du Révérend Père Cordelier Pierre de Mésange (1720), which features a Hollow Earth, and Nicolas-Edmé Restif de la Bretonne's La Découverte Australe par un Homme Volant (1781) notorious for his prophetic inventions. Simon Tyssot de Patot (Born 1655 -Died 1727) was a French Writer who penned two very important seminal works in Fantastic literature The Lost World Literary genre is a Fantasy or Science fiction genre that involves the discovery of a new world out of time place or both Hollow Earth is a belief that the planet Earth has a hollow interior and possibly a habitable inner surface Nicolas-Edme Rétif or Nicolas-Edme Restif ( October 23, 1734 &ndash February 2, 1806) called Rétif de la Bretonne, was

Most notable of all is Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, first published in 1818. Mary Shelley ( Née Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin; 30 August Frankenstein or The Modern Prometheus, generally known as Frankenstein, is a Novel written by the British author Mary Shelley ^[6] In his book Billion Year Spree, Brian Aldiss claims Frankenstein represents "the first seminal work to which the label SF can be logically attached". Brian Wilson Aldiss, '''OBE''', (born August 18, 1925 in East Dereham, Norfolk, England) is a prolific English It is also the first of the "mad scientist" subgenre. Although normally associated with the gothic horror genre, the novel introduces science fiction themes such as the use of technology for achievements beyond the scope of science at the time, and the alien as antagonist, furnishing a view of the human condition from an outside perspective. Gothic fiction (sometimes referred to as Gothic horror) is a genre of literature that combines elements of both horror and romance. The alien is a device used in literature to signify elements foreign ignored repressed or marginalized in a given society Aldiss argues that science fiction in general derives its conventions from the gothic novel. Mary Shelley's short story "Roger Dodsworth: The Reanimated Englishman" (1826) sees a man frozen in ice revived in the present day, incorporating the now common science fiction theme of cryonics whilst also exemplifying Shelley's use of science as a conceit to drive her stories. Cryonics is the low-temperature Preservation of Humans and other Animals that can no longer be sustained by contemporary Medicine until Another futuristic Shelley novel, The Last Man, is also often cited as the first true science fiction novel. The Last Man is an apocalyptic Science fiction novel by Mary Shelley, which was first published in 1826 ^[6]

In 1835 Edgar Allan Poe published a short story, "The Unparalleled Adventure of One Hans Pfaall" in which a flight to the moon in a balloon is described. Edgar Allan Poe (January 19 1809 – October 7 1849 was an American poet, short-story Writer, editor and Literary critic, " The Unparalleled Adventure of One Hans Pfaall " (1835 is a Short story by Edgar Allan Poe published in the June 1835 issue of the monthly magazine It has an account of the launch, the construction of the cabin, descriptions of strata and many more science-like aspects. ^[7] In addition to Poe's account the story written in 1813 by the Dutch Willem Bilderdijk is remarkable. In his novel Kort verhaal van eene aanmerkelijke luchtreis en nieuwe planeetontdekking (Short account of a remarkable journey into the skies and discovery of a new planet) Bilderdijk tells of a European somewhat stranded in an Arabic country where he boasts he is able to build a balloon that can lift people and let them fly through the air. The gasses used turn out to be far more powerful than expected and after a while he lands on a planet positioned between earth and moon. The writer uses the story to portray an overview of scientific knowledge concerning the moon in all sorts of aspects the traveller to that place would encounter. Quite a few similarities can be found in the story Poe published some twenty years later.

Somehow influenced by the scientific theories of 19th century, but most certainly by the idea of human progress, Victor Hugo wrote in The Legend of the Centuries (1859) a long poem in two part that can be viewed like a dystopia/utopia fiction, called Twentieth century. Victor-Marie Hugo ( ( February 26, 1802 – May 22, 1885) was a French Poet, Playwright, Novelist La Légende des siècles is a collection of poems by Victor Hugo, conceived as an immense depiction of the history and evolution of humanity A dystopia (from the Greek δυσ- and τόπος alternatively cacotopia, kakotopia, cackotopia, or anti-utopia) is the vision of a society Utopia is a name for an ideal community taken from the title of a book written in 1516 by Sir Thomas More describing a fictional Island in the The twentieth century of the Common Era began on It shows in a first scene the body of a broken huge ship, the greatest product of the prideful and foolish mankind that called it Leviathan, wandering in a desert world where the winds blow and the anger of the wounded Nature is; humanity, finally reunited and pacified, has gone toward the stars in a starship, to look for and to bring « liberty into the light ». Leviathan ( is a Biblical Sea monster referred to in the Old Testament ( Psalm 74:13-14 Job 41 Isaiah 271 A starship is a theoretical Spacecraft designed for traveling between the stars, as opposed to a vehicle designed for Orbital spaceflight or Interplanetary

Other notable proto-science fiction authors and works of the early 19th century include:

• Jean-Baptiste Cousin de Grainville's [[Le Dernier Homme]] (1805) (The Last Man). Jean-Baptiste François Xavier Cousin De Grainville (Born 1746 -Died 1805) was a French Writer who penned a very important seminal work of
• Historian Félix Bodin's Le Roman de l'Avenir (1834) and Emile Souvestre's Le Monde Tel Qu'il Sera (1846), two novels which try to predict what the next century will be like. Émile Souvestre ( April 15, 1806 – July 5, 1854) was a French novelist who was a native of Morlaix.
• Jane C. Loudon's [[The Mummy!: A Tale of the Twenty-Second Century]] ([[1836�]]), in which Cheops is revived by scientific means into a world in political crisis, where technology has advanced to gas-flame jewelry and houses that migrate on rails, &c. Jane C Webb Loudon ( August 19, 1807 – July 13, 1858) was an early pioneer of Science fiction, long before the term was invented
• Louis Geoffroy's Napoleon et la Conquête du Monde (1836), an alternate history of a world conquered by Napoleon. Louis Geoffroy (Born 1803-Died 1858 was the Pseudonym of Louis-Napoléon Geoffroy-Château a French Writer who penned a one of the earliest works of work Alternate history or alternative history is a subgenre of Speculative fiction (or Science fiction) and Historical fiction Napoleon Bonaparte (15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821 was a French military and political leader who had a significant impact on the History of Europe.
• C.I. Defontenay's Star ou Psi de Cassiopée (1854), an Olaf Stapledon-like chronicle of an alien world and civilization. CI Defontenay (1814-1856 was the Pseudonym of French Science fiction writer Charlemagne Ischir Defontenay William Olaf Stapledon ( May 10, 1886 &ndash September 6, 1950) was a British philosopher and author of several influential works
• Astronomer Camille Flammarion's La Pluralité des Mondes Habités (1862) which speculated on extraterrestrial life. Nicolas Camille Flammarion ( February 26 1842 &ndash June 3 1925) was a French Astronomer and author

Verne and Wells

See also: Scientific romance

Jules Verne

H. G. Wells

The European brand of science fiction proper began later in the 19th century with the scientific romances of Jules Verne and the science-oriented novels of social criticism of H. G. Wells. See also History of science fiction Scientific romance is a bygone name for what is now commonly known as Science fiction. Jules Gabriel Verne ( February 8 1828 &ndash March 24 1905) was a French Author who pioneered the science-fiction Herbert George Wells (21 September 1866 &ndash 13 August 1946 He was an outspoken socialist and a pacifist, his later works becoming increasingly political See also History of science fiction Scientific romance is a bygone name for what is now commonly known as Science fiction. Jules Gabriel Verne ( February 8 1828 &ndash March 24 1905) was a French Author who pioneered the science-fiction Herbert George Wells (21 September 1866 &ndash 13 August 1946 He was an outspoken socialist and a pacifist, his later works becoming increasingly political ^[8]

Verne's adventure stories, notably Journey to the Centre of the Earth (1864), From the Earth to the Moon (1865), and Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea (1869) mixed daring romantic adventure with technology that was either up to the minute or logically extrapolated into the future. A Journey to the Centre of the Earth (Voyage au centre de la Terre also translated as A Journey to the Interior of the Earth, is a classic 1864 From the Earth to the Moon (De la Terre à la Lune 1865) is a humorous Science fantasy Novel by Jules Verne and is For the 1954 film starring Kirk Douglas see 20000 Leagues Under the Sea. They were tremendous commercial successes and established that an author could make a career out of such whimsical material. L. Sprague de Camp calls Verne "the world's first full-time science fiction novelist. "

Wells's stories, on the other hand, use science fiction devices to make didactic points about his society. In The Time Machine (1895), for example, the technical details of the machine are glossed over quickly so that the Time Traveller can tell a story that criticizes the stratification of English society. The Time Machine is a novella by H G Wells, first published in 1895 and later directly adapted into at least two Feature films of the same name as On the other hand, Wells demonstrates an awareness of space-time relationships soon to become mainstream with Einstein. Albert Einstein ( German: ˈalbɐt ˈaɪ̯nʃtaɪ̯n; English: ˈælbɝt ˈaɪnstaɪn (14 March 1879 – 18 April 1955 was a German -born theoretical The story also uses Darwinian evolution (as would be expected in a former student of Darwin's champion, Huxley), and shows an awareness, and criticism, of Marxism. Marxism is the political philosophy and practice derived from the work of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. In The War of the Worlds (1898), the Martians' technology is not explained as it would have been in a Verne story, and the story is resolved by a deus ex machina. The War of the Worlds (1898 by H G Wells, is an early Science fiction Novel which describes an invasion of England by A deus ex machina ( lat. ˈdeːus eks ˈmaːkʰina literally "god from a/the machine" is an improbable

The differences between Verne and Wells highlight a tension that would exist in science fiction throughout its history. The question of whether to present realistic technology or to focus on characters and ideas has been ever-present, as has the question of whether to tell an exciting story or make a didactic point.

Wells and Verne had quite a few rivals in early science fiction. Short stories and novelettes with themes of fantastic imagining appeared in journals throughout the late 19th century and many of these employed scientific ideas as the springboard to the imagination. Erewhon is a novel by Samuel Butler published in 1872 and dealing with the concept that machines could one day become sentient and supplant the human race. Erewhon, or Over the Range is a Novel by Samuel Butler, published anonymously in 1872 A machine is any device that uses Energy to perform some activity Sentience is the ability to feel or perceive subjectively. It is an important concept in the philosophy of Animal rights, in buddhist philosophy and in Although better known for Sherlock Holmes, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle also wrote early science fiction, as did Jagadananda Roy and Rudyard Kipling. Sherlock Holmes is a famous fictional detective of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries who first appeared in Publication in 1887 Sir Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle, DL (22 May 1859 – 7 July 1930 was an Anglo-Scottish Author most noted for his stories about the Jagadananda Roy (জগদানন্দ রায was an eminent Bangla science fiction writer in the 19th century Joseph Rudyard Kipling (30 December 1865 – 18 January 1936 was an English Author and poet

Wells and Verne both had an international readership and influenced writers in America, especially. Soon a home-grown American science fiction was thriving. European writers found more readers by selling to the American market and writing in an Americanised style.

American proto-science fiction

In the last decades of the 19th century, works of science fiction for adults and children were numerous in America, though it was not yet given the name "science fiction. "

There were science-fiction elements in the stories of Nathaniel Hawthorne and Fitz-James O'Brien. Nathaniel Hawthorne (born Nathaniel Hathorne; July 4 1804 – May 19 1864 was an American novelist and Short story writer Fitz James O'Brien ( December 31 1828 - April 6 1862) was an author and is often considered one of the forerunners of today's Science Fiction Edgar Allan Poe is often mentioned with Verne and Wells as the founders of science fiction. Edgar Allan Poe (January 19 1809 – October 7 1849 was an American poet, short-story Writer, editor and Literary critic, A number of his short stories, and the novel The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket are science fictional. The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket is Edgar Allan Poe 's only complete Novel, published in 1838. An 1827 satiric novel by philosopher George Tucker A Voyage to the Moon is sometimes cited as the first American science fiction novel. George Tucker ( August 20, 1775 - April 10, 1861) was born in Bermuda, and educated at College of William & Mary, where

One of the most successful works of early American science fiction was the second-best selling novel in the U. S. in the 19th century: Edward Bellamy's Looking Backward (1888), its effects extending far beyond the field of literature. Edward Bellamy (March 26 1850 &ndash May 22 1898 was an American Author and Socialist, most famous for his Utopian Novel, Looking Backward 2000-1887 is a Utopian novel by Edward Bellamy, a lawyer and writer from Western Massachusetts, and was first published Looking Backward extrapolates a future society based on observation of the current society.

Mark Twain explored themes of science in his novel A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court. Samuel Langhorne Clemens (November 30 1835 – April 21 1910 better known by the Pen name Mark Twain, was an American Humorist, satirist A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court is an 1889 Novel by American Humorist and Writer Mark Twain. By means of "transmigration of souls", "transposition of epochs -- and bodies" Twain's Yankee is transported back in time and his knowledge of 19th century technology with him. Written in 1889, A Connecticut Yankee seems to predict the events of World War I, when Europe's old ideas of chivalry in warfare were shattered by new weapons and tactics. World War I (abbreviated WWI; also known as the First World War, the Great War, and the War to End All

Jack London wrote several science fiction stories, including The Red One (a story involving extraterrestrials), The Iron Heel (set in the future from London's point of view) and The Unparalleled Invasion (a story involving future germ warfare and ethnic cleansing). Jack London (January 12 1876 &ndash November 22 1916 was an American author who wrote The Call of the Wild, White Fang, and The Biological warfare (BW — known as a germ warfare, biological weapons and bioweaponry — is the use of any Pathogen ( Bacterium Ethnic cleansing is a Euphemism referring to the persecution through imprisonment expulsion or killing of members of an ethnic minority by a majority to achieve ethnic homogeneity He also wrote a story about invisibility and a story about an irresistible energy weapon. A directed-energy weapon ( DEW) is a type of weapon that emits Energy in an aimed direction without the means of a Projectile. These stories began to change the features of science fiction.

Edward Everett Hale wrote The Brick Moon, a Verne-inspired novel notable as the first work to describe an artificial satellite. Edward Everett Hale ( April 3, 1822 – June 10, 1909) was an American author and Unitarian clergyman " The Brick Moon " is a Short story by Edward Everett Hale, published serially in The Atlantic Monthly starting in 1869 This article is about artificial satellites For natural satellites also known as moons see Natural satellite. Written in much the same style as his other work, it employs pseudojournalistic realism to tell an adventure story with little basis in reality.

Edgar Rice Burroughs (1875–1950) began writing science fiction for pulp magazines just before World War I, getting his first story Under the Moons of Mars published in 1912. Edgar Rice Burroughs ( September 1, 1875 – March 19, 1950) was an American author best known for his creation of the jungle hero Pulp magazines (or pulp fiction; often referred to as "the pulps" were inexpensive Fiction magazines He continued to publish adventure stories, many of them science fiction, throughout the rest of his life. The pulps published adventure stories of all kinds. Science fiction stories had to fit in alongside murder mysteries, horror, fantasy and Edgar Rice Burroughs' own Tarzan. Crime fiction is the Genre of Fiction that deals with Crimes their detection criminals and their motives It is usually distinguished from Horror fiction is broadly Fiction in any medium intended to scare unsettle or horrify the audience Fantasy is a Genre that uses magic and other Supernatural forms as a primary element of plot, theme, and/or setting Tarzan is a Fictional character, an archetypal Feral child raised in the African jungle by Apes who later returns to civilization only to

Early 20th century

The next great science fiction writers after H. G. Wells were Olaf Stapledon (1886 to 1950), whose four major works Last and First Men (1930), Odd John (1935), Star Maker (1937), and Sirius (1940), introduced a myriad of ideas that writers have since adopted, and J.-H. Rosny aîné, born in Belgium, the father of "modern" French science fiction, a writer also comparable to H. G. Wells, who wrote the classic Les Xipehuz (1887) and La Mort de la Terre (1910). William Olaf Stapledon ( May 10, 1886 &ndash September 6, 1950) was a British philosopher and author of several influential works Last and First Men A Story of the Near and Far Future is a Science fiction novel written in 1930 by the British author Olaf Stapledon. Odd John A Story Between Jest and Earnest is a 1935 Science fiction novel by the British author Olaf Stapledon. Sirius is a 1944 Science fiction novel by the British author Olaf Stapledon. J-H Rosny aîné was the Pseudonym of Joseph Henri Honoré Boex ( February 17, 1856 - February 11, 1940) a French author The Kingdom of Belgium is a Country in northwest Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts its headquarters as well as those Herbert George Wells (21 September 1866 &ndash 13 August 1946 He was an outspoken socialist and a pacifist, his later works becoming increasingly political However, the Twenties and Thirties would see the genre represented in a new format.

Birth of the pulps

See also: Pulp magazine

The development of American science fiction as a self-conscious genre dates in part from 1926, when Hugo Gernsback founded Amazing Stories magazine, which was devoted exclusively to science fiction stories. Pulp magazines (or pulp fiction; often referred to as "the pulps" were inexpensive Fiction magazines A genre (ˈʒɑːnrə also /ˈdʒɑːnrə/ from French "kind" or "sort" from Latin: genus (stem gener-) is a loose set Hugo Gernsback ( August 16 1884 – August 19 1967) born Hugo Gernsbacher, was a Luxembourg American Inventor Amazing Stories was an American Science fiction magazine launched in April 1926 by Hugo Gernsback 's Experimenter Publishing. ^[9] Though science fiction magazines had been published in Sweden and Germany before, Amazing Stories was the first English language magazine to solely publish science fiction. Since he is notable for having chosen the variant term scientifiction to describe this incipient genre, the stage in the genre's development, his name and the term "scientifiction" are often thought to be inextricably linked. Though Gernsback encouraged stories featuring scientific realism to educate his readers about scientific principles, such stories shared the pages with exciting stories with little basis in reality. Published in this and other pulp magazines with great and growing success, such scientifiction stories were not viewed as serious literature but as sensationalism. Nevertheless, a magazine devoted entirely to science fiction was a great boost to the public awareness of the scientific speculation story.

Film poster for Metropolis

Amazing Stories competed with other pulp magazines, including Weird Tales, which primarily published fantasy stories, Astounding Stories, and Wonder throughout the 1930s. Metropolis is a silent Science fiction film directed by Fritz Lang and written by Lang and Thea von Harbou.

Fritz Lang's movie Metropolis (1927), in which the first cinematic humanoid robot was seen, and the Italian Futurists' love of machines are indicative of both the hopes and fears of the world between the big European wars. Friedrich Christian Anton "Fritz" Lang ( December 5, 1890 &ndash August 2, 1976) was an Austrian German - American Metropolis is a silent Science fiction film directed by Fritz Lang and written by Lang and Thea von Harbou. The term " humanoid " refers to any being whose body structure resembles that of a Human. A robot is a mechanical or Virtual Artificial agent In practice it is usually an electro-mechanical system which by its appearance or movements Futurism was an Art movement that originated in Italy in the early 20th century Metropolis was an extremely successful film and its art-deco inspired aesthetic became the guiding aesthetic of the science fiction pulps for some time.

Modernist writing

Writers attempted to respond to the new world in the post-World War I era. In the 1920s and 30s writers entirely unconnected with science fiction were exploring new ways of telling a story and new ways of treating time, space and experience in the narrative form. Space is the extent within which Matter is physically extended and objects and Events have positions relative to one another Experience as a general concept comprises Knowledge of or skill in or Observation of some thing or some event gained through involvement in or A narrative or story is a construct created in a suitable format (written spoken poetry prose images song Theater, or Dance) that describes a sequence of The posthumously published works of Franz Kafka (who died in 1924) and the works of modernist writers such as James Joyce, T. S. Eliot, Virginia Woolf and others featured stories in which time and individual identity could be expanded, contracted, looped and otherwise distorted. Modernism describes an array of Cultural movements rooted in the changes in Western society in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century James Augustine Aloysius Joyce (2 February 1882 &ndash 13 January 1941 was an Irish expatriate writer widely considered to be one of the most influential writers of the Thomas Stearns Eliot, OM (September 26 1888 – January 4 1965 was a poet Dramatist, and Literary critic. (Adeline Virginia Woolf (née Stephen; 25 January 1882 – 28 March 1941 was an English Novelist and Essayist, regarded as one of the foremost While this work was unconnected to science fiction as a genre, it did deal with the impact of modernity (technology, science, and change) upon people's lives, and decades later, during the New Wave movement, some modernist literary techniques entered science fiction. New Wave is a term applied to Science fiction writing characterized by a high degree of experimentation both in form and in content and a Highbrow and self-consciously

Czech playwright Karel Capek's plays The Makropulos Affair, R.U.R., The Life of the Insects, and the novel War with the Newts were modernist literature which invented important science fiction motifs. Karel Čapek ( pronounced) ( January 9, 1890 – December 25, 1938 was one of the most influential Czech writers of the 20th century The Makropulos Affair (or The Makropulos Case) ( Czech Věc Makropulos) is a play written by Karel Čapek and RUR (Rossum's Universal Robots is a Science fiction play by Karel Čapek. War with the Newts ( Válka s mloky in the original Czech) also translated as War with the Salamanders, is a 1936 satirical R. U. R. in particular is noted for introducing the word robot to the world's vocabulary. A robot is a mechanical or Virtual Artificial agent In practice it is usually an electro-mechanical system which by its appearance or movements

A strong theme in modernist writing was alienation, the making strange of familiar surroundings so that settings and behaviour usually regarded as "normal" are seen as though they were the seemingly bizarre practices of an alien culture. In Sociology and Critical social theory, alienation refers to an individual's estrangement from traditional community and others in general In Behavior, normal refers to a lack of significant deviation from the average The audience of modernist plays or the readership of modern novels is often led to question everything.

At the same time, a tradition of more literary science fiction novels, treating with a dissonance between perceived Utopian conditions and the full expression of human desires, began to develop: the dystopian novel. A dystopia (from the Greek δυσ- and τόπος alternatively cacotopia, kakotopia, cackotopia, or anti-utopia) is the vision of a society For some time, the science fictional elements of these works were ignored by mainstream literary critics, though they owe a much greater debt to the science fiction genre than the modernists do. Sincerely Utopian writing, including much of Wells, has also deeply influenced science fiction, beginning with Hugo Gernsback's Ralph 124C 41+. Hugo Gernsback ( August 16 1884 – August 19 1967) born Hugo Gernsbacher, was a Luxembourg American Inventor Ralph 124C 41+, by Hugo Gernsback, is an early Science fiction novel written as a twelve-part serial in Modern Electrics magazine beginning Yevgeny Zamyatin's 1920 novel We depicts a totalitarian attempt to create a utopia that results in a dystopic state where free will is lost. Yevgeny Ivanovich Zamyatin (Евге́ний Ива́нович Замя́тин) ( February 1, 1884 – March 10, 1937) was a Russian We (Мы is a Dystopian novel by Yevgeny Zamyatin completed in 1921. Aldous Huxley bridged the gap between the literary establishment and the world of science fiction with Brave New World (1932), an ironic portrait of a stable and ostensibly happy society built by human mastery of genetic manipulation. Brave New World is a 1932 Novel by Aldous Huxley. Set in the London of AD 2540 (632 A

In the late 1930s, John W. Campbell became editor of Astounding Science Fiction, and a critical mass of new writers emerged in New York City in a group called the Futurians, including Isaac Asimov, Damon Knight, Donald A. Wollheim, Frederik Pohl, James Blish, Judith Merril, and others. John Wood Campbell Jr (June 8 1910 – July 11 1971 was an important Science fiction editor and writer Analog Science Fiction and Fact is an American Science fiction Magazine. The City of New York The Futurians were an influential group of Science fiction fans, many of whom became editors and writers as well Isaac Asimov (c January 2 1920 &ndash April 6 1992 ˈaɪzək ˈæzɪmʌv originally Исаак Озимов but now transcribed into Russian as, was a Russian Damon Francis Knight ( September 19, 1922 &ndash April 15, 2002) was an American Science fiction Author, Donald Allen Wollheim (October 1 1914 &ndash November 2, 1990) was a Science fiction writer, editor, publisher and Frederik George Pohl Jr (born November 26, 1919) is a American Science fiction writer, editor and fan, with a career James Benjamin Blish ( East Orange, New Jersey, May 23, 1921 – Henley-on-Thames, July 30, 1975) was an Judith Josephine Grossman ( January 21, 1923 - September 12, 1997) who took the pen-name Judith Merril about 1945 was an ^[10] Other important writers during this period included Robert A. Heinlein, Arthur C. Clarke, and A. E. Van Vogt. Robert Anson Heinlein (July 7 1907 – May 8 1988 was an American Novelist and Science fiction Writer. Sir Arthur Charles Clarke, CBE (16 December 1917–19 March 2008 was a British Science fiction Author, Inventor, and Alfred Elton van Vogt (April 26 1912 – January 26 2000 was a Canadian -born Science fiction author who was one of the most prolific Campbell's tenure at Astounding is considered to be the beginning of the Golden Age of science fiction, characterized by hard science fiction stories celebrating scientific achievement and progress. The first Golden Age of Science Fiction, often recognized as a period from the late 1930s or early 1940s through to the 1950s was an era during which the science fiction genre gained wide ^[9] This lasted until postwar technological advances, new magazines like Galaxy under Pohl as editor, and a new generation of writers began writing stories outside the Campbell mode. Galaxy Science Fiction was a digest-size Science fiction magazine, the creation of noted editor H

George Orwell wrote perhaps the most highly regarded of these literary dystopias, Nineteen Eighty-Four, in 1949. Eric Arthur Blair (25 June 1903 – 21 January 1950 who used the Pseudonym George Orwell, was an English writer Nineteen Eighty-Four (also titled 1984) by George Orwell (the pen name of Eric Arthur Blair) is a 1949 English Novel He envisions a technologically-governed totalitarian regime that dominates society through total information control. Zamyatin's We is recognized as an influence on both Huxley and Orwell; Orwell published a book review of the We shortly after it was first published in English, several years before writing 1984.

Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451, Ursula LeGuin's The Dispossessed, much of Kurt Vonnegut's writing, and many other works of later science fiction continue this dialogue between utopia and dystopia. Ray Douglas Bradbury (born August 22 1920 is an American mainstream, Fantasy, horror, Science fiction and mystery Fahrenheit 451 is a Dystopian Soft science fiction Novel authored by Ray Bradbury and first published in 1953 Ursula Kroeber Le Guin (ˈɝsələ ˈkroʊbɚ ləˈgwɪn (born October 21, 1929) is an American author The Dispossessed An Ambiguous Utopia is a 1974 Utopian Science fiction novel by Ursula K Kurt Vonnegut Jr (November 11 1922 – April 11 2007 (ˈvɒnəgət was a prolific and genre-bending American Novelist known for works blending Satire, Black

Public mythology

Orson Welles' Mercury Theatre produced a radio version of The War of the Worlds which, famously, panicked large numbers of people who believed the programme to be a real newscast. George Orson Welles (May 6 1915 – October 10 1985 was an Academy Award -winning director, writer actor and producer for film stage radio and television Mercury Theatre was a Theatre company founded in New York City by Orson Welles and John Houseman. ^[11] The idea of visitors or invaders from outer space became firmly part of the public mythology. The word mythology (from the Greek grc μυθολογία mythología, meaning "a story-telling a legendary lore"

During World War II pilots speculated on the possible origins of the Foo fighters they saw around them in the air. World War II, or the Second World War, (often abbreviated WWII) was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including The term foo fighter was used by Allied Aircraft pilots in World War II to describe various UFOs or mysterious aerial Phenomena The German flying bombs, V1s and V2s added to the growing wonder about the future of space travel. Jet planes and the atom bomb were developed. A nuclear weapon is an explosive device that derives its destructive force from Nuclear reactions either fission or a combination of fission and fusion. When a story of a flying saucer crash was circulated from Roswell, New Mexico in 1947, science fiction had become folklore. Flying saucer is the name given to a type of Unidentified flying object (UFO with a disc- or Saucer -shaped body usually described as silver or metallic Roswell is a city in and the County seat of Chaves County in the southeastern quarter of the state of New Mexico, United States. History The concept of folklore developed as part of the 19th century ideology of Romantic nationalism, leading to the reshaping of oral traditions to serve modern ideological

The Golden Age

The period of the 1940s and 1950s is often referred to as the Golden Age of Science Fiction. The first Golden Age of Science Fiction, often recognized as a period from the late 1930s or early 1940s through to the 1950s was an era during which the science fiction genre gained wide

Astounding Magazine

With the emergence in 1937 of a demanding editor, John W. Campbell, Jr., at Astounding Science Fiction, and with the publication of stories and novels by such writers as Isaac Asimov, Arthur C. Clarke, and Robert A. Heinlein, science fiction began to gain status as serious fiction. John Wood Campbell Jr (June 8 1910 – July 11 1971 was an important Science fiction editor and writer Analog Science Fiction and Fact is an American Science fiction Magazine. Isaac Asimov (c January 2 1920 &ndash April 6 1992 ˈaɪzək ˈæzɪmʌv originally Исаак Озимов but now transcribed into Russian as, was a Russian Sir Arthur Charles Clarke, CBE (16 December 1917–19 March 2008 was a British Science fiction Author, Inventor, and Robert Anson Heinlein (July 7 1907 – May 8 1988 was an American Novelist and Science fiction Writer.

Campbell exercised an extraordinary influence over the work of his stable of writers, thus shaping the direction of science fiction. Asimov wrote, "We were extensions of himself; we were his literary clones. " Under Campbell's direction, the years from 1938–1950 would become known as the "Golden Age of science fiction",^[9] though Asimov points out that the term Golden Age has been used more loosely to refer to other periods in science fiction's history. The first Golden Age of Science Fiction, often recognized as a period from the late 1930s or early 1940s through to the 1950s was an era during which the science fiction genre gained wide

Campbell's guidance to his writers included his famous dictum, "Write me a creature that thinks as well as a man, or better than a man, but not like a man. " He emphasized a higher quality of writing than editors before him, giving special attention to developing the group of young writers who attached themselves to him.

Ventures into the genre by writers who were not devoted exclusively to science fiction also added respectability. Magazine covers of bug-eyed monsters and scantily-clad women, however, preserved the image of a sensational genre appealing only to adolescents. There was naturally a public desire for sensation, a desire of people to be taken out of their dull lives to the worlds of space travel and adventure.

An interesting footnote to Campbell's regime is his contribution to the rise of L. Ron Hubbard's religion Scientology. Lafayette Ronald Hubbard (March 13 1911 &ndash January 24 1986 was a fiction writer who devised a self-help technique called Dianetics and philosophy known as Scientology Scientology is a body of beliefs and related practices initially created by American Science fiction author L Hubbard was considered a promising science fiction writer and a protege of Campbell, who published Hubbard's first articles about Dianetics and his new religion. Dianetics is a set of ideas and practices regarding the relationship between the spirit mind and body that were developed by L As Campbell's reign as editor of Astounding progressed, Campbell gave more attention to ideas like Hubbard's, writing editorials in support of Dianetics. Though Astounding continued to have a loyal fanbase, readers started turning to other magazines to find science fiction stories.

The Golden Age in other media

With the new source material provided by the Golden Age writers, advances in special effects, and a public desire for material that treated with the advances in technology of the time, all the elements were in place to create significant works of science fiction film.

As a result, science fiction film came into its own in the 1950s, producing films like Destination Moon, Them!, Invasion of the Body Snatchers, Forbidden Planet, and many others. Destination Moon is a 1950 American Science fiction Feature film produced by George Pál, who later produced For the films of the same name see Them (2006 film or Them (film Invasion of the Body Snatchers is a 1956 Science fiction film based on the novel The Body Snatchers by Jack Finney (originally Forbidden Planet is a 1956 Science fiction film directed by Fred M Many of these movies were based on stories by Campbell's writers. The Thing was adapted from a Campbell story, Them was based on a Jack Finney novel, Destination Moon on a Heinlein novel, and The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms was derived from a Ray Bradbury short story. The Thing is a 1982 science fiction and Horror film directed by John Carpenter, written by Bill Lancaster and starring Jack Finney ( October 2, 1911 – November 14, 1995) was an American author The Beast from 20000 Fathoms is a 1953 Science fiction film directed by Eugène Lourié and stars Paul Christian, Paula Raymond John Wyndham's cosy catastrophes, including The Day of the Triffids and The Kraken Wakes, provided important source material as well. John Wyndham was the main Pen name used by the often post-apocalyptic British Science fiction writer John Wyndham Parkes Lucas Beynon Harris The Day of the Triffids is a post-apocalyptic novel written in 1951 by the English science fiction author John Wyndham. The Kraken Wakes is an Apocalyptic science fiction novel by John Wyndham, originally published by Michael Joseph in the UK in 1953

At the same time, science fiction began to appear on a new medium- the television. In the 1953 The Quatermass Experiment was shown on British television, the first significant science fiction show. The Quatermass Experiment is a British science-fiction serial broadcast by BBC Television in the summer of 1953 and re-staged by In the United States, science fiction heroes like Captain Video, Flash Gordon and Buck Rogers were shown, programs that more closely resembled pre-Campbellian science fiction. Flash Gordon is the hero of a Science fiction adventure Comic strip originally drawn by Alex Raymond, which was first published on January 7, Buck Rogers is a fictional character who first appeared in 1928 as Anthony Rogers the hero of two Novellas by Philip Francis Nowlan published in the magazine

End of the Golden Age

Seeking greater freedom of expression, writers started to publish their articles in other magazines, including The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, If, a resurrected Amazing Stories, and most notably, Galaxy. The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction (later Fantasy & Science Fiction and usually referred to as just F&SF) is a digest-size Galaxy Science Fiction was a digest-size Science fiction magazine, the creation of noted editor H

Under editors H.L. Gold and then Frederik Pohl, Galaxy stressed a more literary form of science fiction that took cues from more mainstream literature. Horace Leonard Gold ( April 26, 1914, Montreal Quebec, Canada - February 21, 1996, Laguna Hills California Frederik George Pohl Jr (born November 26, 1919) is a American Science fiction writer, editor and fan, with a career It was less insistent on scientific plausibility than Campbell's Astounding. The rise of Galaxy signaled the end of Golden Age science fiction, though most of the Golden Age writers were able to adapt to the changes in the genre and keep writing. Some, however, moved to other fields. Isaac Asimov and several others began to write scientific fact almost exclusively.

The New Wave and its aftermath

The Beat Generation

Samuel Beckett's modernistic writings The Unnamable and Waiting for Godot were influential upon writing in the 1950s. The Unnamable is a 1953 novel by Samuel Beckett. It is the third and final entry in Beckett's "Trilogy" of novels which begins with Waiting for Godot is a play by Samuel Beckett, in which two characters wait for someone named Godot who never arrives In the former all sense of place and time are dispensed with and all that remains is a voice poised between the urge to continue existing and the urge to find silence and oblivion. In the latter, time and the meaning of cause and effect are played with to great effect. Beckett's influence could be felt on science fiction, which moved toward more serious reflection on being.

William S. Burroughs (1914–1997) was the writer who finally brought science fiction together with the modernist trend in literature. William Seward Burroughs II ( – ˈbʌroʊz was an American Novelist, Essayist, Social critic, painter and Spoken word With the help of Jack Kerouac Burroughs published Naked Lunch, the first of a series of novels employing a semi-dadaistic technique called the Cut-up and modernistic deconstructions of conventional society, pulling away the mask of normality to reveal horrors beneath. Jack Kerouac ( March 12 1922 &ndash October 21 1969) was an American Novelist, Writer, Poet, and Naked Lunch (sometimes referred to as The Naked Lunch) is a novel by William S For other meanings see Dada (disambiguation DaDa is a Concept album by Alice Cooper, released The cut-up technique, also known as fishbowling, is an Aleatory Literary technique or genre in which a text is cut up at Random Deconstruction is a term used in Philosophy, Literary criticism, and the Social sciences, popularised through its usage by Jacques Derrida in Burroughs showed visions of society as a conspiracy of aliens, monsters, police states, drug dealers and alternate levels of reality. The linguistics of science fiction merged with the experiments of modernism in a beat generation nightmare. Linguistics is the scientific study of Language, encompassing a number of sub-fields

The New Wave

See also: New Wave (science fiction)

In 1960, British novelist Kingsley Amis published New Maps of Hell, a literary history and examination of the field of science fiction. New Wave is a term applied to Science fiction writing characterized by a high degree of experimentation both in form and in content and a Highbrow and self-consciously Sir Kingsley William Amis, CBE ( April 16, 1922 &ndash October 22, 1995) was an English Novelist, This serious attention from a mainstream, acceptable writer did a great deal of good, eventually, for the reputation of science fiction.

In 1962, Academy Award winning Indian writer and film-maker Satyajit Ray wrote a story called Bankubabur Bandhu (Banku Babu's Friend), also known as The Alien. "The Oscar" redirects here for the film see The Oscar (film. India, officially the Republic of India (भारत गणराज्य inc-Latn Bhārat Gaṇarājya; see also other Indian languages) is a country Satyajit Ray (সত্যজিত রায় or সত্যজিৎ রায়) (2 May 1921–23 April 1992 was a Bengali Indian Filmmaker. The Alien was a Science fiction film under production in the late 1960s which was eventually cancelled What differentiated Bankubabur Bandhu from previous science fiction was the portrayal of an alien from outer space as a kind and playful being, invested with magical powers and capable of interacting with children, in contrast to earlier science fiction works which portrayed aliens as dangerous creatures. ^[12][13][14]

Another major milestone was the publication, in 1965, of Frank Herbert's Dune, a dense, complex, and detailed work of fiction featuring political intrigue in a future galaxy, strange and mystical religious beliefs, and the eco-system of the desert planet Arrakis. Franklin Patrick Herbert Jr ( October 8 1920 &ndash February 11 1986) was a critically acclaimed and commercially successful American Dune is a Science fiction novel written by Frank Herbert and published in 1965. Arrakis is also an alternative name for the star Mu Draconis. Another was the emergence of the work of Roger Zelazny, whose novels such as Lord of Light and his famous The Chronicles of Amber showed that the lines between science-fiction, fantasy, religion, and social commentary could be very fine. Roger Joseph Zelazny ( May 13, 1937 – June 14, 1995) was an American writer of Fantasy and Science fiction Lord of Light (1967 is an epic Science fiction / Fantasy Novel by Roger Zelazny. The Chronicles of Amber is a popular Fantasy series by Roger Zelazny.

Also in 1965 French director Jean-Luc Godard's film Alphaville used the medium of dystopian and apocalyptic science fiction to explore language and society. Jean-Luc Godard (French ʒɑ̃lyk gɔˈdaʀ (born on December 3 1930 is a French and Swiss Filmmaker and one of the founding members of the Nouvelle Vague Alphaville is a 1965 Black-and-white French Science fiction film directed by Jean-Luc Godard. A dystopia (from the Greek δυσ- and τόπος alternatively cacotopia, kakotopia, cackotopia, or anti-utopia) is the vision of a society

In Britain, the 1960s generation of writers, dubbed "The New Wave", were experimenting with different forms of science fiction,^[5] stretching the genre towards surrealism, psychological drama and mainstream currents. The Counterculture of the 1960s and early 1970s refers to a period between 1960 and 1973 that began in the United States as a reaction against New Wave is a term applied to Science fiction writing characterized by a high degree of experimentation both in form and in content and a Highbrow and self-consciously Surrealism is a cultural movement that began in the early-1920s and is best known for the visual artworks and writings of the group members The 60s New Wave was centred around the writing in the magazine New Worlds after Michael Moorcock assumed editorial control in 1963. New Worlds was a British Science fiction magazine which was first published professionally in 1946 Michael John Moorcock (born 18 December 1939, in London) is an English writer primarily of Science fiction and fantasy who has also William Burroughs was a big influence. The writers of the New Wave also believed themselves to be building on the legacy of the French New Wave artistic movement. "Nouvelle Vague" redirects here For the music group of the same name see Nouvelle Vague (band. Though the New Wave was largely a British movement, there were parallel developments taking place in American science fiction at the same time. The relation of the British New Wave to American science fiction was made clear by Harlan Ellison's original anthology Dangerous Visions, which presented science fiction writers, both American and British, writing stories that pushed the boundaries of what was acceptable in a science fiction magazine. Harlan Jay Ellison (born May 27, 1934) is a prolific American Writer of Short stories, Novellas, Teleplays Dangerous Visions (ISBN 0-425-06176-0 was a Science fiction Short story Anthology edited by Harlan Ellison,published in 1967 Isaac Asimov, writing an introduction to the anthology, labeled it the Second Revolution, after the first revolution that produced the Golden Age.

The New Wave and their contemporaries placed a greater emphasis on style and a more highbrow form of a storytelling. They also sought controversy in subjects older science fiction writers had avoided. For the first time sexuality, which Kingsley Amis had complained was nearly ignored in science fiction, was given serious consideration by writers like Samuel Delany, Norman Spinrad, and Theodore Sturgeon. Samuel Ray Delany Jr (born April 1, 1942, New York City) is an award-winning American Science fiction Norman Richard Spinrad (born September 15, 1940) is an American Science fiction author Theodore Sturgeon (born Edward Hamilton Waldo on February 26, 1918; died May 8, 1985) was an American Science fiction Contemporary political issues were also given voice, as John Brunner and J.G. Ballard wrote cautionary tales about a ruined environment. John Kilian Houston Brunner ( September 24, 1934 &ndash August 26, 1995) was a prolific British author of Science fiction James Graham Ballard (born 15 November in the International Settlement in Shanghai, China) is a British Novelist and Short

Asimov noted that the Second Revolution was far less clear cut than the first, attributing this to the development of the anthology, which made older stories more prominent. But a number of Golden Age writers changed their style as the New Wave hit. Robert A. Heinlein switched from his Campbellian Future History stories to stylistically adventuresome, sexually open works of fiction, notably Stranger in a Strange Land and The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress. Robert Anson Heinlein (July 7 1907 – May 8 1988 was an American Novelist and Science fiction Writer. Stranger in a Strange Land is a best-selling 1961 Hugo Award -winning Science fiction Novel by Robert A The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress is a 1966 Science fiction Novel by American writer Robert A Isaac Asimov wrote the New Wave-ish The Gods Themselves. The Gods Themselves is a 1972 Science fiction Novel written by Isaac Asimov. Many others also continued successfully as styles changed.

Science fiction films took inspiration from the changes in the genre. Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey, Doctor Strangelove, and A Clockwork Orange gave visual form to the genre's new dependence on style. 2001 A Space Odyssey is a 1968 Science fiction film directed by Stanley Kubrick, written by Kubrick and Arthur C A Clockwork Orange is a 1971 Satirical Science fiction Film adaptation of a 1962 novel of the same name, by Anthony

Ursula LeGuin, working off small modifications to an imagined society, extrapolated science fictional visions that were anthropological rather than technical. Ursula Kroeber Le Guin (ˈɝsələ ˈkroʊbɚ ləˈgwɪn (born October 21, 1929) is an American author ^[15] Philip K. Dick explored the metaphysics of the mind in a series of novels and stories that rarely seemed dependent on their science fictional content. Philip Kindred Dick (December 16 – March 2) was an American Science fiction Novelist and Short story Writer. LeGuin, Dick, and others like them became associated with the concept of soft science fiction more than with the New Wave. Soft science fiction, or soft SF, like its complementary opposite Hard science fiction, is a descriptive term that points to the role and nature of the

Soft science fiction was contrasted to the notion of hard science fiction. Hard science fiction is a category of Science fiction characterized by an emphasis on scientific or technical detail or on scientific accuracy or on both Though scientific plausibility had been a central tenet of the genre since Gernsback, writers like Larry Niven and Poul Anderson gave hard science fiction new life, crafting stories with a more sophisticated writing style and more deeply characterized heroes, while preserving a high level of scientific sophistication. Laurence van Cott Niven (born April 30, 1938 Los Angeles California) is a US Science fiction author. Poul William Anderson ( November 25, 1926 – July 31, 2001) was an American Science fiction author who wrote during a Golden ^[16]

Science fiction in the 1980s

Cyberpunk

Main article: Cyberpunk

By the early 1980s, the New Wave had faded out as an important presence in the science fiction landscape. Cyberpunk is a Science fiction genre noted for its focus on " High tech and low life. As new personal computing technologies became an integral part of society, science fiction writers felt the urge to make statements about its influence on the cultural and political landscape. Drawing on the work of the New Wave, the Cyberpunk movement developed in the early 80s. Cyberpunk is a Science fiction genre noted for its focus on " High tech and low life. Though it placed the same influence on style that the New Wave did, it developed its own unique style, typically focusing on the 'punks' of their imagined future underworld. Cyberpunk authors like William Gibson turned away from the traditional optimism and support for progress of traditional science fiction. Cyberpunk is a Science fiction genre noted for its focus on " High tech and low life. William Ford Gibson (born March 17 1948 is an American - Canadian writer who has been called the "noir prophet" of the Cyberpunk subgenre ^[17] William Gibson's Neuromancer, published in 1984 announced the cyberpunk movement to the larger literary world and was a tremendous commercial success. Neuromancer is a 1984 novel by William Gibson, notable for being the most famous early Cyberpunk novel and winner of the science-fiction "triple Other key writers in the movement included Bruce Sterling, John Shirley, and later Neal Stephenson. Michael Bruce Sterling (born April 14, 1954) is an American Science fiction author, best known for his novels and his seminal work on the Mirrorshades John Patrick Shirley (born February 10, 1953) is an American Science fiction and horror writer of Novels short stories Neal Town Stephenson (born October 31, 1959) is an American writer known primarily for his Science fiction works in the Postcyberpunk genre Though Cyberpunk would later be cross-pollinated with other styles of science-fiction, there seemed to be some notion of ideological purity in the beginning. John Shirley compared the Cyberpunk movement to a tribe. ^[18]

New space opera

The trend toward gritty, near-future stories represented by cyberpunk was countered by a revival and renewal of the tradition of space opera: stories set in the medium to far future and featuring interstellar civilizations, exotic technologies, and large-scale conflicts and natural events. Space opera is a subgenre of Speculative fiction or Science fiction that emphasizes romantic, often Melodramatic adventure set mainly or entirely Though such stories had never entirely disappeared from the field--Poul Anderson and Gordon R. Dickson, for example, had been writing space adventures consistently since the 1950s and Larry Niven since the 1960s. Poul William Anderson ( November 25, 1926 – July 31, 2001) was an American Science fiction author who wrote during a Golden Gordon Rupert Dickson ( November 1, 1923 – January 31, 2001) was an American Science fiction author Star Wars helped spark a new interest in space opera. Star Wars is an epic Space opera franchise initially conceived by George Lucas during the 1970s and significantly expanded ^[19] But in the 1980s the old tradition was given a boost by such series as David Brin's Uplift Saga, C. J. Cherryh's Alliance-Union Universe,^[20] and the Ender novels of Orson Scott Card. Glen David Brin, PhD (born October 6, 1950) is an American scientist and award-winning author of Science fiction. The Uplift Universe is a Fictional universe created by Science fiction writer David Brin. Carolyn Janice Cherry (born September 1, 1942) better known by the Pseudonym C The Ender's Game series (sometimes called Ender series or Enderverse) is a series of Science fiction books by Orson Scott Card Orson Scott Card (born August 24, 1951) is a bestselling American Author, Critic, political writer and speaker.

Throughout the decade, established writers continued to explore this territory: Greg Benford and Poul Anderson expanded on earlier work, Arthur C. Clarke added to his Rama series, and Isaac Asimov produced more Foundation novels. Gregory Benford (born January 30, 1941 in Mobile Alabama) is an American science fiction author and Astrophysicist who is on the Poul William Anderson ( November 25, 1926 – July 31, 2001) was an American Science fiction author who wrote during a Golden Sir Arthur Charles Clarke, CBE (16 December 1917–19 March 2008 was a British Science fiction Author, Inventor, and Rama ( IAST: rāma Devanāgarī: राम Khmer: Phreah Ream Thai: Phra Ram Lao: Phra Lam Tagalog: The Foundation Series is an epic Science fiction series written over a span of forty-four years by Isaac Asimov. Emerging writers also offered large-scale interstellar adventures, for example, Greg Bear's Eon (1985), Iain M. Banks's Consider Phlebas (1987), Paul J. McAuley's 400 Billion Stars (1988), Bruce Sterling's Schismatrix (1985), and Michael Swanwick's Vacuum Flowers (1987). Gregory Dale Bear (born August 20, 1951) is an American Science fiction and mainstream author Iain Menzies Banks (born on 16 February 1954 in Dunfermline, Fife) is a Scottish Writer. Paul J McAuley (born April 23, 1955) a British botanist award-winning author and self-described science Junkie. Michael Bruce Sterling (born April 14, 1954) is an American Science fiction author, best known for his novels and his seminal work on the Mirrorshades Michael Swanwick (born November 18, 1950) is an American Science fiction author

While cyberpunk maintained a high profile through the 1980s, this new-generation space opera received more acclaim from the mainstream science fiction community. Though Gibson won both the Nebula Award and Hugo Award for Neuromancer, the majority of the winners of these awards from the 1980s onward could be classified as space opera (see Hartwell and Cramer, cited below). The Nebula Award is an award given each year by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA for the best Science fiction / Fantasy fiction The Hugo Awards are given every year for the best Science fiction or Fantasy works and achievements of the previous year Neuromancer is a 1984 novel by William Gibson, notable for being the most famous early Cyberpunk novel and winner of the science-fiction "triple

The term "New Space Opera" finally emerged as a description of a body of work that had started to appear in the 1990s from UK and Australian writers such as Neal Asher, Stephen Baxter, Peter F. Hamilton, Ken MacLeod, Richard K. Morgan, Alastair Reynolds, Charles Stross, and the team of Sean Williams and Shane Dix. Neal Asher (born 1961 in Billericay, Essex, England) is an English Science fiction writer Stephen Baxter (born 13 November 1957 is a British Hard science fiction Author. Peter F Hamilton (born 2 March 1960 is a British Science fiction Author. Ken MacLeod (born 2 August 1954 an award-winning Scottish Science fiction writer lives in South Queensferry near Edinburgh. Richard K Morgan (born 1965 is a British Science fiction author Alastair Preston Reynolds (born in 1966 in Barry, Wales) is a Welsh Science fiction author. Charles David George "Charlie" Stross (born Leeds, 18 October 1964 is a writer based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Sean Llewellyn Williams (born 23rd May 1967) is a New York Times best selling Science fiction Author who lives in Adelaide, Shane Dix is an Australian Science fiction Author best known for his collaborative work with Sean Williams in the Star Wars: These writers were seen to be pushing the already-large envelope of space opera, integrating the latest science fiction ideas and motifs (nanotechnology, artificial intelligence, personality uploading, radical bodily transformations, cutting-edge physics and cosmology). American writers whose work has followed the same path include Wil McCarthy, Linda Nagata, Robert Reed, Dan Simmons, Vernor Vinge, Scott Westerfeld, Walter Jon Williams, and George Zebrowski. Wil McCarthy (born September 16, 1966, Princeton New Jersey) is a Science fiction novelist Chief Technology Officer for Galileo Shipyards (an Linda Nagata (1960- is an American Science fiction author who won the Nebula award for best Novella in 2000 (for " Goddesses " Robert Reed ( October 19, 1932 &ndash May 12, 1992) was an Emmy Award -nominated American stage and Television Dan Simmons (born April 4, 1948 in Peoria, Illinois) is an American Author most widely known for his Hugo Award Vernor Steffen Vinge (ˈvɪndʒi (born October 2, 1944 in Waukesha Wisconsin, U Scott Westerfeld (born May 5 1963) is a New York Times bestselling American -born author of Science fiction Young adult literature Walter Jon Williams (born 15 October 1953) is an American writer primarily of Science fiction. George Zebrowski (born December 28, 1945 in Villach / Austria is a Science fiction author who has written a number of books including

Locus magazine devoted part its August 2003 issue to old and new space opera, and David G. Hartwell and Kathryn Cramer have outlined a history of space opera that places the new works in context in "How Shit Became Shinola: Definition and Redefinition of Space Opera" (2003). Locus is a monthly American Magazine, subtitled "The Magazine Of The Science Fiction & Fantasy Field" David Geddes Hartwell (b July 10, 1941) is an American editor of Science fiction and Fantasy. Kathryn Elizabeth Cramer ( April 16, 1962) is an American Science fiction Author, editor, and Literary critic ^[21]

Contemporary science fiction and its future

See also: Postcyberpunk

Contemporary science fiction has been marked by the spread of cyberpunk to other parts of the marketplace of ideas. Postcyberpunk describes a subgenre of Science fiction which some Critics suggest has evolved from Cyberpunk. No longer is cyberpunk a ghettoized tribe within science fiction, but an integral part of the field whose interactions with other parts have been the primary theme of science fiction at the turn of the century.

Notably, cyberpunk has influenced film, in works such as Johnny Mnemonic and The Matrix series, in anime such as Akira and Ghost in the Shell, and the emerging medium of computer and video games, with the critically acclaimed Deus Ex and Metal Gear series. (anime in Japanese, is a 1988 Japanese animated Film co-written and directed by Katsuhiro Otomo based on his manga of the same name is a Japanese Cyberpunk Manga created by Masamune Shirow, and first published in 1989 in Young A video game is a Game that involves interaction with a User interface to generate visual feedback on a video device. Deus Ex (abbreviated DX and pronounced as ˌdeɪəsˈɛks day-uss ex) is a Cyberpunk -themed Action role-playing game developed is a critically acclaimed series of Stealth games created by Hideo Kojima and developed and published by Konami. This entrance of cyberpunk into mainstream culture has led to the introduction of cyberpunk's stylistic motifs to the masses, particularly the cyberpunk fashion style. Cyber, is the name given to a contemporary Subculture having roots in multiple music and fashion scenes including the European and American Rave / clubbing

Emerging themes in the 1990s included environmental issues, the implications of the global Internet and the expanding information universe, questions about biotechnology and nanotechnology, as well as a post-Cold War interest in post-scarcity societies; Neal Stephenson's The Diamond Age comprehensively explores these themes. Biotechnology is Technology based on Biology, especially when used in Agriculture, Food science, and Medicine. Nanotechnology, sometimes shortened to nanotech, refers to a field of Applied science whose theme is the control of matter on an Atomic and Molecular Cold War is the state of conflict tension and competition that existed between the United States and the Soviet Union (USSR and their respective allies from the Scarcity (also called paucity) is the problem of Infinite human needs and Wants, in a world of Finite Resources In other Neal Town Stephenson (born October 31, 1959) is an American writer known primarily for his Science fiction works in the Postcyberpunk genre The Diamond Age or A Young Lady's Illustrated Primer is a Postcyberpunk Novel by Neal Stephenson. Lois McMaster Bujold's Vorkosigan novels brought the character-drive story back into prominence. Lois McMaster Bujold (born November 2, 1949, Columbus, Ohio) is an American author of Science fiction and Fantasy The Vorkosigan Saga is a series of Science fiction novels and short stories by Lois McMaster Bujold, most of which concern Miles Vorkosigan, a physically ^[22]

The cyberpunk reliance on near-future science fiction has deepened. In William Gibson's 2003 novel, Pattern Recognition, the story is a cyberpunk story told in the present, the ultimate limit of the near-future extrapolation. Year 2003 ( MMIII) was a Common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. Pattern Recognition is a novel by Science fiction writer William Gibson published in 2003

Cyberpunk's ideas have spread in other directions, though. Space opera writers have written work featuring cyberpunk motifs, including David Brin's Kiln People and Ken MacLeod's Fall Revolution series. Kiln People is a 2002 Science fiction Novel by David Brin. It was published in the UK under the title Kil'n People Ken MacLeod (born 2 August 1954 an award-winning Scottish Science fiction writer lives in South Queensferry near Edinburgh. This merging of the two disparate threads of science fiction in the 1980s has produced an extrapolational literature in contrast to those technological stories told in the present.

John Clute writes that science fiction at the turn of the century can be understood in two ways: "a vision of the triumph of science fiction as a genre and as a series of outstanding texts which figured to our gaze the significant futures that, during those years, came to pass. John Frederick Clute (1940-) is a Canadian born author and critic who has lived in Britain since 1969 . . [or]. . . indecipherable from the world during those years. . . fatally indistinguishable from the world it attempted to adumbrate, to signify. "

The television series Star Trek: The Next Generation began a torrent of new science fiction shows,^[23] of which Babylon 5 was among the most highly acclaimed in the decade. Star Trek The Next Generation ( STTNG or TNG) is an Emmy and Peabody Award-winning science fiction television program created by Gene Roddenberry Babylon 5 is an American science fiction television series created produced and largely written by J ^[24][25] A general concern about the rapid pace of technological change crystallized around the concept of the technological singularity, popularized by Vernor Vinge's novel Marooned in Realtime and then taken up by other authors. The technological singularity is a theoretical future point of unprecedented technological progress caused in part by the ability of machines to improve themselves using Artificial Vernor Steffen Vinge (ˈvɪndʒi (born October 2, 1944 in Waukesha Wisconsin, U Marooned in Realtime is a 1986 murder mystery and Time-travel Science fiction novel by Vernor Vinge, about a small time-displaced Television shows like Buffy the Vampire Slayer and movies like The Lord of the Rings created new interest in all the speculative genres in films, television, computer games, and books. Fictional narratives (and works of art exist beyond their completion e The Lord of the Rings film trilogy consists of three Live action Fantasy Epic films The Fellowship of the Ring ( 2001

Notes

References

• Aldiss, Brian, and David Hargrove. Trillion Year Spree. Atheneum, 1986.
• Amis, Kingsley. New Maps of Hell. Harcourt, Brace and Company, 1960.
• Asimov, Isaac. Asimov on Science Fiction. Doubleday and Company, Inc. , 1981.
• Cadigan, Pat. The Ultimate Cyberpunk iBooks, 2002.
• de Camp, L. Sprague and Catherine Crook de Camp. Science Fiction Handbook, Revised. Owlswick Press, 1975.
• Ellison, Harlan. Dangerous Visions. Signet Books, 1967.
• Landon, Brooks. Science Fiction after 1900. Twayne Publishers, 1997.
• The Cambridge Companion to Science Fiction. Ed. Edward James and Farah Mendlesohn. Edward James is Professor of Medieval History at University College Dublin. Farah Mendlesohn is a British academic and writer on Science fiction. Cambridge University Press, 2003.
• A Companion to Science Fiction. Ed. David Seed. Blackwell, 2005.
• The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction. Ed. John Clute and Peter Nicholls. John Frederick Clute (1940-) is a Canadian born author and critic who has lived in Britain since 1969 Peter Nicholls (1939-) is an Australian literary scholar and critic Second ed. Orbit, 1993.
• The Greenwood Encyclopedia of Science Fiction: Themes, Works, and Wonders. Ed. Gary Westfahl. Greenwood Press, 2005.

External links

• Bison Frontiers of Imagination
• Dover Publications