A History of Science Fiction:
Early Modern Science Fiction
Early Modern Science Fiction (c. 1930-38): dominated by Hugo
Gernsback and the first pulp magazines
* Hugo Gernsback
* Contemporaries of Gernsback
Early Modern Science Fiction
Isaac Asimov divided the history of modern science fiction,
i.e., works written after 1926, into four types of stories
* 1926-38--adventure dominant
* 1938-50--science dominant
* 1950-65--sociology dominant
* 1966-present--style dominant
The early modern era, roughly the period just before World
War II, is dominated by stories in the fantasy mode of Edgar
Rice Burroughs and stories influenced by Hugo Gernsback's focus
on technology
Hugo Gernsback
In some respects Hugo Gernsback (1884-1967) can be called
the Father of Science Fiction
Born in Luxembourg where he received a technical education,
Gernsback
emigrated to the United States in 1904.
He was the publisher of Modern Electronics, the world's
first radio magazine.
In 1911 he serialized his own novel, Ralph 124C41+: A Romance
of the Year 2660, a gadget tale very badly written.
Ralph 124C41+ is considered the first pure science fiction
novel.
The novel met with great success so Gernsback continued to
publish science fiction in his magazine.
In April, 1926, Gernsback launched Amazing Stories, the
first magazine devoted completely to science fiction.
He maintained control for 37 issues, until 1929.
The magazine reprinted Jules Verne, Edgar Allen Poe, and H.G.
Wells.
Gernsback coined the term "science fiction" when his own
preferred term "scientification" was ignored.
He sponsored the SF League, one of the first fan
organizations.
As testimony to his influence, the annual Hugo Awards voted
by fans are named after Gernsback.
Though Gernsback laid great emphasis on the need for
scientific accuracy in his stories, his limitations were to
haunt science fiction for years to come.
* as an editor he lacked any literary understanding;
* he was interested only in technical marvels and gimmicks;
* he introduced a deadening literalism into fiction that
often read like a diagram
Contemporaries of Gernsback include:
E.E. "Doc" Smith
"Doc" Smith (1890-1965) was the father of the space
opera--cops and robbers or cowboys and Indians in space.
Key publications include:
* Skylark of Space (1928) in Argosy
* the Gray Lensman series
Karl Capek
Karel Capek, a Czechoslovakian, is most noted as the author
of R.U.R. (Rossum's Universal Robots) (1920), a play which
introduced the word "robot," a Czech word for "work," into the
English language.
His other notable work is the novel War With the Newts
(1936).
Aldous Huxley
Huxley (1894-1963) wrote Brave New World (1932), set in an
altered society six centuries in the future.
C.S. Lewis
C.S. Lewis (1898-1963), a scholar and essayist well known
for his writings on Christianity, also wrote the Perelandra
trilogy which asks whether Christ died for aliens as well as
humans.
* Out of the Silent Planet (1938)
* Perelandra (1943)
* That Hideous Strength (1945)
A series of novels for children, The Chronicles of Narnia,
begun with The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (1950), are
Christian allegory as juvenile fantasy.
Olaf Stapledon
Stapledon (1886-1950) turned scientific concepts into vast
epic prose poems. Key works include:
* Last and First Men: A Story of the Near and Far Future
(1930)
* Starmaker (1937), his masterpiece
* Odd John (1935), a more accessible superman tale
James Hilton
Hilton (1909-84) wrote Lost Horizon (1933), about the
mythical land of Shangri-la.
As the decade of the 1930s progressed, there came the
establishment of magazines that specialized in science
fiction.
This specialization created a science fiction ghetto with
a core of uncritical readers (i.e., geeks) willing to accept
Gernsbackian tales with leaden prose and more science than
character
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