A History of Science Fiction:
the Golden Age
The Golden Age (c. 1938-46): dominated by editor John W.
Campbell and his stable of writers.
* John W. Campbell
* Campbell's Stable of Writers
o Robert A. Heinlein
o Isaac Asimov
o Others
The Golden Age of Astounding
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
In January 1930, the first issue of Astounding was
published.
With the advent of this magazine more analytical stories
began to appear.
The Golden Age itself dates roughly from the summer of 1939
with the publication of the July issue of Astounding to the end
of 1950 when other magazines such as Galaxy and the Magazine
of Fantasy and Science Fiction began to appear.
John W. Campbell
Author and editor John W. Campbell (1910-1971), educated as
an engineer at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and
Duke University, essentially shaped the Golden Age of Science
Fiction.
Campbell became editor of Astounding in 1938 when he was 27
years old. Here is where he inaugurated the Golden Age of
Science Fiction.
Campbell perceived of and adhered to a hierarchy of
knowledge
1. Physics, chemistry, astronomy--sciences in which laws
are mathematically verifiable
2. Biological sciences--disciplines which are in part
descriptive or impure because they deal with living creatures
3. Social sciences such as anthropology, economics,
political science, and experimental psychology
4. Humanities such as theology, philosophy and clinical
psychology
Campbell was one of the field's true intellectuals.
Under Campbell Astounding not only had lots of aliens; it
also had faith that space travel was possible.
Campbell believed that the universe was not essentially
hostile to mankind and that human action and decisions counted
in the universe.
These beliefs were reflected in the fiction he chose to
publish.
He maintained a taboo against adult sexuality in his
publications.
He could also be xenophobix, elitist, racist, and
psychologically naive.
As a author Campbell wrote mainly space opera.
Under the pseudonym Don A. Stuart he wrote more meditatitve
Wellsian fiction such as "Twilight" and "Who Goes There?," a
seminal story that was the basis for the film The Thing and its
remake.
In 1944 Campbell published "Deadline" by Cleve Cartmill,
dealing with the explosion of an atomic bomb.
When investigated by the FBI, Campbell argued that all the
factual information in the story was available in pre-war
unclassified sources and that since Astounding had been
publishing atomic war stories all along, the Germans would get
suspicious if he suddenly stopped.
Werner von Braun, mastermind of the German rocket program,
arranged to continue to receive Astounding throughout the war.
Campbell's Stable of Writers
Campbell encouraged and trained some of science fiction's
strongest genre writers.
He maintained a stable of writers with whom he worked and
to whom he pitched story ideas and made suggestions for
long-term projects.
Robert A. Heinlein
Heinlein (1907-88) was a right wing anarchist and
libertarian.
He demonstrated the way to incorporate scientific and
cultural information efficiently and unobtrusively into the
development of plot and characters.
Key stories include:
* "Life-Line" (August, 1939)
* "If This Goes On" (1940)
* "The Roads Must Roll"
* "All You Zombies"
A prolific author, Heinlein wrote a series of well received
juvenile novels, and eventually invented a Future History
series and set his stories in this universe.
Heinlein's juveniles include:
* Podkayne of Mars
* Citizen of the Galaxy (1957)
A graduate of the Naval Academy discharged from the service
for health reasons, Heinlein was a conservative who developed
a strong interest in free sex in the latter half of his career.
Key adult novels include:
* Starship Troopers (1959), a right-wing, but extremely
influential future war novel
* Methusaleh's Children (1958) which introduces the Howard
Family and their most long-lived member, Lazarus Long
* The Moon is a Harsh Mistress (1966), winner of the Hugo
* Stranger in a Strange Land (1961), his breakthrough novel
and an underground classic; winner of the Hugo
From this point on, though increasingly popular, Heinlein's
work deteriorates:
* I Will Fear No Evil (1970)
* Time Enough for Love (19--), more adventures of Lazarus
Long
* The Number of the Beast (1980)
* Friday (1982)
* Job, A Comedy of Justice (1984)
Heinlein's earlier novels are his best. I think he stopped
being an entertaining and interesting writer about halfway
through Stranger in a Strange Land.
Isaac Asimov
Asimov (1920-92) began writing science fiction while still
a teenager. Incredibly prolific, he was a non-stop writer who
wrote over 500 books in his lifetime.
Key works include:
* "Nightfall," written at Campbell's suggestions and often
voted the best science fiction story of all time
* the Robot stories, beginning with "Robbie," (originally
published as "Strange Playfellow") "Reason," and "Runaround,"
which formally introduced Asimov's positronic robots and the
Three Laws of Robotics that were probably a collaboration
between Asimov and Campbell.
* the Foundation series (1942-50), inspired by Campbell who
asked Asimov for an open-ended serial.
Asimov wrote a series of juvenile novels featuring a
character names Lucky Starr.
Asimov's first two robot novels, are also interesting for
being murder mysteries:
* The Caves of Steel (1954)
* The Naked Sun (1957)
My favorite novel from this period is a time travel tale:
The End of Eternity (1955).
After a lengthy hiatus from science fiction during which he
wrote numerous popular non-fiction books on topics ranging from
the hard sciences to the Bible, Asimov returned to the field
with the publication of The Gods Themselves (1973), his most
scientifically-oriented novel and the winner of both the Hugo
and the Nebula.
He then began to write a series of sequels to his Foundation
and Robot series and eventually attempted to tie the two
storylines together:
* Foundation's Edge (1982), winner of the Hugo
* The Robots of Dawn (1983)
* Robots and Empire (1985)
* Foundation and Earth (1986)
* Prelude to Foundation (1988)
* Forward the Foundation (1992)
Others, most notably Gregory Benford, continue to publish
stories set in the universe of the Foundation.
Theordore Sturgeon
Key Works
* "Microcosmic God"
"Killdozer!," the basis for Steven Spielberg's first
feature, a made-for-television movie called Duel
* "Thunder and Roses"
* "And Baby is Three," expanded and novelized as More Than
Human (1953)
A.E. van Vogt
Key Works
* Slan (1940), told from the point of view of the Superman
* "The Weapon Shops of Isher" (1941)
* The World of Null-A (1945), the first novel for the science
fiction magazines to be published later in hardcover (by Simon
and Shuster in 1948)
L. Ron Hubbard
later the founder of the Church of Scientology
L. Sprague de Camp and Fletcher Pratt
published in Astounding's companion magazine Unknown
Key Work: "The Roaring Trumpet" and "The Mathematics of
Magic," a pair of comic short novels later gathered as The
Incomplete Enchanter (1941)
Lewis Padgett
Padgett is the pseudonym of Henry Kuttner and Catherine L.
Moore.
Their stories are characterized by the intrusion of strange
alien or alternative environments on everyday Earth
Their most famous work is "Mimsy Were the Borogoves" (1943)
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