| 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, can be categorized as adventure dominant. The most popular stories were written in the fantasy mode of Edgar Rice Burroughs and or were stories influenced
by Hugo Gernsback's focus on technology. |
| • The Gernsback Era • Gernsback's Contemporaries • The Rise of the Pulps • |
|
| The Gernsback Era |
| Early Modern Science
Fiction (c. 1930-38) is dominated by Hugo Gernsback and the first pulp magazines. |
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 Allan Poe, and H.G. Wells. |
Gernsback coined the
term "science fiction" when
his own preferred term "scientifiction" 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.
|
|
| Gernsback's Contemporaries |
Gernsback's contemporaries include:
- Karel Capek
- a Czechoslovakian 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, author of Brave New World (1932), set in an altered society six centuries in the future.
- C. S. Lewis
- a scholar and essayist well known for his writings on Christianity, also
wrote the science fantasy 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)
- Olaf Stapledon
- 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
|
|
| The Rise of the Pulps |
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. |
