In Anatomy of Criticism, Northrop Frye describes science fiction as "a mode of romance with a strong inherent tendency to myth" (49).

In Trillion Year Spree, Brian Aldiss identifies the Gothic novel Frankenstein by Mary Shelley as the first true work of science fiction.

Let's define these terms:

Romance is a form of narrative prose fiction that tells a story of events far removed from realistic and ordinary life

Romance utilizes elements of the fantastic such as:

• deeds of knights
• encounters with monsters and dragons
• the use of magic
  

Myth is an anonymous story with roots in primitive folk beliefs of races or nations.

Myth presents supernatural episodes as a means of interpreting natural events in an effort to make concrete and particular a special perception of man or a cosmic view.

Thus most cultures have, for example, a creation myth.

The Gothic is a subgenre of romance.

Gothic literature (the name is derived from the Goths, barbarian pagan tribes of medieval times) that suggests whatever is medieval, primitive, wild, free, and romantic.

Chief characteristics of the gothic are

• castles
• magic
• mystery
• chivalry

Generally, horror and ghosts abound.

A gothic novel is any novel (like some genre romantic fiction) that attempts to create the Gothic, medieval atmosphere of brooding and unknown terror.

In the Gothic mode the emphasis is on the distant and unearthly and on suspense.

Science fiction as we know it today has many progenitors in literature, all themselves aspects of the fantastic. These are stories of:

• mythical adventure
• voyages of discovery
• ideal societies (utopias)

But science fiction adds technological imagery to the fantastic.

Science fiction is generally considered to attempt an extrapolation into the future of known concepts of science and technology.

Science fiction embodies:

• a subject matter--science and technology
• a treatment--a sense of wonder, the idea of inquiry into the nature of Progress
• a purpose--speculation about the unknown