The History of Science Fiction

Kellan H. Hogye. A brief essay on the origins and development of the genre of science-fiction writing.

Though it is impossible to pinpoint a date, or even an era, in which science fiction first emerged as a genre, certain benchmarks in literary history point to a gradual development of science fiction from a rare literary conceit to a full-fledged subculture.

Stories with technology at their center have existed as long as there have been writers. The Greek myth of Daedalus and Icarus involves the use of fantastical devices, which are pivotal to the main character's downfall (no pun intended). Jonathan Swift's 1726 work Gulliver's Travels could be considered to have elements of fantasy and science fiction, including traveling to lands with strange non-human or semi-human creatures and new social structures.

The first real flowering of literature that deals solely with mechanical technology, however, occurred in England in the late nineteenth century, appropriately during the peak of the Industrial Revolution. Well-known authors of the time include H.G. Wells (War of the Worlds, The Time Machine, The Invisible Man, and The Island of Dr. Moreau), Bram Stoker (Dracula), Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (The Lost World), Jules Verne (Journey to the Center of the Earth, Around the World in 80 Days), and Edgar Rice Burroughs (Tarzan of the Apes, The Land that Time Forgot). In some senses, Wells could be considered the father of modern science fiction, as his work focuses chiefly on mechanical and other scientific breakthroughs and their effects on society. He called his own works "scientific romances"; major motifs of his work include time travel, interplanetary travel, alien invasion, future war, and sinister biological experimentation. He lived during the period that influenced modern science fiction more than any other: from the mid-Victorian period to the beginning of the atomic age. Edgar Rice Burroughs wrote what would be today considered "science fantasy," as his works use imaginative scientific elements mainly for their capacity to induce wonder, rather than including science for its own sake. Other authors who wrote during this period, but who were not primarily known for science-fiction/fantasy-writing, include Mary Shelley (Frankenstein) and Mark Twain (A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court).

In the 1930s, science fiction writing began to emerge as a distinct literary genre with the publication of popular magazines devoted to the science-fiction style, a move that also dissociated the writing from "high" literature and earned it a somewhat derogatory designation as "popular fiction" or "pulp fiction." Both part of science fiction's popularity and part of its stigma are attributable to Hugo Gernsback, who serialized his painfully amateur novel Ralph 124C41+ in a magazine in 1911, then went on to publish Amazing Stories, the first magazine devoted entirely to science fiction. Though Gernsback is responsible for pairing science-fiction writing with sensationalism and a total lack of literary understanding, the Hugo Award, one of the top modern science-fiction awards, is named after him for his critical work in popularizing the genre.

From the Industrial Age through World War II, public attitudes toward technology had been growing increasingly ambivalent. The rapid invention of new machinery was cause for wonder and optimism as well as fear, as the new technology allowed cultures (particularly America) to become wealthier than ever, but brought about devastation such as the gas warfare of World War I and the extermination of Jews in the 1940s. In 1945, when the atomic bomb was dropped on Japan and the potential of nuclear power was realized, the public's awareness of technology's potential for great benefit and great harm reached a new height. Such a change proved a boon for science-fiction writers, as they took advantage of the chance to examine the complexities of technological change in their stories. The 1930s through the 1950s are considered the Golden Age of science fiction, as the era was dominated by the writings of Isaac Asimov, Robert A. Heinlein, Ray Bradbury, and L. Ron Hubbard (the later founder of the Church of Scientology). Pulp magazines dedicated to science fiction proliferated, and the increasing wealth and leisure time of Americans allowed for greater mass consumption of books. Through the 1960s, writers such as Arthur C. Clarke, George Orwell, Kurt Vonnegut, and Anthony Burgess joined the genre, capitalizing on the public ambivalence toward technology in the Nuclear Age. The 1960s also saw the advent of the science-fiction television and film phenomenon "Star Trek," as well as television series like "Lost in Space." It is not coincidental that such a public fascination coincided with the space race, landing a man on the moon.

Today, hardly any cranny of the science-fiction genre has been left untouched either in print or on the screen (the distinctions between which are continuing to blur), and the audience for such works is larger than ever. Science fiction has developed from dwelling entirely in the realm of cheap, mass-produced popular novels and magazines to spanning the spectrum from pulp to literary fiction. The most recent additions to the science fiction canon include Frank Herbert's Dune and George Lucas's Star Wars series. Science fiction themes even appear in today's genre-bending graphic novels. It is likely that, as humanity's technological capabilities increase exponentially, the potential for science fiction writing will be limited only by the scope of the universe itself.

Some details in this essay are derived from The History of Science Fiction: A Chronological Survey, by Agatha Taormina.