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A Brief Survey of Science Fiction Session 1: Definition and History

A Brief Survey of Science Fiction Session 1: Definition and History. Osher Lifelong Learning Institute Winter 2013 Dr . Agatha Taormina. Course Contents. Overview Definitions Brief survey of the field The Future The future on Earth The future in space Alien encounters.

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A Brief Survey of Science Fiction Session 1: Definition and History

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  1. A Brief Survey of Science FictionSession 1: Definition and History Osher Lifelong Learning Institute Winter 2013 Dr. Agatha Taormina

  2. Course Contents • Overview • Definitions • Brief survey of the field • The Future • The future on Earth • The future in space • Alien encounters

  3. Course Contents • Identity • Genetics • Artificial intelligence • Cyborgs • Reality • Perception • Virtual reality • Time travel • Parallel universes • Alternate history

  4. Session Overview • Definitions of terms • Major subgenres • Brief historical survey • Early science fiction • The Golden Age • Postwar science fiction • Contemporary science fiction • The New Wave • What to read

  5. The Nature of Genre • French for “kind” or “type” • Can be sorted by form and technique • Fiction • Nonfiction • Drama • Poetry • Can be sorted by subject matter • Romance • Mystery • Western • Science fiction • Fantasy

  6. Science Fiction vs.Fantasy • Harry Potter vs. Star Trek • Frankenstein vs. Dracula

  7. The Fantastic Fantasy Science Fiction Horror

  8. Fantasy Fantasy is a conscious breaking free from reality; it applies to a work that takes place in a non-existent and unreal world, a world that is imaginary, but not possible

  9. Science Fiction Science fiction relies on extrapolation, the process of imagining relatively probable worlds of the future by utilizing logical extensions of scientific and cultural curves and trends

  10. Key Concepts and Elements • Cognitive estrangement: a perception that what we understand to be true in the fiction is not a recognizable part of our environment or reality • Novum: a new thing, a device or discovery that does not exist in our world

  11. From A Handbook to Literature • Fantasy: "a work which takes place in a nonexistent and unreal world, such as fairyland, or concerns incredible and unreal characters. . . or employs physical and scientific principles not yet discovered or contrary to present experience as in science fiction and utopian fiction”

  12. From A Handbook to Literature • Science fiction :"A form of fantasy in which scientific facts, assumptions, or hypotheses form the basis, by logical extrapolation, of adventures in the future, on other planets, in other dimensions in time, or under new variants of scientific law”

  13. Brian Aldiss in Trillion Year Spree "[i]n its wider sense, fantasy clearly embraces all science fiction. But fantasy in a narrower sense, as opposed to science fiction, generally implies a fiction leaning more towards myth or the mythopoetic than towards an assumed realism" (26)

  14. Miriam Allen deFord "Science fiction deals with improbable possibilities, fantasy with plausible impossibilities.”

  15. Horror “The Sleep of Reason Breeds Monsters” —Francisco Goya, 1799

  16. The Nature of Horror • Genre • Attitude or approach to subject matter • By-product of mainstream literature as well as science fiction and fantasy

  17. Science Fiction vs. Horror • Science fiction accesses the rational conscious mind • Horror addresses the unconscious

  18. Horror Science Fiction • Monsters • Aliens • Mad scientists, e.g. Frankenstein

  19. Typical SciFi Subjects • Societal and cultural changes wrought by science and technology • Encounters with aliens or other worlds • Technological alterations in and substitutions for the self

  20. Thematic Concerns • Future as utopia or dystopia • Science as devil or savior • Desire for universal peace • Desire to unite against a common enemy • Impact on man of artificial intelligence • Concepts of religion, philosophy, morality, and ethics

  21. Subgenres of Science Fiction • A subgenre is a finer way to distinguish a type or form of a genre • Focus on stylistic rather than topic-oriented subgenres • Hard science fiction • Soft science fiction • Science fantasy • Cyberpunk • Steampunk

  22. Hard Science Fiction • So-called because it utilizes the hard sciences: • Physics • Biology • Chemistry • Astronomy • Geology

  23. Common Elements • High-tech iconology • Strong scientific component • Male-centered values • Often politically right-wing/conservative • Often militaristic • Faithfulness to the physical facts of the universe

  24. Soft Science Fiction • Utilizes the “soft” sciences: • Psychology • Sociology • Economics • Political science • Ecology • Anthropology • Linguistics • Gender studies

  25. Elements • Implied counterpoint to hard science fiction • Fiction of the "left," without gender bias • Tends toward non-violent problem-solving

  26. Science Fantasy • Hybrid or sub-genre • Uses the iconography of science fiction • Doesn’t bother to anchor the setting in any realistic extrapolation • Good example is Star Wars

  27. Cyberpunk Shares with postmodern fiction “a fascination with and knowledge of technology, an interest in its impact on contemporary culture, and a tendency to aesthetic experimentation and innovation. . .” (Telotte, Science Fiction Film 77) Example: Blade Runner

  28. Cyberpunk Asks: • Who or what is in charge in this new digital world? • How do we define life in a digital environment? • How is our own sense of self constructed by the culture we inhabit?

  29. Steampunk • Came to prominence in the 1980s and early 1990s; term is a play on cyberpunk • Refers to literature and film set in the Victorian Era (the age of steam) but utilizing futuristic or anachronistic gadgets and inventions • Often is set in an alternate reality • Example: The Wild Wild West

  30. A Brief Chronological Survey • Early science fiction: the 19th century • Early modern science fiction • The Golden Age • Post-War science fiction • Contemporary science fiction

  31. The 19th Century • Mary Shelley • Frankenstein • Jules Verne • Journey to the Center of the Earth • 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea • H. G. Wells • The Time Machine • The War of the Worlds • The Island of Doctor Moreau • The Invisible Man

  32. 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

  33. Early Modern Science Fiction • The early modern era, roughly the period just before World War II, can be categorized as adventure-dominant. • Amazing Stories, (1926), the first magazine devoted completely to science fiction • Included reprints of Jules Verne, Edgar Allan Poe, and H.G. Wells

  34. Hugo Gernsback (1884-1967) • Publisher of Modern Electronics, the world's first radio magazine • Wrote Ralph 124C41+: A Romance of the Year 2660 (1911), considered the first pure science fiction novel • Edited Amazing Stories until 1929

  35. The Father of Science Fiction • Coined the term "science fiction" when his own preferred term "scientifiction" was ignored. • Sponsored the SF League, an early fan organization • As testimony to his influence, the annual Hugo Awards voted by fans are named after Gernsback

  36. Stories Marked by: • Hugo Gernsback's focus on technology • Emphasis on planetary adventures and space opera • Edgar Rice Burroughs’ Barsoom series • E.E. “Doc” Smith’s Skylark of Space series

  37. The Golden Age: 1938-46 • Dominated by author and editor John W. Campbell, Jr. (1910-1971), an engineer who studied at MIT and Duke became editor of Astounding in 1937. • The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction declared that he was the dominant shaper of modern science fiction.

  38. Campbell’s Hierarchy • Campbell adhered to his own perception of a hierarchy of knowledge: • physics, chemistry, astronomy--sciences in which laws are mathematically verifiable; • biological sciences--disciplines which are in part descriptive or impure because they deal with living creatures; • social sciences such as anthropology, economics, political science, and experimental psychology; and finally • humanities such as theology, philosophy and clinical psychology

  39. Shaper of Content • Lots of aliens • Faith that space travel was possible • Belief that the universe was not essentially hostile to mankind • Belief that human action counted in the universe • Taboos against adult sexuality

  40. Discoverer of Talent • Isaac Asimov • Robert Heinlein • A.E. van Vogt • Theodore Sturgeon • Clifford D. Simak • Jack Williamson • Henry Kuttner and C. L. Moore

  41. Golden Age Highlights • Isaac Asimov’s laws of robotics • Robert E. Heinlein’s Future History series • “Deadline” by Cleve Cartmill (1944)

  42. Post War SF (1945-65) • Written in the shadow of nuclear war • Hardback short story anthologies began to appear

  43. Key Figures • Alfred Bester • James Blish • Ray Bradbury • Anthony Burgess • Arthur C. Clarke • Daniel Keyes • Damon Knight • Frederik Pohl and Cyril Kornbluth • Walter E. Miller • John Wyndham

  44. Criticism Emerges • Pilgrims Through Space and Time (1947) by J.O. Bailey • Damon Knight, first outstanding genre book-reviewer • James Blish writing as William Atheling

  45. Moving into the Mainstream • William Golding • Lord of the Flies (1955) • George Orwell • Animal Farm (1945) • 1984 (1949) • Nevil Shute • On the Beach (1957) • Kurt Vonnegut • Player Piano (1952) • Sirens of Titan (1959) • Cat's Cradle (1963) • Slaughterhouse-Five (1969)

  46. Contemporary Science Fiction • Dates from publication of Dune in 1963-4. • Elements • political intrigue in a future galaxy, • strange and mystical religious beliefs • the eco-system of the desert planet Arrakis.

  47. The New Wave • Michael Moorcock , editor of New Worlds in 1964 • Supposedly named by Judith Merril in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction in 1966 • Harlan Ellison, editor of the Dangerous Visions anthologies, chief prophet of the New Wave.

  48. Approach • An attempt to bring science fiction into the literary mainstream. • more attention to literary style and less to scientific accuracy. • Many New Wave authors write "soft" science fiction

  49. Common New Wave Themes • Gloom emanating from a shared conviction that things are getting worse, not better; • General distrust of both science and technology • Belief that mankind's intelligence is what got us into our current predicament and that it cannot extricate us • Perception that mankind is fatally flawed

  50. Continuing Trends • Shift in emphasis from physical to social sciences • Increasingly radical visions of society • Awareness of the darker side of science and technology • Investigations of gender, relationships, and the construction of identity • Convergence with the literary mainstream

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