I now blog over at The Eyre Guide! This blog is an archive of my past posts.


Monday, August 4, 2014

The Refined Reader (20) The Origins of Science Fiction

Posted by Charlene // Tags: , ,

The Refined Reader aims to take a look at the journey to where we are as readers today.  It's part history, part commentary - providing a brief, conversational summary of various aspects of our bookish past and comparing it to how it has affected us in modern times.  I love history, but I am no historian, and while I plan to do my research, if there are any errors, please let me know!  This is as much a learning venture for me as I hope it is for my blog visitors!


After reading about science fiction as a genre, it seems much harder to define than I initially thought.  It is not as rigidly defined as other genres, so there can be a lot of overlap, especially in it's origins, with fantasy.  Fantasy is probably one of the earliest genres of storytelling we have, so that makes sense that science fiction is a kind of offshoot from that genre, where things that can only be speculated on is now more structured by natural laws and science.

Perhaps the first work of  true science fiction (at least it was regarded so by Issac Asimov and Carl Sagan) is Somnium (The Dream) by Johannes Kepler, noted astronomer and scientist of the 1600s.  In the story, the narrator (Kepler) talks about a dream he has had after reading a book about a magician.  In the dream a boy and his mother are transported by a demon to the moon and the story details how the Earth looks from the moon.  It at first started as a dissertation on the planetary motion of the Earth, and the framework of a dream and the fictional circumstances was added later.

Other earlier examples lie in some of the tales in the Arabian Nights and a 2nd century story titled True History by a Grecian writer known as Lucian of Samosata, which features the first story about interplanetary travel and aliens but was intended as a satire of stories that see myths as truth.

However it was in the early 19th century that science fiction as a genre really took form.  Beginning with Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, which is sometimes argued as the first true science fiction novel, and later with the works of H. G. Wells and Jules Verne, which helped to popularize the genre.  The inventions of new technologies also helped to reinvent the format and take it even further into the realm of rational and realistic speculation about the future.

Of course today, the genre is wildly successful in many formats and in many sub-genres.  And I have to mention that there is a wonderful blogger event going on in November - Sci Fi Month, which you can read more about by checking out this post!  I participated last year (but still have to decide if I can commit to it this year!) and had so much fun with it.

What are your favorite science fiction stories?  They can be novels or in any other format!

Sources:
Wikipedia / Wikipedia

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24 comments:

  1. I LOVE Jules Verne (and Philip K Dick) - have read a lot of books from these two :)

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  2. Whoops, I had better read Frankenstein, and quick! Science fiction has always been hard for me to define. It is often so intertwined with fantasy novels that I have a hard time separating the two.

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  3. It is a hard distinction as well I think between science fiction and science fantasy..I think I tend to like science fantasy the most!

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  4. I haven't read too much of either of those authors, and I need to change that! At least I want to watch the film Bladerunner!

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  5. Frankenstein didn't wow me, but I wonder if I would enjoy it more if I reread it and had this context to see it more as a forerunner of scifi. Yes, normally I think of science fiction very specifically, but it is interesting to think that it's origins really blended with fantasy much more than now.

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  6. Lately I've found I do prefer fantasy to scifi too - I think it's more far-fetched/imaginative and escapist sometimes and that appeals more to me.

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  7. I hadn't heard of Somnium - sounds interesting though! Honestly I much prefer science fiction on screen than in print which reflects more on me than the material I'm sure. I struggle with hard science and science fantasy is much more my sort of thing.

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  8. Thanks for mentioning the Sci-Fi month! I checked it out and it sounds a lot of fun, I think I'll be joining this year!
    And interesting post! It's fun to read about the history of sci-fi, especially as this is something I normally don't think about. I recently am reading more and more sci-fi books one of ym favourite sci-fi series is the Nogiku series by SJ Pajonas it's one of those books that changed my opinion of sci-fi and made me more open to the genre.

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  9. This post is amazing and very informative! I've read Frankenstein and some HG Wells stories, but other than that, I haven't read much science fiction. I need to remedy that! I never knew about this Somnium and I'll have to look it up. Lovely post!

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  10. I always mix up fantasy and sci-fi. Like for example the Lunar Chronicles I always thing of as fantasy but it is more Sci-Fi. Speaking of Sci-Fi month... I am going to do a post for it this year and hope it is a good one. I saw so many great posts last year and they were so informative! I am going to work really hard on it. LOL!

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  11. I love that Somnium started off as a thesis - how interesting to think something so analytical can turn into a fictional story. Although I haven't read it yet, so maybe the story is pretty dry! :) Since I like fantasy in books more than scifi, yet my current two top shows are scifi, I can see your point. Perhaps seeing space exploration and new technology, and all the possibilities are more attractive than reading about them.

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  12. I'm so glad that you found out about Sci-Fi month through this post! I hope you will participate, I will enjoy reading the posts! And it's great that you are getting more into sci-fi too - it would be great to explore that for Scifi month. I haven't heard of the Nogiku series though, I need to check it out.

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  13. Thank you Courtney! I need to read Somnium too - I hope it is a quick and interesting read, I am afraid it will be technical or dry!

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  14. Lunar Chronicles is an interesting example - it definitely has fantasy elements, although with all the technological details, I see it more as sci-fi. (So I think it would totally apply if you post about it during Scifi month. :D) But I do like that genres cross over and blur the lines - it makes the stories more interesting to see things in different settings!

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  15. Despite the fact that I love fantasy I have (perhaps stubbornly) disliked sci-fi. Although after thinking about it and reading the comments above about The Lunar Chronicles realize I've most likely been enjoying science fiction all along. Interesting post, it is certainly food for thought.

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  16. Wonderful post, Charlene! I have read very few sci-fi novels, but I want to read more and learning a bit about the history and beginnings of it was really interesting for me. I currently have The Time Machine (H.G. Wells) on my bookshelf to be read, but I fear I won't get to it until my christmas summer holiday break, even though it's so small. My favourite Sci-Fi novel would have to be The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galexy by Douglas Adams. It's wonderful and hilarious.

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  17. Definitely! It does seem like it can be hard to pinpoint origins with some genres (like fantasy) but it's great that sci-fi is much more clear cut, and we can see how it has evolved.

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  18. Oh that's fantastic if you come to appreciate sci-fi more. I do find hard scifi a little hard to get into sometimes, so I can see your pov, but definitely there are many other aspects to it, and something like the Lunar Chronicles does a great job of making the whole genre more accessible.

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  19. I really enjoyed The Time Machine, but if your favorite scifi novel is The Hitchhiker's Guide -well nothing tops that! It's my favorite too! :D

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  20. My favorite sci-fi author is Ursula K. LeGuin. So thoughtful and poetic. I also used to love The Martian Chronicles by Ray Bradbury -- I should reread it to see how it holds up.

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  21. I love early science fiction :) I'm currently reading Journey to the Center of the Earth. Jules Verne is such a wonderful, imaginative storyteller.

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  22. I've been meaning to read some LeGuin! A friend recommended Left Hand of Darkness to me some time ago. And Ray Bradbury is an amazing sci-fi writer!

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  23. I haven't read as much Jules Verne as I should, but I enjoyed the book I did read! You can probably visit his house over there in France and that makes it extra cool to read his works! :)

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  24. Oh yeah, some people in my class actually had an oral on this (mine was on the fantastic genre.) It's really interesting how it first started and grew up being one very popular genre. ^^

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