The History of Science Fiction: Beginnings

None of the few blogs I’ve written this year has dug into the history of science fiction.

Time to address that.

I’ll begin at the beginning.

To add some spice to this (by now) overly documented topic, I’m presenting science fiction as a ‘choose your own adventure’ (how quaint, James. Yes, thank you, James).

So, how did Science Fiction begin?

1. We’ve always had science fiction ever since the dawn of man.
2. Neigh, twas Shelly who invented the genre.
3. It was Poe…
4. …no, it was Verne…
5. …no, it was Wells.
6. Please — science fiction began in the 1920s when the term was first coined.

Skip to your answer.

1.) We’ve always had science fiction.

Many scholars argue this and try to make a case study for the genre’s early history, tracing back to classics like Lucian’s A True Story (2nd century A.D.)

Why — If you take this genre reading, you’re looking more at archetypal themes and settings than science. A True History involves a trip to the moon, via birds instead of rockets. So, because it features space or the ‘heavens’, as they were understood, it could be seen as early planetary exploration.

It’s also argued that these early stories did use as much science as was available to anyone at the time. So in that sense, they are science fiction, as they explore the realm of possibilities.

More than this, though, these early works were all political and often satirical commentaries on government and authority. The early canon includes works such as Plato’s Republic (375 BC) and Thomas Moore’s Utopia (1516). A comprehensive history can be grouped in a discussion on SF because of their common purpose — using a remote time, place or nonexistent location to critique political ideas. This spirit has undoubtedly been transferred over to SF, a genre that frequently focuses on the uses of technology and the potential it has to change human society and lives, for better or worse. SF rarely discusses the inner workings of the technology itself — if it could, it’d cease to be fictional. Instead, it is a critique of technology.

I struggle with this cannon because these works are pre-Enlightenment, before the scientific mode of thought and reasoning were brought to fruition. Indeed, humankind invented, innovated and improved, but often in a haphazardly, surrounded by many superstition. Scientific sensibilities just weren’t present enough to have been of profound interest to authors of fictional works, in the same way, it’s now hard to escape that technology question in our post-enlightenment world.

2.) Twas Shelly that penned the first SF.

In 1818 Shelly published Frankenstein, arguably the first novel, particularly of the gothic genre, to accredit science as a creation method. So, unlike other monstrous themes, such as The Vampyre (1919) (which was the other famous work to come out of the Shelly/Byron/Polidori writing contest of 1815), supernatural means are not used to bring Shelly’s ‘evil’ creature to life.

Shelly had seen while travelling through Switzerland, examples of the work of Alessandro Volta*, who practised the science of galvanism, the generation of electrical current via a chemical reaction. To demonstrate his process, he would use inert tissue of dead animals, namely frogs, and run electricity through them, causing muscle spasms. This movement seemed to suggest electricity was the spark of life — and so, in the mind of Shelly, it became how her creator, Victor Frankenstein, would bring the dead to life.

The novel is pretty political in nature, evolving around philosophical themes of being, good and evil and anti-capitalism. Invoking Plato and inspiring Nietzsche, this complex work is one of the earliest to comment on how science may backfire, giving us the very model an experiment gone wrong and a mad scientist in one stroke. Many would copy this same formula, without the nuances, for its fairly early shock in the early years of science fiction publishing.

Shelly is also known for publishing The Last Man (1826), which describes a plague that would decimate the human race. Another early example of what would become a typical troupe, with variations (whether decease, war or invasion) the novel makes little comment on the causes behind the plague but is more adventure narrative. Still, it observes a possible event within the observable universe, so it’s at least SF in that sense.

3.) It was Poe.

Edgar Allan Poe also enters the race because of two early stories which rely heavily on the science of the day — The Unparalleled Adventure of One Hans Pfaall (1835) and The Balloon Hoax (1844). before Poe authors generally attributed rather romanticised and somewhat impractical means to achieve interplanetary flight. William Godwin’s The Man in the Moone (1638) and Cyrano de Bergerac’s A Voyage to the Moon are cases in point. Flying to the moon is achieved by harnessing birds to a chair and capturing dew drops, which rise in the early morning air. Not particularly scientific.

While Poe wasn’t an advocate of science, with the usual concern of the Romantics around technology and progression, his stories (written partly as hoaxes) do utilise scientific means. The ‘ether’ of space, being misunderstood as simply airless open space, requires Hans Pfall to wear a device to compress air, allowing him to breathe in a vacuum. The moon and Earth receive significant, albeit inaccurate, descriptions in the observatory tone of a scientific investigator.

Unlike Shelley, we see more of the scientific process at work in the description of the device, exiting the discussion of the soul. I still believe Shelley was first, although Poe tamed space for later authors with the first mechanical device for going and navigating the globe. The Balloon Hoax may even fall short for some, as it simply imagines improved versions of already existing modes of transport (as Rudyard Kippling would do some 56 years later in The Night Mail).

Poe wrote adventure novels in these two works, which is essentially what Verne did.

4.) Nah, twas Jules Verne.

If either Poe or Frankenstein didn’t convince you then perhaps Jules Verne is your lad.

Verne was known for writing adventure extraordinaries — stories in which men (and occasionally boyish women) risked their lives to explore areas of the globe untouched by (civilised) man. While most of his stories involved nothing more scientifically impressive than a compass, a few have been labelled science fiction because of their technical, scientific nature.

From the Earth to the Moon (1865) and Around the Moon (1869) follow the Baltimore Gun Club. Following the ‘tragic’ end to the American Civil War, they attempt to amuse themselves by building the most considerable canon in history. Like all of Verne’s stories, meticulous attention is given to describing the construction of the rocket its launch into space, and the subsequent terrain explored. Unlike Poe, Verne’s moon is lifeless (although Poe undoubtedly used the craters on the moon in his suggestion of volcanic activity).

Verne is therefore responsible for some of the first scientific ‘truths’ that would later pass from fiction to fact. Describing an airtight rocket, launched just miles from the actual Kennedy Space Centre site, the novels refuse to depart into fantasy. While Verne made some oversights on the vacuum of space and the eventual power of fuelled rockets (which were used only as guidance thrusters for approaching the moon’s surface), he can hardly be faulted. At the hard end of the scale, science fiction creates stories about the observable universe based on what we know currently to be true. Verne’s novels are the first to comment on science as the primary objective, with the political aspirations of characters forming an important contextual backdrop.

Verne’s 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (1872) and Voyage to the Centre of the Earth (1871) also invoke science, although the latter is far more imaginative, perhaps due because the Earth’s interior, even today, remains so largely unexplored. Primarily though, both involve scientists who complete observation and categorisation. However, with 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, the species are previously identified (minus the genus of giant squid), and it is the submarine itself that is the scientific curiosity.

5.) What about Wells?

Wells is often quoted as the father of modern science fiction, changing the conversation to include a social critique. The influence of this can be felt in his tremendous contribution to the field, which includes; The Time Machine (1895), The Island of Doctor Moreau (1896), The Invisible Man (1897), The War of the Worlds (1898), When the Sleeper Wakes (1899), The First Men in the Moon (1901), The Food of the Gods and How it Came to Earth (1904), A Modern Utopia (1905), In the Days of the Comet (1906), The War in the Air (1908), The World Set Free (1914), Men Like Gods (1923), The Shape of Things to Come (1933) and Star Begotten (1937).

Yet, as discussed above, politically inspired future landscapes are hardly a unique selling point by Wells’ age. Wells’ contribution is perhaps in the degree to which he elevated the social question of society, charging socialism and anti-capitalist sentiments (which were present in Verne) to their most fully realised potential within the emerging genre. War of the Worlds, as a case in point, reverses the conversation on colonialism, with the human race invaded by a superior alien life form in the manner of the English invasion of Tasmania in the early 1800s. Disease, which wiped out the real-life natives, is humanity’s saving grace, in an ironic twist of fate. Still, the superiority of the human race is forever undermined, with the novel taking place most notably on English soil, with the world’s capital London being a principal symbol of destruction.**

The First Men in the Moon and The Time Machine are further crippling indictments on our society. In voyaging to the moon Wells describes a level of society under communism which almost seems to mock our own limitations as a functioning animal, physical unable to perform the transformations necessary to be a content creature within a functioning social order. In traveling to the future Wells comments on the division of labour under the class system, which literally results in two divergent species, one unable to govern itself through complete apathy once completing the subjugation of the world’s people and ecosystem. The competing species, born from the labouring class, have become the more resourceful, literally feeding off the more apathetic species.

A complete discussion of Wells would take far too long. He introduced an incredible variety of themes into modern SF, including time travel, invisibility, alien invasion and other variants of existing forms, which gained a distinct Wellsian tinge. His contribution to the field is in diverting its direction, perhaps, laying a framework for later readers of SF. But it had to go through more variations first — science fiction still wasn’t ‘born’.

6.) Science fiction began in the 1920’s.

Up until the late 20’s, science fiction didn’t even have an agreed term. Verne and Wells wrote novels of adventure, sometimes referred to as scientific romances, although little distinction was given between Verne’s adventures.

The distinction belongs to the efforts of one eccentric man, Hugo Gernsback. An inventor/editor/entrepreneur, Gernsback moved from Luxemberg to the United States in 1904, to pursue his interests. In amongst his investigation work he founded a number of magazines which discussed modern developments in science, including Modern Electrics (1908) and The Electrical Experimenter (1903, later Science and Invention in 1920). Mainly composed of articles, the later began to include short stories, mainly around characters discussing ‘inventions of tomorrow’. The purpose of this was really to lend excitement to appliances which would become, at least hopefully, normal, everyday items.

The concept was not entirely novel — authors such as Edward Bellamy in Looking Backward: 200–1887 (1888) made observations in his novel on certain unique additions to the household of the future. Again, however, these early turn of the century novels tended to focus on critiquing society, by having the protagonist wake up in a distant future time and meet individuals who describe the complex inner workings of their society. These novels are paramount to political essay in fictional form, rather like Plato’s Republic. Some, however, revelled in the excitement of the times by describing a wide spread of technology and faster travel, as in Julius Vogel’s Anno Domini 2000, or, Woman’s Destiny (1889), a social commentary on women’s rights in the distant year 2000.

Gernsback attempted an early modeling of his ideal tale of science in 1911, titled Ralph 2412C+, which involved an almighty scientist who, through a series of misadventures, is forced to respond through the application of science. This would form the model of his ideal story of science, which he tried to promote in 1926, beginning a magazine devoted solely to the topic; Amazing Stories. The magazine began with the works of Poe, Wells and Verne, as advertised on its front cover, but focused on the science hinted at in each of the stories.

Looking at the artwork displayed, and the blurbs introducing each tale, it was clear Gernsback desired that science, its wonders and resolution, should form the nexus of each story, completely ignoring the political or social commentary in each.

These tales of scientification soon caught on though, with early contributions from the likes of Jack Williamson, Edgar Rice Burroughs, A. E. Doc Smith and Paul S. Newman, creator of Buck Rogers. These early works performed all the trappings of science fiction, although the science was often tenuous at best, solving each and every problem encountered, without fail. Action was the main purpose of these works, and science was used to facilitate it.

Yet, the belief in science itself as a solver of problems clearly indicated a new field, separate from fantasy. While fantasy occurs in a world outside of human understanding, with events in which humans are often powerless to prevent, science fiction shows forces we can comprehend and control, if barely.*** Authors were commenting on science — the understanding, harnessing and exploration of forces and events within our observable universe. Science had become the clear nexus of the conversation, even if it was heavily diluted by adventure and ‘bad’ scientific understandings, from authors who wrote clumsily, reacting to ideas which the likes of Shelley and Wells had facilitated.

The next big intervention, which gives us modern science fiction and social commentary on an equal footing, is the publication of Astounding Magazine under John W. Campbell.

After Gernsback, many more magazines detailing science adventure sprung up, as well as tv serials, films and comic strips. The one to seriously innovate the genre, however, was Astounding Magazine, following the retirement of F. Orlin Tremaine. The young Campbell, given the reins of the ‘wobbly’ editorship, quickly established a standard for stories, the likes of which hadn’t been seen in any other SF magazine. Campbell also paid two cents to the quarter cent per word of other magazines, which helped motivate young, struggling writers.

Like Gernsback, Campbell focused heavily on science, but demanded that the stories ‘say something’. They had to be of interest and include real stakes, commenting seriously on the intervention of science on society.

With Campbell’s help, science fiction began to move past mere action enabled by science and became more heavily involved in societal critiques, going back almost to the purposes of the 19th century. However, this time science was clearly the topic of discussion.

Consider that, under Campbell, arose authors such as Isaac Asimov, one of the first authors to seriously discuss the development of robots and the operation of a scientifically engineered tool.**** Robert Heinlein also emerged during this period, writing complex works in which science is necessary to the function and economy of the future, despite its imperfection.

Which is the fluctuating story of modern science fiction. The 1970’s ‘new wave’ movement reacted against the hard set rules of the Campbellian school, writing abstract works in which science partakes, but has a much more fluid role, acting as social commentary without the need to be factual.***** The field continues to fluctuate between its Harlan Elison’s (who hated SF as a label) and its Kim Stanley Robinson’s, writing more conventional stories from a hard SF angle.

Both, however, respond to a genre that’s clearly set, playing off and altering it according to their creative and political designs.

Conclusion

These are the histories of science fiction, and in a loose way, their purposes. Depending on your views, anyone could be the starting point. As I may have made clear throughout my commentary, Shelley is the starting point regarding science, although early works retain the spirit of social and political commentary which would eventually be given equal footing in modern SF.

The reason — perhaps because by the 20th century science had become unavoidable. Our impact on the world, the power of our technologies and the complexity of the universe, at both the macro and micro levels, were never more realised.

Which, hopefully, means that in our present age, we can hope to see much more SF than ever before, as technology encroaches on us, our understanding of the universe and our individual freedoms — for better or worse.

*Volta himself was inspired to repeat the experiments of Luigi Galvani, performed in the 1790’s, which focused on the electric force of galvanism on inanimate tissue.

**Which would be revisited time and time again by authors throughout the latter half of the 19th century.

***Many stories would include the Pandora’s Box paradox, with our ‘unnatural’ curiosity and dissatisfaction, the forces which facilitate scientific invention, leading to our doom.

****Although Jack Williamson must be mentioned for With Folded Hands (1947) and the later Humanoid novels, which imaged robots not as evil but as fulfilling a distinct purpose — the protection of humankind, which leads to disastrous results.

******Although the Campbell of the 1960’s became heavily invested in Dianetics and psi abilities, which came to influence the field heavily.