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==History== ==History==
:''[[History of science fiction]]'' :''[[History of science fiction]]''
-As a means of understanding the world through speculation and storytelling, science fiction has antecedents back to mythology, though precursors to science fiction as literature can be seen in [[Lucian]]'s ''[[True History]]'' in the 2nd century,<ref name="colonizing"/><ref name="depauw"/><ref name="depauw1"/><ref name="brill"/><ref name="encyclopedia"/> some of the ''[[One Thousand and One Nights|Arabian Nights]]'' tales,<ref name="The Arabian Nights: A Companion"/><ref name=Richardson/> ''[[The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter]]'' in the 10th century<ref name="Richardson"/> and [[Ibn al-Nafis]]' ''[[Theologus Autodidactus]]'' in the 13th century.<ref name="Roubi"/>+As a means of understanding the world through speculation and storytelling, science fiction has antecedents back to mythology, though precursors to science fiction as literature can be seen in [[Lucian]]'s ''[[True History]]'' in the 2nd century, some of the ''[[One Thousand and One Nights|Arabian Nights]]'' tales, ''[[The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter]]'' in the 10th century and [[Ibn al-Nafis]]' ''[[Theologus Autodidactus]]'' in the 13th century.
-A product of the budding [[Age of Reason]] and the development of modern [[science]] itself, [[Jonathan Swift]]'s ''[[Gulliver's Travels]]''<ref name="britannica cites"/> was one of the first true science fantasy works, together with [[Voltaire]]'s ''[[Micromégas]]'' (1752) and [[Johannes Kepler]]'s ''[[Somnium (Kepler)|Somnium]]'' (1620–1630).<ref name="The Harmony of the Worlds"/> [[Isaac Asimov]] and [[Carl Sagan]] consider the latter work the first science fiction story.<ref name="Carl Sagan on Johannes Kepler's persecution"/><ref name="Beginning and End"/> It depicts a journey to the Moon and how the Earth's motion is seen from there. Another example is [[Ludvig Holberg]]'s novel ''Nicolai Klimii iter subterraneum'', 1741. (Translated to Danish by Hans Hagerup in 1742 as Niels Klims underjordiske Rejse.) (Eng. [[Niels Klim's Underground Travels]].) [[Brian Aldiss]] has argued that Mary Shelley's ''[[Frankenstein]]'' (1818) was the first work of science fiction.<ref name="Billion Year Spree: The History of Science Fiction (1973) Revised and expanded as Trillion Year Spree (with David Wingrove)(1986)" />+A product of the budding [[Age of Reason]] and the development of modern [[science]] itself, [[Jonathan Swift]]'s ''[[Gulliver's Travels]]'' was one of the first true science fantasy works, together with [[Voltaire]]'s ''[[Micromégas]]'' (1752) and [[Johannes Kepler]]'s ''[[Somnium (Kepler)|Somnium]]'' (1620–1630). [[Isaac Asimov]] and [[Carl Sagan]] consider the latter work the first science fiction story. It depicts a journey to the Moon and how the Earth's motion is seen from there. Another example is [[Ludvig Holberg]]'s novel ''Nicolai Klimii iter subterraneum'', 1741. (Translated to Danish by Hans Hagerup in 1742 as Niels Klims underjordiske Rejse.) (Eng. [[Niels Klim's Underground Travels]].) [[Brian Aldiss]] has argued that Mary Shelley's ''[[Frankenstein]]'' (1818) was the first work of science fiction.
-Following the 18th-century development of the [[novel]] as a literary form, in the early 19th century, [[Mary Shelley]]'s books ''[[Frankenstein]]'' and ''[[The Last Man]]'' helped define the form of the science fiction novel;<ref name="shelley"/> later [[Edgar Allan Poe]] wrote a story about a flight to the moon.<ref name="poe moon"/> More examples appeared throughout the 19th century.+Following the 18th-century development of the [[novel]] as a literary form, in the early 19th century, [[Mary Shelley]]'s books ''[[Frankenstein]]'' and ''[[The Last Man]]'' helped define the form of the science fiction novel; later [[Edgar Allan Poe]] wrote a story about a flight to the moon. More examples appeared throughout the 19th century.
-[[File:H G Wells pre 1922.jpg|thumb|left|150px|alt=Black-and-white photo of a man with bushy black moustache and black hair with parting.|[[H. G. Wells]]]]+ 
-Then with the dawn of new technologies such as [[electricity]], the [[telegraph]], and new forms of powered transportation, writers including [[Jules Verne]] and [[H. G. Wells]] created a body of work that became popular across broad cross-sections of society.<ref name="verne wells"/> Wells' ''[[The War of the Worlds]]'' (1898) describes an invasion of late Victorian England by Martians using tripod fighting machines equipped with advanced weaponry. It is a seminal depiction of an [[alien invasion]] of Earth.+Then with the dawn of new technologies such as [[electricity]], the [[telegraph]], and new forms of powered transportation, writers including [[Jules Verne]] and [[H. G. Wells]] created a body of work that became popular across broad cross-sections of society. Wells' ''[[The War of the Worlds]]'' (1898) describes an invasion of late Victorian England by Martians using tripod fighting machines equipped with advanced weaponry. It is a seminal depiction of an [[alien invasion]] of Earth.
In the late 19th century, the term "[[scientific romance]]" was used in Britain to describe much of this fiction. This produced additional offshoots, such as the 1884 novella ''[[Flatland]]: A Romance of Many Dimensions'' by [[Edwin Abbott Abbott]]. The term would continue to be used into the early 20th century for writers such as [[Olaf Stapledon]]. In the late 19th century, the term "[[scientific romance]]" was used in Britain to describe much of this fiction. This produced additional offshoots, such as the 1884 novella ''[[Flatland]]: A Romance of Many Dimensions'' by [[Edwin Abbott Abbott]]. The term would continue to be used into the early 20th century for writers such as [[Olaf Stapledon]].
[[File:Jules Verne.jpg|thumb|150px|alt=Black-and-white photo of man in formal dress with unkempt hair, moustache and beard.|[[Jules Verne]]]] [[File:Jules Verne.jpg|thumb|150px|alt=Black-and-white photo of man in formal dress with unkempt hair, moustache and beard.|[[Jules Verne]]]]
-In the early 20th century, [[pulp magazine]]s helped develop a new generation of mainly American SF writers, influenced by [[Hugo Gernsback]], the founder of ''[[Amazing Stories]]'' magazine.<ref name="sf history nvcc"/> In 1912 [[Edgar Rice Burroughs]] published ''[[A Princess of Mars]]'', the first of his three-decade-long series of [[Barsoom]] novels, situated on Mars and featuring [[John Carter of Mars|John Carter]] as the hero. The 1928 publication of Philip Nolan's original [[Buck Rogers]] story, ''Armageddon 2419'', in ''Amazing Stories'' was a landmark event. This story led to comic strips featuring Buck Rogers (1929), [[Brick Bradford]] (1933), and [[Flash Gordon]] (1934). The comic strips and derivative movie serials greatly popularized science fiction. In the late 1930s, [[John W. Campbell]] became editor of ''[[Astounding Science Fiction]]'', and a critical mass of new writers emerged in New York City in a group called the [[Futurians]], including [[Isaac Asimov]], [[Damon Knight]], [[Donald A. Wollheim]], [[Frederik Pohl]], [[James Blish]], [[Judith Merril]], and others.<ref name="futurians"/> Other important writers during this period and later, include [[E.E. Smith|E.E. (Doc) Smith]], [[Robert A. Heinlein]], [[Arthur C. Clarke]], [[Olaf Stapledon]], [[A. E. van Vogt]], [[Ray Bradbury]] and [[Stanisław Lem]]. Campbell's tenure at ''Astounding'' is considered to be the beginning of the [[Golden Age of science fiction]], characterized by hard SF stories celebrating scientific achievement and progress.<ref name="sf history nvcc" /> This lasted until postwar technological advances, new magazines such as ''[[Galaxy (magazine)|Galaxy]]'' under Pohl as editor, and a new generation of writers began writing stories outside the Campbell mode.+In the early 20th century, [[pulp magazine]]s helped develop a new generation of mainly American SF writers, influenced by [[Hugo Gernsback]], the founder of ''[[Amazing Stories]]'' magazine. In 1912 [[Edgar Rice Burroughs]] published ''[[A Princess of Mars]]'', the first of his three-decade-long series of [[Barsoom]] novels, situated on Mars and featuring [[John Carter of Mars|John Carter]] as the hero. The 1928 publication of Philip Nolan's original [[Buck Rogers]] story, ''Armageddon 2419'', in ''Amazing Stories'' was a landmark event. This story led to comic strips featuring Buck Rogers (1929), [[Brick Bradford]] (1933), and [[Flash Gordon]] (1934). The comic strips and derivative movie serials greatly popularized science fiction. In the late 1930s, [[John W. Campbell]] became editor of ''[[Astounding Science Fiction]]'', and a critical mass of new writers emerged in New York City in a group called the [[Futurians]], including [[Isaac Asimov]], [[Damon Knight]], [[Donald A. Wollheim]], [[Frederik Pohl]], [[James Blish]], [[Judith Merril]], and others. Other important writers during this period and later, include [[E.E. Smith|E.E. (Doc) Smith]], [[Robert A. Heinlein]], [[Arthur C. Clarke]], [[Olaf Stapledon]], [[A. E. van Vogt]], [[Ray Bradbury]] and [[Stanisław Lem]]. Campbell's tenure at ''Astounding'' is considered to be the beginning of the [[Golden Age of science fiction]], characterized by hard SF stories celebrating scientific achievement and progress. This lasted until postwar technological advances, new magazines such as ''[[Galaxy (magazine)|Galaxy]]'' under Pohl as editor, and a new generation of writers began writing stories outside the Campbell mode.
-In the 1950s, the [[Beat generation]] included speculative writers such as [[William S. Burroughs]]. In the 1960s and early 1970s, writers like [[Frank Herbert]], [[Samuel R. Delany]], [[Roger Zelazny]], and [[Harlan Ellison]] explored new trends, ideas, and writing styles, while a group of writers, mainly in Britain, became known as the [[New Wave (science fiction)|New Wave]] for their embrace of a high degree of experimentation, both in form and in content, and a highbrow and self-consciously "literary" or artistic sensibility.<ref name="britannica cites" /> In the 1970s, writers like [[Larry Niven]] and [[Poul Anderson]] began to redefine hard SF.<ref name="hard sf def"/> [[Ursula K. Le Guin]] and others pioneered soft science fiction.<ref name="soft sf period"/>+In the 1950s, the [[Beat generation]] included speculative writers such as [[William S. Burroughs]]. In the 1960s and early 1970s, writers like [[Frank Herbert]], [[Samuel R. Delany]], [[Roger Zelazny]], and [[Harlan Ellison]] explored new trends, ideas, and writing styles, while a group of writers, mainly in Britain, became known as the [[New Wave (science fiction)|New Wave]] for their embrace of a high degree of experimentation, both in form and in content, and a highbrow and self-consciously "literary" or artistic sensibility. In the 1970s, writers like [[Larry Niven]] and [[Poul Anderson]] began to redefine hard SF. [[Ursula K. Le Guin]] and others pioneered soft science fiction.
-In the 1980s, [[cyberpunk]] authors like [[William Gibson]] turned away from the [[optimism]] and support for progress of traditional science fiction.<ref name="gibson cyber"/> This dystopian vision of the near future is described in the work of [[Philip K. Dick]], such as [[Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?]] and [[We Can Remember It for You Wholesale]], which resulted in the films [[Blade Runner]] and [[Total Recall (1990 film)|Total Recall]]. ''The [[Star Wars franchise]]'' helped spark a new interest in [[space opera]],<ref name="space opera"/> focusing more on story and character than on scientific accuracy. [[C. J. Cherryh]]'s detailed explorations of [[Extraterrestrial life|alien]] life and complex scientific challenges influenced a generation of writers.<ref name="cherryh nazarian"/> Emerging themes in the 1990s included [[List of environmental issues|environmental issues]], the implications of the global Internet and the expanding information universe, questions about [[biotechnology]] and [[nanotechnology]], as well as a post-[[Cold War]] interest in [[post-scarcity]] societies; [[Neal Stephenson]]'s ''[[The Diamond Age]]'' comprehensively explores these themes. [[Lois McMaster Bujold]]'s ''[[Vorkosigan Saga|Vorkosigan]]'' novels brought the character-driven story back into prominence.<ref name="bujold char"/> The television series ''[[Star Trek: The Next Generation]]'' (1987) began a torrent of new SF shows, including three further ''[[Star Trek]]'' spin-off shows and ''[[Babylon 5]]''.<ref name="b5 acclaim 1"/><ref name="b5 acclaim 2"/> Concern about the rapid pace of technological change crystallized around the concept of the [[technological singularity]], popularized by [[Vernor Vinge]]'s novel ''[[Marooned in Realtime]]'' and then taken up by other authors.{{Citation needed|date=October 2008}}+In the 1980s, [[cyberpunk]] authors like [[William Gibson]] turned away from the [[optimism]] and support for progress of traditional science fiction. This dystopian vision of the near future is described in the work of [[Philip K. Dick]], such as [[Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?]] and [[We Can Remember It for You Wholesale]], which resulted in the films [[Blade Runner]] and [[Total Recall (1990 film)|Total Recall]]. ''The [[Star Wars franchise]]'' helped spark a new interest in [[space opera]],<ref name="space opera"/> focusing more on story and character than on scientific accuracy. [[C. J. Cherryh]]'s detailed explorations of [[Extraterrestrial life|alien]] life and complex scientific challenges influenced a generation of writers.<ref name="cherryh nazarian"/> Emerging themes in the 1990s included [[List of environmental issues|environmental issues]], the implications of the global Internet and the expanding information universe, questions about [[biotechnology]] and [[nanotechnology]], as well as a post-[[Cold War]] interest in [[post-scarcity]] societies; [[Neal Stephenson]]'s ''[[The Diamond Age]]'' comprehensively explores these themes. [[Lois McMaster Bujold]]'s ''[[Vorkosigan Saga|Vorkosigan]]'' novels brought the character-driven story back into prominence.<ref name="bujold char"/> The television series ''[[Star Trek: The Next Generation]]'' (1987) began a torrent of new SF shows, including three further ''[[Star Trek]]'' spin-off shows and ''[[Babylon 5]]''.<ref name="b5 acclaim 1"/><ref name="b5 acclaim 2"/> Concern about the rapid pace of technological change crystallized around the concept of the [[technological singularity]], popularized by [[Vernor Vinge]]'s novel ''[[Marooned in Realtime]]'' and then taken up by other authors.{{Citation needed|date=October 2008}}
=== The term "sci-fi" === === The term "sci-fi" ===

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Detail of Superbia (1577) by Pieter Bruegel the Elder, science fiction avant-la-lettre
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Detail of Superbia (1577) by Pieter Bruegel the Elder, science fiction avant-la-lettre

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Science fiction is a broad genre of fiction that often involves speculations based on current science or technology. It is commonly abbreviated as SF or sci-fi. Science fiction is found in books, art, television, movies, games, theater, and other media.

In organizational or marketing contexts, science fiction can be synonymous with the broader definition of speculative fiction, encompassing creative works incorporating imaginative elements not found in contemporary reality; this includes fantasy, horror, and related genres.

Contents

History

History of science fiction

As a means of understanding the world through speculation and storytelling, science fiction has antecedents back to mythology, though precursors to science fiction as literature can be seen in Lucian's True History in the 2nd century, some of the Arabian Nights tales, The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter in the 10th century and Ibn al-Nafis' Theologus Autodidactus in the 13th century.

A product of the budding Age of Reason and the development of modern science itself, Jonathan Swift's Gulliver's Travels was one of the first true science fantasy works, together with Voltaire's Micromégas (1752) and Johannes Kepler's Somnium (1620–1630). Isaac Asimov and Carl Sagan consider the latter work the first science fiction story. It depicts a journey to the Moon and how the Earth's motion is seen from there. Another example is Ludvig Holberg's novel Nicolai Klimii iter subterraneum, 1741. (Translated to Danish by Hans Hagerup in 1742 as Niels Klims underjordiske Rejse.) (Eng. Niels Klim's Underground Travels.) Brian Aldiss has argued that Mary Shelley's Frankenstein (1818) was the first work of science fiction.

Following the 18th-century development of the novel as a literary form, in the early 19th century, Mary Shelley's books Frankenstein and The Last Man helped define the form of the science fiction novel; later Edgar Allan Poe wrote a story about a flight to the moon. More examples appeared throughout the 19th century.


Then with the dawn of new technologies such as electricity, the telegraph, and new forms of powered transportation, writers including Jules Verne and H. G. Wells created a body of work that became popular across broad cross-sections of society. Wells' The War of the Worlds (1898) describes an invasion of late Victorian England by Martians using tripod fighting machines equipped with advanced weaponry. It is a seminal depiction of an alien invasion of Earth.

In the late 19th century, the term "scientific romance" was used in Britain to describe much of this fiction. This produced additional offshoots, such as the 1884 novella Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions by Edwin Abbott Abbott. The term would continue to be used into the early 20th century for writers such as Olaf Stapledon. [[File:Jules Verne.jpg|thumb|150px|alt=Black-and-white photo of man in formal dress with unkempt hair, moustache and beard.|Jules Verne]]

In the early 20th century, pulp magazines helped develop a new generation of mainly American SF writers, influenced by Hugo Gernsback, the founder of Amazing Stories magazine. In 1912 Edgar Rice Burroughs published A Princess of Mars, the first of his three-decade-long series of Barsoom novels, situated on Mars and featuring John Carter as the hero. The 1928 publication of Philip Nolan's original Buck Rogers story, Armageddon 2419, in Amazing Stories was a landmark event. This story led to comic strips featuring Buck Rogers (1929), Brick Bradford (1933), and Flash Gordon (1934). The comic strips and derivative movie serials greatly popularized science fiction. In the late 1930s, John W. Campbell became editor of Astounding Science Fiction, and a critical mass of new writers emerged in New York City in a group called the Futurians, including Isaac Asimov, Damon Knight, Donald A. Wollheim, Frederik Pohl, James Blish, Judith Merril, and others. Other important writers during this period and later, include E.E. (Doc) Smith, Robert A. Heinlein, Arthur C. Clarke, Olaf Stapledon, A. E. van Vogt, Ray Bradbury and Stanisław Lem. Campbell's tenure at Astounding is considered to be the beginning of the Golden Age of science fiction, characterized by hard SF stories celebrating scientific achievement and progress. This lasted until postwar technological advances, new magazines such as Galaxy under Pohl as editor, and a new generation of writers began writing stories outside the Campbell mode.

In the 1950s, the Beat generation included speculative writers such as William S. Burroughs. In the 1960s and early 1970s, writers like Frank Herbert, Samuel R. Delany, Roger Zelazny, and Harlan Ellison explored new trends, ideas, and writing styles, while a group of writers, mainly in Britain, became known as the New Wave for their embrace of a high degree of experimentation, both in form and in content, and a highbrow and self-consciously "literary" or artistic sensibility. In the 1970s, writers like Larry Niven and Poul Anderson began to redefine hard SF. Ursula K. Le Guin and others pioneered soft science fiction.

In the 1980s, cyberpunk authors like William Gibson turned away from the optimism and support for progress of traditional science fiction. This dystopian vision of the near future is described in the work of Philip K. Dick, such as Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? and We Can Remember It for You Wholesale, which resulted in the films Blade Runner and Total Recall. The Star Wars franchise helped spark a new interest in space opera,<ref name="space opera"/> focusing more on story and character than on scientific accuracy. C. J. Cherryh's detailed explorations of alien life and complex scientific challenges influenced a generation of writers.<ref name="cherryh nazarian"/> Emerging themes in the 1990s included environmental issues, the implications of the global Internet and the expanding information universe, questions about biotechnology and nanotechnology, as well as a post-Cold War interest in post-scarcity societies; Neal Stephenson's The Diamond Age comprehensively explores these themes. Lois McMaster Bujold's Vorkosigan novels brought the character-driven story back into prominence.<ref name="bujold char"/> The television series Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987) began a torrent of new SF shows, including three further Star Trek spin-off shows and Babylon 5.<ref name="b5 acclaim 1"/><ref name="b5 acclaim 2"/> Concern about the rapid pace of technological change crystallized around the concept of the technological singularity, popularized by Vernor Vinge's novel Marooned in Realtime and then taken up by other authors.Template:Citation needed

The term "sci-fi"

Forrest J Ackerman used the term sci-fi (analogous to the then-trendy "hi-fi") at UCLA in 1954.<ref name="4Esci-fi"/> As science fiction entered popular culture, writers and fans active in the field came to associate the term with low-budget, low-tech "B-movies" and with low-quality pulp science fiction.<ref name="fanspeak sci-fi"/><ref name="sci-fi v sf"/><ref name="sci-fi v sf 2"/> By the 1970s, critics within the field such as Terry Carr and Damon Knight were using sci-fi to distinguish hack-work from serious science fiction,<ref name="wood skiffy"/> and around 1978, Susan Wood and others introduced the pronunciation "skiffy". Peter Nicholls writes that "SF" (or "sf") is "the preferred abbreviation within the community of sf writers and readers".<ref name="nicholls sf"/> David Langford's monthly fanzine Ansible includes a regular section "As Others See Us" which offers numerous examples of "sci-fi" being used in a pejorative sense by people outside the genre.<ref name="As Others..."/>

Innovation

Science fiction has criticised developing and future technologies, but also initiates innovation and new technology. This topic has been more often discussed in literary and sociological than in scientific forums. Cinema and media theorist Vivian Sobchack examines the dialogue between science fiction films and the technological imagination. Technology impacts artists and how they portray their fictionalized subjects, but the fictional world gives back to science by broadening imagination. How William Shatner Changed the World is a documentary that gave many real-world examples of actualized technological imaginations. While more prevalent in the early years of science fiction with writers like Arthur C. Clarke, new authors still find ways to make currently impossible technologies seem closer to being realized.<ref name="Science Fiction: Bridge between the Two Cultures"/>

See also

See also




Unless indicated otherwise, the text in this article is either based on Wikipedia article "Science fiction" or another language Wikipedia page thereof used under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License; or on research by Jahsonic and friends. See Art and Popular Culture's copyright notice.

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