New Science Fiction Exhibit At The British Library

Telegraph:

The literary genre of science fiction isn't terribly accessible. Widely seen as an extension of man's anxiety over the future, sci-fi is usually affiliated with geeks and/or militant feminists pawing over the otherworldly. As eminent science fiction writer Gwyneth Jones tells us: it was written by and for "skilled working class men" who applied their "technical know-how" to fantasy.

Read the whole story: Telegraph

Comments

[foolish earthling]

11:27 PM on 05/26/2011

I'm a little surprised that the article made no mention of Olaf Stapledon (who was English, writing in the 30's)--and as much as I love H.G.Wells, Stapledon was a better writer who contributed as much to later writers' work as Wells did. No films were made of his books (not that gave him credit, anyway), but you see cribs from his work all the time on film and in print. Perhaps he is more beloved by writers than by the public because his two greatest works, "Last and First Men", and "Starmaker", are so dense with imaginative ideas--they're not pageturners. More than a few familiar teleplays have been taken from just a page or two.
"Odd John", and "Sirius" are both classics and are good introductions to his work.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olaf_Stapledon

[Paul Houston]

02:33 PM on 05/25/2011

I have been to the exhibition. It is well worth seeing. They had the letter from George Orwell to his publisher in which he was wondering to call his novel the Last Man in Europe or Nineteen Eighty Four.

[Ralph Boyd]

01:45 PM on 05/25/2011

Science Fiction is essentially taking human qualities and examining them with aliens, androids, or putting humans in unusual or exotic environments. The key to great Science Fiction is always the examination of the human condition.

The first great work of Science Fiction that is hardly ever classified as such is Gulliver's Travels. The second would be War of the Worlds. It's rare that you find any work of Science Fiction that isn't based on these two works.

[Stephen G Ford]

09:27 PM on 05/26/2011

"Science Fiction is essentiall­y taking human qualities and examining them with aliens, androids, or putting humans in unusual or exotic environmen­t' The key to great Science Fiction is always the examinatio­n of the human condition."

And fantasy is taking fantastic monsters, goblins, orcs etc and giving them human characteristics and hoping someone gets the connection! (I have noticed through talking with my "Friends" from HS that my mind tends to see the METAPHORS... where THEY tend to go "BUT THAT'S A BOOK... (Or MOVIE) *GRIN*