The Way the Future Wasn't

The Way the Future Wasn't

By Donal on Mon, 09/05/2011 - 2:01pm |

I’m not sure how many people have noticed that science fiction is the one really distinctive form of fiction created by industrial civilization. Romances, satires, and adventure stories are practically as old as written language; the novel of character and manners had its first great flowering in tenth-century Japan, and detective stories were written in medieval China; even fantasy fiction of the modern kind, which deliberately cashes in on legends nobody actually believes any more, flourished in Renaissance Europe—it still amazes me that nobody has rewritten Amadis of Gaul to fit the conventions of modern fantasy fiction and republished it as “the sixteenth century’s number one fantasy bestseller,” which it unquestionably was. Science fiction—the branch of literature that focuses on the impact of scientific and technological progress—is the exception.

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http://thearchdruidreport.blogspot.com/2011/08/way-future-wasnt.html

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He tells an interesting parable, and although I'd quibble with some of the details (although a connection definitely exists, I think he overstates the importance of science fiction with respect to scientific advances, and I think he understates the existence of non-space related science fiction within the genre), I think it paints a picture worth looking at.

by Verified Atheist on Mon, 09/05/2011 - 6:06pm

Agreed. Even Twilight Zone and Outer Limits episodes weren't predominantly about space travel.

by Donal on Mon, 09/05/2011 - 6:28pm

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