Rowene Mattle

ENGL 2610
CB #1 Science Fiction
1/13/19

Part I : Definitions

1.Genre : An artistic interpretation of specific content within the work. The work can either be
literary, artistic, musical, or otherwise.
2. Alterity : The concept of “the otherness” or “different” than one’s ownself. Alien or foreign.
3. Novum : A term used to describe scientifically probable themes in science fiction.
4. Hard Science Fiction : A kind of science fiction where scientific accuracy is a main theme.
5. Soft Science Fiction : A kind of science fiction where objective or social sciences is a main
theme, rather than straight accurate science.
6. Military Science Fiction: A subgenre of science fiction that involves either militial or armed
forces themes, often taking place in the future.
7. Social Science Fiction: A subgenre of science fiction that involve conjectures about society,
often with elements of “soft science fiction.”
8. Gothic Science Fiction: A blending of gothic and scientific themes in science fiction. Often
involving dark, gothic characters or environments with science components.
9. Space Opera: A subgenre of science fiction often set in space or the future with social
science fiction and dramatic sequences.
10. Biopunk: A subgenre of science fiction derived from biotechnology. Often involving a
dystopian atmosphere and biological sciences.
11. Steampunk: A subgenre of science fiction, usually in a historical context with steam
powered technology rather than modern scientific marvels.
12. Cyberpunk: A subgenre of science fiction involving a futuristic society driven by
technological or computer advancement.
13. Slipstream: A blending of science fiction and fantasy, and is often characteristically
“strange” or “unnerving.”
14. Utopian/Dystopian Science Fiction: A subgenre of science fiction involving a flawed
society with an emphasis on the ‘perfect’ way to live. Often blended with social science fiction.
15. Apocalyptic Science Fiction: A subgenre of science fiction in which our modern world has
collapsed and of what has happened to the surviving members of humanity.
16. Alternate History: A genre of science fiction where key events in human history have
changed, affecting the future.
17. Parallel Universes: A series of universes coexisting along our own, where we, and
everything all around us, exists in the infinite. They are pages in a book, side by side with each
other.
18. Multiverse: The book in which all of the universes are but pages. The group of parallel
universes altogether, comprising of everything that has ever been.
19. Butterfly Effect: Chaos Theory. It is the theory that a small event, can change large events
down the line.
20. Ansible (as used in science fiction): A fictional machine that can send messages to
another ansible instantly over great distances, even from one galaxy to another.

Part II: Timelines

A timeline of science fiction, (using “Science Fiction: A Brief History and Review of
Criticism”):

● 2nd Century: The Grecian man named Lucian imagines a society on a moon voyage.
● 1726. Jonathan Swift writes Gulliver’s Travels. Early science fiction is born.
● The Industrial Revolution hits in the 18th century, inspiring the human mind with visions
of a future aided by technology.
● In 1818, Mary Shelley writes her novel Frankenstein, which is considered the first
science fiction novel ever written.
● Mary Shelley also writes The Last Man in 1826, introducing the concept of the
destruction of humanity into science fiction, which has become a common theme in the
genre today.
● The 19th Century is the machine age. The human mind bursting with imagination and
hope of a future alive with machine advancements and scientific progress. Magazines
publish stories with fantastical scientific achievements.
● In 1863 Jules Verne writes Five Weeks in a Balloon, the first of his many science fiction
works that spanned the globe. He would later write From the Earth to the Moon in 1865,
followed by Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea in 1870, and Around the World in
Eighty Days in 1873.
● George Chesney writes the novella “Battle of Dorking” in 1871, further challenging what
‘science fiction’ means by adding imaginary warfare to the genre.
● H. G. Wells writes The Time Machine in 1895. His work blended science fiction and
social commentary of the time.
● H. G. Wells also completes The War of the Worlds in 1897, following Mary Shelley’s
human destruction theme.
● In 1912 Edgar Rice Burroughs writes A Princess of Mars, the first of his John Carter of
Mars series. Burroughs popularized the idea of strange lands and races which excited
the modern reader with tales of battles and women and victory.
● Hugo Gernsback publishes a series of magazines titled Amazing Stories in 1926, where
the phrase “scientifiction” is first used, and rushes in the birth of “pulp era science
fiction”.
● In 1928, Edward E. Smith writes The Skylark of Space, which ushers in the first
utterance of the term “space opera”, a variant of science fiction.
● In 1937, new editor of Astounding Stories, John W. Campbell, hires new writers who
write more “realistic” science fiction. Astounding Stories becomes the most popular
science fiction magazine of the 1930’s and ‘40’s.
● 1938-1950 is considered the “golden age of science fiction.”
● In 1949 George Orwell writes 1984, depicting the “Big Brother” society. The book lit the
mind of society in fear, as it was written in the Cold War.
 ● 1950: Isaac Asimov creates the modern image of the traditional ‘robot in his novel, I,
Robot.
● Hugo Gernsback is the guest of honor at the World Science Fiction Convention in
Chicago in 1952. The year after, in 1953, awards called “Hugos”, are given to authors
who create popular science fiction.
● Through the 1950s and 1960s the dystopian future becomes “a staple plot of 1950s pulp
science fiction”.
● The Space Merchants is written in 1953 by Frederik Pohl and Cyril Kornbluth. It
personifies this dystopian theme.
● The “New Wave” occurs in the 1960s, changing science fiction as a whole.
● Through the 1970s, many works are written, showing the new quality of science fiction.
This includes Time of Changes by Robert Silverberg in 1971, Ursula K. Le Guin’s The
Left Hand of Darkness in 1974, and Flow My Tears, the Policeman Said by Philip K. Dick
in 1973. The ‘70’s is a rich time for science fiction that continues into modern times.
● In 1975, Joanna Russ writes The Female Man, changing gender roles as portrayed in
science fiction.
● In 1987, Dawn by Octavia E. Butler, further expanding science fiction by including race
and gender issues.

A timeline of scientific advancement:

● Alessandro Volta creates the first battery in 1800.

● Through the 1820’s and the 1830’s, Michael Faraday begins to construct simple electric
generators.
● In the 1840’s James Prescott Joul begins to explore the theory of Conservation of
Energy.
● In 1859, Charles Darwin publishes his theory of evolution.
● During the 1860’s, James Clerk Maxwell discovers radio waves, and outlines the basic
laws of electromagnetism.
● In 1869, Dmitri Mendeleev creates the Periodic Table.
● In the mid 1880’s, Thomas Edison opens the first power plant.
● In 1895, Wilhelm Conrad Rontgen invents the X-Ray.
● In 1919, Sir Arthur Eddington tests Einstein's theory of relativity, and discovers that he is
correct.
● Henry Mosely, in 1913, defines the atomic number.
● In 1927, Georges Lemaitre developes the theory of the “Big Bang”, expanding the minds
of the people of the world.
● Oswald Avery discovers that chromosomes are made up of DNA.
● On July 20, 1969, Edwin Aldrin and Neil Armstrong land on the moon.
● In 1990, the Hubble Space Telescope is put into orbit, and takes astounding photos of
our galaxy. We learn that there is a universe beyond the Milky Way.
● Dolly the Sheep is cloned in 1997 through nuclear transfer.

Part III: Thinking about the Issues

What is YOUR definition of science fiction?

I would define science fiction as a genre exploring scientific marvels, time and space
travel, and future events often on other planets or in other dimensions. It has many subgenres
linked to it, such as steampunk, space opera, science fantasy, speculative evolution, and
cyberpunk. It is a genre that has expanded my own perceptions of the modern world and the
expanding limits of science.

What is your favorite science fiction book or movie? Why?

My favorite science fiction book is the Princess of Mars, by Edgar Rice Burroughs. My
father used to read the whole John Carter of Mars series to my sibling and I when we were kids,
and I really treasure those memories. (My sister is even named Virginia, a kind of nickname for
the main character. My father was a big fan.) The whole idea of a ‘normal guy’ becoming a hero
to an entire planet really inspired me as a kid. I loved the strange environments and the creative
races. The morality of decisions on a place other than Earth really questions what morality really
is. The movie was definitely not as good as the book, but it was still fairly entertaining.

Why is science fiction as a genre particularly well suited to explore issues of race and
gender through storytelling?

Science fiction explores evolution, science, time travel, species, and space travel. It is a
genre that has touched so many points that it feels like a safe space to explore controversial
topics no matter what time period the work was released in. There was once a time when
discussing women doing things traditionally in the man’s realm was considered ‘fantastical’
(and, sadly, this is still a concept in many places in our modern age), or of different races seen
through the lense of different species (aliens, or otherwise). But as the gap narrows between
what is realistic and unrealistic in science fiction, these concepts become more normal in our
world. Science fiction is a genre that thrives on the phrase, “maybe someday,” and we are living
in that ‘someday.’

One major branch of science that developed in the 19th century was that of evolution
(Charles Darwin). How has the scientific theory of evolution impacted cultural thinking
about race and gender?

As the scholarly article “Race, Racism, and Darwinism” by William H. Jeynes puts it:
“Darwinism, in multifaceted ways, has been a source of controversy from its inception 150 years
ago.” And he is absolutely right. Charles Darwin’s racism was evident in his scholarly works,
and because his theory was so influential, it is not unreasonable to assume that it could have
contributed to the fostering of racism in his readers. Darwin said that there were differences in
intelligence in different kinds of animals, and insinuated that there was also an intelligence
difference between races and genders. Given that Darwin himself was a white man, it is not a
stretch to think that he probably thought his was the superior race and gender. And, as
previously said, his theory changed the way the world looked at itself in the mirror, and those
words, “superior,” “intelligence”, “white”, “black,” “male”, and “female”, changed the reflection.
Am I less intelligent because I am a different race? Am I inferior because I am female? We can
only learn from Darwin that science can be used to shape the world, but it is up to the scientist
to decide whether or not the product is positive or negative.