Billion Year Spree : The True History of Science Fiction

"Science fiction is a parade ground where private fantasy and public events meet," writes Brian W.Aldiss. And in this engrossing study the popular author of numerous novels, short stories and critical pieces presents a most thoughtful history of the genre which examines its growth from its earliest origins to its present state of divergence. Contrary to the belief that science fiction began in the plays of the ancient Greeks as held by many critics, or in the pulp magazines of the 1920’s as claimed in more modern interpretations, Mr. Aldiss finds that it was born in the heart of the English Romantic movement with Mary Shelly’s Frankenstein: or the Modern Prometheus . And through careful analysis of that novel he demonstrates the special characteristics which he feels have distinguished the field from its start. Using this same technique on important works from various other periods, Mr. Aldiss traces the entire development of science fiction through its writers — Edgar Allen Poe, H. G. Wells, Robert Louis Stevenson, Edgar Rice Burroughs, John Campbell, and on into the present — placing them against the technological and human evolution of their times. The result is a detailed and thoroughly entertaining look at this unique form which at last gives it its proper position in our literary tradition. Discusses The Works Of Mary Shelley, Edgar Allan Poe, Lucian, H.g. Wells, John W. Campbell, And Others From Victorian Times To The Present. Introduction -- The Origins Of The Species: / Mary Shelley -- A Clear-sighted, Sickly Literature: / Edgar Allan Poe -- Pilgrim Fathers: / Lucian And All That -- The Gas-enlightened Race: / Victorian Visions -- The Man Who Could Work Miracles: / H.g. Wells -- The Flight From Urban Culture: / Wells' Coevals -- To Barsoom And Beyond: / Erb And The Weirdies -- In The Name Of The Zeitgeist: / Mainly The Thirties -- The Future On A Chipped Plate: / The World Of John W. Campbell's Astounding -- After The Impossible Happened: / The Fifties And Onwards, And Upwards -- The Stars My Detestation: / Yesterday And Tomorrow -- Envoi -- Critical Bibliography -- Index. [by] Brian W. Aldiss. Bibliography: P. [323]-325. "Discusses the works of Mary Shelley, Edgar Allan Poe, Lucian, H.G. Wells, John W. Campbell, and others from Victorian times to the present."-- (Source of summary not specified)