Legendary SF author Damon Knight discusses how the science fiction genre developed. He begins with H.G. Wells and continues through the 1930's pulps like Hugo Gernsback's Amazing Stories. This interview is excerpted from the Literature of SF DVD available at http://www2.ku.edu/~sfcenter/. It's brought to you by AboutSF and the Center for the Study of Science Fiction at the University of Kansas. For more info, visit http://www.aboutsf.com.
I think Katharine Burdekin should be up there with the giants. She wrote around the same time as Olaf Stapledone, sometimes under the pseudonym Murray Constantine.
Xenu 3 years ago
Well Lucian`s "True History" is the first science fiction story and as well, I add, Plato`s "Atlantis", plus Ibn al-Nafis`s (1213-1288)"Fādil ibn Nātiq".
As for the European science fiction stories - Thomas More`s "Utopia" is the first (1515). Mary Shelly published in 1818, but yes.. I agree it should have mentioned her as well!
BogdanGMarin 3 years ago
I was disappointed that in neither of these (v good) vidoes does 'Frankenstein', by Mary Shelly, get a mention; for many this was the first work of SF.
Chaffinch4 4 years ago