Science Fiction Literature/Introduction and Historical Overview

Science fiction is the literature of the possible. It generally involves a story grounded in science, whether actual or extrapolated, rather than in magic or myth.

Science fiction flowered as a literary genre in the twentieth century, though it has a long history.

Precursors of Science Fiction

Here are some of the early works that are considered to be related to science fiction, even if they don't fully align with the definition.

• Lucian of Samosata, ca. 120 - 180
  • Vera Historia - This tells of a group of travelers who voyage beyond the Gates of Hercules, are blown off course, and travel all the way to the Moon.

• Cyrano de Bergerac, 1619-1655
  • L'Autre monde ou les états et empires de la Lune (French)

• Voltaire, 1694-1778
  • Romans — Volume 3: Micromégas (French)

Science Fiction Begins

• Shelley, Mary Wollstonecraft, 1797-1851
  • Frankenstein, or the Modern Prometheus - usually considered to be the first science fiction novel, published in 1818.
  • The Last Man

• Edward Bulwer Lytton 1803-1873
  • The Coming Race

• W. H. Hudson 1841-1922
  • A Crystal Age

• Richard Jefferies 1847-1887
  • After London, or Wild England

• Fitz-James O'Brien
  • The Diamond Lens

• Mark Twain, 1835-1910
  • A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court

• Stevenson, Robert Louis, 1850-1894
  • The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

• H. G. Wells
  • The Time Machine
  • The War of the Worlds
  • The Island of Doctor Moreau
  • The Invisible Man

• Jules Verne
  • Journey to the Center of the Earth
  • 20,000 Leagues under the Sea

External Links

• [Frankenstein] complete novel available through Project Gutenberg.
• [Precursors of Science Fiction] at Project Gutenberg.