Scientific Romance in Britain 1890 - 1950 [Import] [Hardcover]

Brian Stableford (Author)

Product Details

• Hardcover: 384 pages
• Publisher: FOURTH ESTATE (1985)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0947795855
• ISBN-13: 978-0947795856
• Shipping Weight: 1.7 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)

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5.0 out of 5 stars British Scientific Romance., May 16, 2011

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New Age of Barbarism "zosimos" (EVROPA.) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Scientific Romance in Britain, 1890-1950 (Hardcover)

_Scientific Romance in Britain: 1890 - 1950_ (1985, St. Martin's) by Brian Stableford is an excellent chronicle of the development of the scientific romance (a distinct kind of science fiction type novel) in Britain from 1890 to the mid 1950s. This book considers scientific romance as distinct from the science fiction novels that appeared in America in a later period. Scientific romance was influenced by speculative developments and fantasy writing and involved notions of utopia, fantastic voyages, and new scientific and technological achievements. In particular, authors such as H. G. Wells were to play a quintessential role in the development of the scientific romance in Britain. These early scientific romances were to play an important role in the new genre of science fiction and proved especially prescient in advancing utopian ideas and fantastic scenarios that were validated in the early twentieth century.

The book includes the following parts and chapters -

Part One: The Origins of Scientific Romance.

The Idea of Scientific Romance - explains the distinction between the early scientific romance and the later genre of science fiction. Notes the role of various Victorian British scientists who had a poetic streak in the dissemination of their theories, especially mentioning individuals such as Darwin, Huxley, and Haldane. Considers the role of H. G. Wells as a promoter of scientific and utopian ideas and author of important scientific romances. Notes the influence of Verne, Poe, and Flammarion as important precursors of the scientific romance and the role of later utopias and dystopias such as those of Stapledon and Huxley. Considers the role of scientific romance in the literary marketplace explaining the role of such important precursors as Mary Shelley, Lord Lytton, and Edwin Abbott.

Scientific Romance and Its Literary Ancestors - considers the literary ancestors of the scientific romance such as the imaginary voyage, utopian fantasies, evolutionary fantasies, future wars, eschatological fantasies, and metaphysical fantasy. In terms of fantastic voyages, the author notes the role of figures such as Poe and especially Jules Verne who specialized in the genre and his influence on many and especially H. G. Wells. In terms of utopian fantasies, the author traces the history of utopia back to Plato's _Republic_. The author explains how static utopias gave way to "euchronias" in the eighteenth century which offered a dynamic utopia and "eupsychias" or psychological and philosophical utopias. Notes the role of utopias in such famous works as those of Lord Lytton, Edward Bellamy, Ignatius Donnelly, Egevny Zamyatin, George Orwell, and Aldous Huxley. In terms of evolutionary fantasies, the author notes the role of Darwin's theories as they were promoted by T. H. Huxley and the opposition to Darwin from figures such as Disraeli. The author notes the role of Darwin fantasies on prominent figures such as Samuel Butler, Flammarion, and Wells. The author discusses the role of future wars in British scientific romances including preludes to the world wars and warfare with Germany. In terms of eschatological fantasies, the author examines the role of such figures as Mary Shelley, Camille Flammarion, and various Christian and apocalyptic fantasies. Metaphysical fantasies include those influenced by August Comte, Bram Stoker, Flammarion, Bulwer-Lytton, Edwin Abbott, Arthur Conan Doyle, and the influence of spiritualism.

The Major Writers of the Pre-War Period - this chapter includes discussion of the major writers of the pre-war period in Britain. These writers include, George Griffith, H. G. Wells, M.P. Shiel, Arthur Conan Doyle, William Hope Hodgson, J. D. Beresford. Most of these writers were influenced by scientific discovery as well as utopian ideas. In particular, Wells was influenced by Darwinian notions, ideas concerning entropy, and socialist utopianism related to world government. Many of these writers were sons of former clergymen and although they often did not share the faith of their fathers, they often had a spiritual understanding of the world.

Patterns and Trends in Early Scientific Romance - this chapter discusses various patterns and trends as they occurred in the scientific romances of the era. These include, the carnival of destruction (a boom in scientific war stories), the discovery of the future (an outline of future discoveries especially as seen in the writings of Wells including mention of the Christian apocalyptic of Robert Hugh Benson or Guy Thorne), the allure of the extraordinary (fascination with the extraordinary as seen in tales of lost continents and worlds and fantastic voyages).

Part Two: The Imaginative Legacy of the Great War.

Futuristic Speculation Between the Wars - this chapter discusses the role of futuristic speculation between the two world wars. In particular, this is seen in the divergence between scientific romance and science fiction which survived the great war, and various speculative essays of the twenties and thirties.

The Major Writers Between the Great Wars - this chapter discusses the major writers between the great wars and the influence of war on their writing as well as new technologies. The writers discussed include, the survivors (Doyle, Wells, Shiel, and Beresford), S. Fowler Wright, Olaf Stapledon, Neil Bell, and John Gloag. Again the author considers the influence of scientific and utopian thinking on their writing as well as the role of futuristic speculation and utopian thinking.

Patterns and Trends Between the Wars - this chapter considers some of the patterns and trends that developed in scientific romance between the wars. Mention is made of the ideas of the people in ruins (the destruction brought about by the Great War as mentioned in the writings of Shanks), the Age of Frustration (the role of theories of world government as developed for example by Wells or the notion of _Meccania_ and Huxley's _Brave New World_ as well as other utopian and dystopian ideas), the Transcendent Tomorrow (various apocalyptic fantasies and utopias and the conflict between Darwinian ideas and Christianity).

Part Three: The Twilight of Scientific Romance.

After the Holocaust - this chapter discusses the role of scientific romance following the Second World War and in particular the destruction wrought by the Holocaust during this war. This chapter includes discussion of Swan Songs and Epilogues (various novels dealing with the destruction of war and totalitarianism as well as the horror of the atomic bomb), C. S. Lewis (and the influence of Christianity on his scientific romances), Gerald Heard, and the desolation of the future (showing the role of a desolate future destroyed by war or totalitarianism as in Orwell's _Nineteen Eighty-Four_ and the science fiction of the 1950s).

Conclusions - discusses the fusion of scientific romance and science fiction following the world wars in the 1950s and 1960s and the continuation of science fiction as a genre in 1950s America. Also considers the ambitions and achievements of scientific romance, the outlining of future utopia and scientific and technological achievement, as well as the role of man in the universe.

This book provides a fascinating study of the genre of scientific romance as it developed in Britain at the end of the nineteenth century and the early half of the twentieth century. Scientific romance was influenced by new scientific discoveries and technological achievements, the role of war and in particular the world wars on society, and new notions of socialism and technocratic utopia. These romances provided an interesting examination of these issues in the forms of stories by thinkers of the day. In particular, stories like those of Wells bore the imprint of these notions and were to play an important role in the history of science fiction. Later scientific romance was to develop into the genre of science fiction which played a much larger role in the United States in the 1950s and Cold War era.