Graduate School of Library Science. University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
Abstract
In this discussion I want to say something about where
science fiction has been and where it is now and then comment
on where I think it stands in relation to what we ordinarily call
"good" literature. But as in all discussions ot science fiction,
it is necessary to start with some definition so you will know
what I am talking about.
Definitions vary widely, and any one if taken literally
will lead to some contradiction. Some go so far as to include
Arrowsmith, ghost stories, or the Book of Revelation. I don't
include any of these. My definition is pretty standard: fiction
that has in it some reasonably logical extrapolation of the science
of the time, usually coupled with intent. For example, I
would exclude Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, even though it has
some scientific trapping, because Stevenson intended to present
an allegory, and I would also exclude Gulliver's Travels. But I
would include Bishop Godwin's The Man in the Moone; a Discourse
of a Voyage Thither, which was published in 1638, because
it is an account of space travel even though highly impractical.published or submitted for publicatio
