The Secret History of Science Fiction

[Dave Monroe]

The Secret History of Science Fiction

Tachyon Publications has a new anthology out called The Secret History
of Science Fiction. It centers around a subject that has sparked
countless debates and rants among Science Fiction fans. And no, it's
not River Tam vs. James T. Kirk.

Editors James Patrick Kelly and John Kessel have collected these
nineteen stories to explore the supposed divide between mainstream
literature and speculative fiction. They've written an eye-opening and
informative introduction as well as compiled dozens of quotes by the
individual authors on the subject of Sci-Fi vs. Literary Fiction
or"Li-Fi"*. Writers and fans in the field have long complained of
being marginalized by the general public and even more so by the
literary elite. How did this happen and who's to blame? Does it even
freakin' matter any more?

Before Hugo Gernsback there was no separate science fiction genre (or
"scientificton" as Gernsback called it, Forrest Ackerman popularized
the current two-word term). Writers from Mary Shelly, Hawthorne,
Melville, Poe, and Twain used themes of the fantastic in their works
that are still considered classics of Literature today. Jules Verne
and H.G. Wells explored advancements in contemporary science and
technology and were lauded by audiences around the globe inspiring
millions.

As Gernsback and later, John W. Campbell and others codified early
science fiction traditions they were deeply mired in the pulp magazine
traditions. Fun stuff to be sure, but the gee-whiz boys' adventure
stuff was very lacking in well-rounded characters and well-crafted
plotting. It has been pointed out recently that even notable award
winners of the 1950s weren't really turning out timeless prose. Let's
face it, the SF Ghetto was constructed from the inside out and
zealously maintained from within.

Around 1970 followers or the New Wave movement like Moorcock, Aldiss,
and Disch tried busting out of the ghetto but could never find a large
enough audience. An incursion in the other direction occurred in 1973
when Gravity's Rainbow by Thomas Pynchon was shortlisted for the
Nebula for Best Novel. It lost to Rendezvous with Rama which, with all
due respect to Sir Arthur C. Clarke, is a novel with some cool science
and a great setting where not much actually happens. In a 1998 Village
Voice essay Jonathan Lethem called this moment "a tombstone marking
the death of the hope that science fiction was about to merge with the
mainstream". Really? Maybe it was just too soon....

[...]

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