Before Science Fiction: Romances of Science and Scientific Romances

The origin of science fiction stories is well-known to both critics and the public: by consensus, Mary Shelley's Frankenstein (1818) was the first SF novel. But the origins of "science fiction" as a concept are neither well-known nor agreed-upon. The phrase "science fiction," meaning the genre of scientifically-oriented fantastic fiction, was popularized in 1929 by Hugo Gernsback. But "science fiction" had a 19th century predecessor: "scientific romance," a term used by H.G. Wells. However, as we'll see, science fiction started decades before that, as did many of the terms describing science fiction. Before 1849 and the Death of Poe Edgar Allan Poe (1809-1849) is generally recognized as the first significant American author of science fiction. Gernsback himself, in defining "scientifiction" (Gernsback's predecessor term before "science fiction'), said in 1926 that "By 'scientifiction,' I mean the Jules Verne, H.G. Wells, and Edgar Allan Poe type of story." oe was not the only writer of science fiction during these years, however, nor the best-known to his contemporaries. Mary Shelley's lesser-known follow-up to Frankenstein was The Last Man (1826), set at the end of the 21st century. In it a plague destroys much of humanity, and conflict in Great Britain and between the United States and Europe takes care of the rest. While not the most famous work of science fiction up to that point - Frankenstein, Rudolf Erich Raspe's Baron Munchausen's Narrative of His Marvellous Travels and Campaigns in Russia (1785) and William Godwin's St. Leon (1799) were all better-known than The Last Man – it attracted a great deal of attention in Great Britain and the United States and was described as "a favorite with admirers of the German school of romance." This reference to the German genre of gory supernatural stories known as the schaeurroman, or "shudder novel," indicates an understanding that The Last Man, with its futuristic setting and winged balloons capable of long-distance flights, belongs to a different category of fiction from the usual genres of the time. However, "the German school of romance" would become used primarily for works of emotional or narrative extremity rather than just the fantastic. The "Great Moon Hoax" grew out of six articles published in the New York Sun in late August, 1835. Most likely written by Richard A. Locke, a reporter for the Sun, the articles described aliens and unicorns living on the moon. The articles attracted a great deal of attention, and though the Sun did not admit that they were fictional for six weeks, others recognized them for what they were immediately.