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Alchemist, v. 1, issue 4, December 1940
Page 8
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8 ----- ALCHEMIST ----- ter? (2) Is there an element in current science-fiction that gives the suspicion of it all being an illusion? To answer the first question, we must delve deeply into the origins and heart of science-fiction itself. This we will do as briefly as possible, assuming that all who have read thus far are fans of sufficient experience in science-fiction persuits, and of sufficient analytical mentalities to follow a somewhat sketchy cutline. Firstly: Science-fiction is merely a modern facet of that function of man known as fantastic literary creation. It did not begin with the appearance of a magazine published by Hugo Gernsback entitled "Amazing Stories" but had been had been in concrete existance long before. Science fiction began when the first intellectual wrote a piece of creative fiction based upon scientific propositions speculative and hypothetical in nature. It began with the first story that had as its basis "What might happen if suchand such an unprecedented scientifically hypothetical event were to occur?" Secondly: Science-fiction looks forward to new extensions of science and human reactions thereto. This may not necessarily be the science of mechanics, but any branch of human knowledge and experience, which includes psychology, economics, sociology, sexology, and so forth. By its very existance it assumes that science will continue to advance it assumes that science will continue to advance, by its very writing it expresses the authors belief in science and its possibilities. It is, a sort of mythology, and since a mythology always presents the best any given age or era has to offer along every line, then science fiction is utopian and idealistic in nature. It is true that much of science-fiction has presented
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8 ----- ALCHEMIST ----- ter? (2) Is there an element in current science-fiction that gives the suspicion of it all being an illusion? To answer the first question, we must delve deeply into the origins and heart of science-fiction itself. This we will do as briefly as possible, assuming that all who have read thus far are fans of sufficient experience in science-fiction persuits, and of sufficient analytical mentalities to follow a somewhat sketchy cutline. Firstly: Science-fiction is merely a modern facet of that function of man known as fantastic literary creation. It did not begin with the appearance of a magazine published by Hugo Gernsback entitled "Amazing Stories" but had been had been in concrete existance long before. Science fiction began when the first intellectual wrote a piece of creative fiction based upon scientific propositions speculative and hypothetical in nature. It began with the first story that had as its basis "What might happen if suchand such an unprecedented scientifically hypothetical event were to occur?" Secondly: Science-fiction looks forward to new extensions of science and human reactions thereto. This may not necessarily be the science of mechanics, but any branch of human knowledge and experience, which includes psychology, economics, sociology, sexology, and so forth. By its very existance it assumes that science will continue to advance it assumes that science will continue to advance, by its very writing it expresses the authors belief in science and its possibilities. It is, a sort of mythology, and since a mythology always presents the best any given age or era has to offer along every line, then science fiction is utopian and idealistic in nature. It is true that much of science-fiction has presented
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