Whom do you consider to be the godfather/mother of Science fiction?

[Alienweirdo]

Hi again everybody, I have here another one of my thesis questions, which I sincerely hope you can participate in!

Whom do you consider to be the godfather/mother(s) of Science fiction?

Once i have some nominations, i may make a poll (i find more people vote in polls then post replies).

I personally consider Mary Shelly to be the first Sci fi writer, but i others i think are worthy are HG Wells and Jules Verne. But just because they wrote stories with Sc fi elements, may not mean they should be considered the godfathers of the genre. There may be film directors of artists that should be considered, who brought the attention of Sci fi to the vast public. if not Sci fi as a whole, then are they at least the pioneers of Sci Fi in film/art? i would like to hear your opinions!

thanks again -ian-

 

[Urien]

You've got much of what I would have put.

Fritz Lang for Metropolis.

 

[Winters_Sorrow]

Yes, those are the two I would have picked out as well.
Possibly Asimov for his work but, apart from his laws and possibly Multivac, his ideas were more extensions of ones already out there IMO.

For art, I don't really know - Geiger is famous for his evocative Alien work but most of the early sci-fi artwork I saw was quite bland (possibly deliberately to either keep costs down or not scare away the potential reader).

For film I'd agree with Metropolis but I'd have to say This Island Earth or the original War of the Worlds were landmarks of their time. The Day the Earth Stood Still I loved, but really apart from a bit at the beginning and a bit at the end there's not a whole lot of sci-fi present.

 

[Joel007]

HG Wells, Jules Verne. I think Isaac Asimov made some tremendous contributions. All pioneers and we owe them a lot for their fresh creativity.
I'm not so sure about Mary Shelly, I considered her book to be more of a ethical question, without much actual science.
I was considering putting forward George Lucas as someone who gave sci-fi a great push forward, but probably not as a "Godfather" in the genre.

 

[j d worthington]

I think Mrs. Shelley's work is considered because it was one of the first to take a scientific approach to the idea, rather than a supernatural one. But she certainly set the trend for sf with its concern for social and ethical questions; something which has remained an important part of the field to this day.

As for who is the godmother/father, etc... that's been debated for ages, and it depends on your definition. From Lucian on down, there have been people put forth for that role... the Bible itself has been postulated as the origin of science fiction and fantasy, as has the Epic of Gilgamesh.

Modern sf... that began more or less with Verne, Wells, Bulwer, etc., who were looking at scientific ideas and theories and their implications for human beings. It's an outgrowth of the Gothic by way of the Romantics, the Sentimental Novel, and the didacticism of the later Augustans through the Victorians. The Gothic was often concerned with philosophical matters and political concerns; by the time of Le Fanu, Dickens, Poe, we were seeing the seeds of sf, with the blending of imaginative extrapolation of scientific ideas (Mary Shelley really didn't extrapolate much scientifically; she used something much closer to a fantastic version of some of the scientific experimentation of her times; Joel's largely right -- her concerns were more political, philosophical, and ethical; not only in Frankenstein, but The Last Man and several of her shorter tales dealing with such themes) and social/political concerns. But none of them were that knowledgeable in science (though Poe was intensely interested in it, and used a scientific approach in his psychological probing of his characters), and so it was only with those who had a bit more grounding in the scientific end that modern sf began to emerge... and there you have a plethora of candidates. But probably the most viable are Verne and Wells, as their influence was felt more than most.

 

[The Ace]

HG Wells, Jules Verne. I think Isaac Asimov made some tremendous contributions. All pioneers and we owe them a lot for their fresh creativity.
I'm not so sure about Mary Shelly, I considered her book to be more of a ethical question, without much actual science.
I was considering putting forward George Lucas as someone who gave sci-fi a great push forward, but probably not as a "Godfather" in the genre.

Thanks Joel, you returned the favour .

 

[Alienweirdo]

As for who is the godmother/father, etc... that's been debated for ages, and it depends on your definition. From Lucian on down, there have been people put forth for that role... the Bible itself has been postulated as the origin of science fiction and fantasy, as has the Epic of Gilgamesh.

i understand where you're coming from. As for expanding on my definition, personally i wouldn't regard myths and the tales from the Bible for example as candidates, as they don't deal with science so much as people's beliefs and fantasy.

i mean some people argue that sf has been around since 180 A.D. in Ancient Greece with Lucian's 'True History', which deals with interplanetary travel (albeit supposedly comical). but since this deals less with science and more with fantasy, i would tend to disregard it. Much how you mentioned Mary Shelly and Edgar Allen Poe not being knowledgable in sceince, but i see it as they had scientific influnce due to the progress science was making (i read somewhere Shelly was influence by Ben Franklin's theories on electricity).

Nevertheless, what you wrote is a big help, thanks =)

 

[Hawkshaw_245]

I give points to H.G. Wells, Mary Shelley, and Jules Verne as the pioneering founders of the genre.

In the lext generation, one might also give credit to Ray Bradbury, Isaac Asimov, H.P. Lovecraft, perhaps?

 

[Who's Wee Dug]

George McDonald (1st Novel 1858) who was one of Tolkien's influnces that is if you are including fantasy Authors, as M.Shelly was basically horror with a touch of dark fantasy thrown in.

 

[j d worthington]

I give points to H.G. Wells, Mary Shelley, and Jules Verne as the pioneering founders of the genre.

In the lext generation, one might also give credit to Ray Bradbury, Isaac Asimov, H.P. Lovecraft, perhaps?

Actually, the next generation would probably be such people as Edgar Rice Burroughs, George Allan England, J. U. Giesy, Francis Stevens, Ray Cummings, Garrett P. Serviss, etc., in the Munsey magazines here in America, and H. Rider Haggard, M. P. Shiel (The Purple Cloud), & Co. in Britain. For those of the late 19th century, I should have mentioned Edward Bellamy's Looking Backward, as well.

Olaf Stapledon, A. Merritt, HPL, Murray Leinster (whose first story was published around 1920, I believe) would be in the generation after that; though Hugo Gernsback certainly deserves recognition for his influence on the field, and Philip Francis Nowlan, with his Armageddon 2419 A.D. certainly had a major influence on sf (and does to this day), as this was the novel that was the origin of the character Buck Rogers. John W. Campbell was also writing by this point, though not editing until the late 1930s. And one should certainly not forget either Stanley G. Weinbaum nor E. E. "Doc" Smith, both of whom were very influential on sf to come.

The next generation would be the Campbell Era (or Golden Age) in the states, and that's when the giants of the field really began to proliferate, from Asimov, Heinlein, Clarke, De Camp, Kuttner, Moore, Kornbluth, Bradbury... it really was a roster of great luminaries in the sf firmament here; while British writers included John Wyndham, C. S. Lewis, Alduous Huxley, and George Orwell with Animal Farm and 1984.

Then came the 1950s, with Anthony Boucher and J. Francis McComas' Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, and Horace L. Gold with Galaxy, with more of a slant on the softer sciences and a literary slant in the States, with such writers as Phil Farmer, Theodore Sturgeon (who had begun in the 1940s), Richard Matheson (ditto), Harlan Ellison (who wasn't to come into his own until the 1960s), etc.; and in Britain the emergence of writers like Aldiss, the early Ballard, etc.

Which is taking it far past the godfather/godmother stage, I think....

 

[chrispenycate]

Godfather? All those are direct ancestors, authors.
A god parent takes a hand in the raising of children, but is not directly responsable. I suggest Hugo Gernsback Hugo Gernsback who or even John W. Campbell (though he was more a step-brother), editors, publishers rather than the ealiest writers (well I could make an argument for that, anyway.)

 

[Serin]

I have to say Jules Verne and H.G.Wells.

 

[mightymem]

HG Wells and I know it has already been said by many people but I will give my reasons. He is one of the few authors to actual have created a templete for much of the books and films we read and watch today. His books were labeled romantic adventures and HG Wells was very interested in Science and how it relates to society and its developments. And the reason I claim he was the Grandfather, is because his books (with Jules Verne and Mary Shelley) leaped started the genre which we know as sci-fi. War of the Worlds started the Alien invasion themes, Time Machine influenced much of time travel fiction.

 

[red_temple]

Put me down for another vote for H G Wells.

My dad says either Goddard or Heinlein. He just likes to disagree with me.

 

[Alienweirdo]

Wonderful guys, HG wells seems to be in the lead, therefore i have started researching more into him for disertation.

Doesn't mean you can stop voicing your opinions =D thanks to those who have so far

 

[Ash59]

HG Wells i reckon, and still amongst the finest.

 

[Hiro Protagonist]

William Gibson is the father of science fiction in my world.

 

[j d worthington]

Um, no offense, but ... as far as the history of the field, anyway, Gibson's just a baby! (Mind you, I feel he's a very important figure... but ... father of the field??? )

 

[Pyan]

You seem to have a lot of duplication with your other thread, over in General Books, the greatest classic sc-fi writer thesis question. Did you intend to differentiate between the two questions to any degree, AW?
If you did, I'd go along with Chris, and say the Godfathers would be the people who didn't write so much as influence writers - Gernsback and Campbell being the two that spring to mind in print.
It's slightly different in film, so I would nominate Georges Méliès, Fritz Lang and Stanley Kubrick as three of the greats.

 

[j d worthington]

Indeed. And for those who haven't ever seen any of Melies' films:

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