The Greatest Classic Sc Fi Writer – Thesis Question, participation appreciated!

[williamjm]

Why should we limit ourselves to only those that would be known by people who don't read sf? The "greatest" thus becomes the most populist... which is just plain wrong.

Here's a thought: work out the year of first publication of a sf author, and then the last year a work of theirs was in print. Novels only (to make it easier). Order by number of years descending. The top five are your "Greatest Classic SF Writers"...

I'm a bit baffled why being in print for a long time automatically makes you the greatest. Does that mean that James Blish is a greater author than Philip K Dick (for example) because he published his first novel 3 years earlier and both their books are still in print?

 

[iansales]

"Greatest" is entirely subjective. Put five sf fans in a room and tell them they can't come out until they've all agreed on a top five greatest sf writers... They'd still be in there now

"Longest time in print" is at least quantifiable. And it's not entirely linked to popularity. Yes, a popular author will remain in print longer than an unpopular author. But editors also keep authors they admire in print, even though they may not sell in large quantities. (Really popular authors may sell huge numbers of books, but not necessarily over a long time.)

 

[Foppish Knight]

You need to add the Russians/Slavs to the list. They really created the genre (Asimov, noted). Where is Franz Kafka, for instance? Gogol? Though depending on how you define "science fiction", this may be more of an american phenomenon

 

[j d worthington]

You need to add the Russians/Slavs to the list. They really created the genre (Asimov, noted). Where is Franz Kafka, for instance? Gogol? Though depending on how you define "science fiction", this may be more of an american phenomenon

A part of the reason they haven't necessarily been considered is because of the restrictions on import/export of literature where the USSR was concerned; which meant that a comparatively small amount of Russian sf was published in the West for a very long time; this in turn prevented the writers from getting either the notice from either critics, public, or other writers that would perhaps normally have been their due. Sadly, this is still true to a great degree, as I still don't seem a great deal of sf writers from that part of the world represented in print, and from what little I've had the opportunity to read, that's a considerable loss.

But it does add to the complication of what is meant here by "greatest", as greatest in impact may perhaps be (though with considerable difficulty) more possible of somewhat objective assessment, whereas greatest in point of writing is going to have a very large amount of subjectivity to it.

 

[Nesacat]

I voted for Lovecraft as having the greatest impact on my life and reading habits. Also it's probably all true really.

This is what happens when you don't sleep Thursday thru Sunday.

 

[Talysia]

I voted for HG Wells, simply because of War of the Worlds. When that play went out on the radio, a lot of people thought it was real, and that would have put science fiction deep into the public awareness from that moment on.

 

[DeepThought]

For me it's obviously Asimov, his prose leaves much to be desired compared to authors with a more literary bent; Author C. Clark, Philip K. Dick etc. but its not that bad either considering he wrote over an excess of four hundred books. In SF it had always been more to with big themes and ideas than mere prose and Asimov was a master of the former. In any case if you decide to go with Asimov (it certainly seems to be that way from the chart), do check out I.ASIMOV A MEMOIR, reading through it I found it hard to believe that a person of such phenomenal intelligence (Mensa member, Biochemist etc.) can at the same time be such a modest person.

Cheers, DeepThought

 

[Gav]

I voted for HG Wells, simply because of War of the Worlds. When that play went out on the radio, a lot of people thought it was real, and that would have put science fiction deep into the public awareness from that moment on.

HG Wells didn't write that radio play...

 

[BAYLOR]

Er, that was Orson Welles. Not HG Wells.

(okay, so it was a radio adaptation of HG Wells... but if the nearest anything gets to panic in Wells' novel is a man appearing "dishevelled" because he'd mislaid his hat...)

H G Wells and Orson Wells both met each other , In fact both, were in a radio interview together.

 

[hitmouse]

This Baylorised thread is quite interesting. Quite apart from the spurious initial premise, and the thorough discussion, what I find curious is the number of people who note their votes without any hint of critical perspective. Just goes to show: put up a flimsy list such as this and many folks appear to take it as valid. It gains its own bogus credibility in the process.

 

[BAYLOR]

This Baylorised thread is quite interesting. Quite apart from the spurious initial premise, and the thorough discussion, what I find curious is the number of people who note their votes without any hint of critical perspective. Just goes to show: put up a flimsy list such as this and many folks appear to take it as valid.

Having read the topic premise, I thought this on would be good for a revival and further discussion.

 

[Extollager]

I don't think "greatest" has to be "entirely subjective," though that may be how some responders take it. I do think that a lot of fuss could be avoided if people who propose topics such as this one would provide criteria at the outset to help to guide the discussion. In this case, I think criteria can be suggested according to which the discussion would be more than just an exhibition of fans naming their faves.

"Greatest" could be understood as (in this context -- the discussion of an sf writer) meaning: the writer whose work intriguingly explores a wide range of what have come to be established sf concerns, earning recognition from a wide range of readers (numerous countries, and differing generations) for that, and deploys the literary skills that multiple generations have found, and continue to find, to be effective. I should hardly need to say, after offering that definition, that my nominee is H. G. Wells.

Wells isn't the first sf writer, and perhaps some would argue that any one of his stories is surpassed by some greater work,* but he was the first writer who really made sf his own, writing standard works that remain fresh and compelling not just to me, but to you, to a Czechoslovakian university student in the 1960s, to a Canadian veterinarian on the prairie in the 1920s (these are hypothetical, but believable, readers), etc.

*Thus someone might argue that (___) is a greater invasion-from-the-planets story than The War of the Worlds, (____) is a greater time travel story than The Time Machine, (____) is a greater tale of a startling invention or discovery that demonstrated things about the human moral condition, (____) is a greater horror story of tampering with biology than The Island of Dr. Moreau, "_____" is a great tale of the glimpse, through a mysterious alien artefact, of a weird world than "The Crystal Egg," (_____) is a greater evocation of space travel to a new world and of an alien culture than The First Men in the Moon -- and so on. But these were early and fresh ventures in these categories and they are very well written; evidently they translate well, by the way. Now what other author has an achievement like this?

 

[hitmouse]

Yes, but...
Choosing HGW from a silly list is of debateable value.

This is quite separate from discussions of the merits of HGW, or how we might define greatness.

 

[BAYLOR]

Yes, but...
Choosing HGW from a silly list is of debateable value.

This is quite separate from discussions of the merits of HGW, or how we might define greatness.

War of the Worlds is consider the grandaddy of all alien invasion novels.

 

[Extollager]

Yes, but...
Choosing HGW from a silly list is of debateable value.

This is quite separate from discussions of the merits of HGW, or how we might define greatness.

As a (retired) English teacher, I would say that at least one modest claim could be made for such a list, silly as it may be, namely that it could prompt some sf readers who generally occupy themselves with whatever's New and Hyped by Tor or whomever, to stop taking, say, Wells as a given and actually read him.

People will usually grant that, oh sure, Shakespeare or Swift or Austen or Dickens are great, yeah, that's what everyone knows, yadda yadda, now let me get back to (fill in the blank with the name of an author who is currently the buzz). But then if people actually read these authors, they sometimes find -- Wow! This is really good!

 

[hitmouse]

Fair enough. For what it's worth I am very fond of my collection of old Wells editions, and a couple of ancient hardbacked Wells SS collections.

 

[BAYLOR]

As a (retired) English teacher, I would say that at least one modest claim could be made for such a list, silly as it may be, namely that it could prompt some sf readers who generally occupy themselves with whatever's New and Hyped by Tor or whomever, to stop taking, say, Wells as a given and actually read him.

People will usually grant that, oh sure, Shakespeare or Swift or Austen or Dickens are great, yeah, that's what everyone knows, yadda yadda, now let me get back to (fill in the blank with the name of an author who is currently the buzz). But then if people actually read these authors, they sometimes find -- Wow! This is really good!

Unfortunately , many modern readers simply don't have an appreciation for the classics which is a very bad development in our culture .

 

[Extollager]

Unfortunately , many modern readers simply don't have an appreciation for the classics which is a very bad development in our culture .

Places like Chrons can be something that alert some of these people, who have missed out, on the fact that "the classics" can be excellent reading. When I reread the sf and fantasy of Wells, Rider Haggard, Kipling, W. H. Hodgson, A. C. Doyle, &c., it's mostly because their sf and fantasy can be so enjoyable. As I'm fond of pointing out, C. S. Lewis said that there are

--things we have to do
--things we ought to do
--things we like to do
...and those can all be good reasons for reading something. But most of us have no obligation to read something because it is new, or simply because other people are buzzing about it, etc.

And I like reading Wells & co.

 

[Bick]

Baylorised

Nice expression

I hadn't seen this thread before, as it predates me, but... what a shocking list! My vote goes to... oh heck, I don't know. I do like "Baylorised" though, and having a growing appreciation for peculiar old threads Baylor digs up!

 

[BAYLOR]

Nice expression

I hadn't seen this thread before, as it predates me, but... what a shocking list! My vote goes to... oh heck, I don't know. I do like "Baylorised" though, and having a growing appreciation for peculiar old threads Baylor digs up!

Thanks Bick .