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Science Fiction Throught Time and Space
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  Quote Guests Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Topic: Science Fiction Throught Time and Space
    Posted: 04-Nov-2007 at 23:46
As an schollar of Science Fiction myself, I am very interested in the history of the field worldwide.
 
Unlike what people thinks, Science Fiction has its roots very early on. Lucian of Samosata (From Roman times) was the first author that wrote was was undeniable a science fiction book: "the real history". In there, the author describe a trip to the moon and space battles in roman ship that would have turn red of envy the creators of Star Wars LOL
 
Science fiction has precedents also in classical literature. There are robots in the Illiad and flying saucers in the Indian Mahabarata, and authomatic doors activated by voice in The Arabian Nights, for example.
 
In any case, I am interested in the development of Science Fiction all over the world. I have studied the topic in my own country (Chile) and I have found examples of that literature by local writers since the beginning of the 19th century. I am pretty sure that everywhere there is interesting Science Fiction to comment.
 
So, please, tell me about your local Science Fiction, and about those historical things that are not very widely known, or that remain local to your own culture.
 
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  Quote Guests Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 05-Nov-2007 at 21:56

Hey, nobody want to tell us about the S.F. of his/her country?
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Posts: 591 		  Quote Peteratwar Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 12-Nov-2007 at 15:40
Well, of course there was H.G.Wells in theis country and Jules Verne. Thereafter there has been a veritable explosion of writings.
 
Nowadays I think it is important to distinguish between fantasy (See Lord of the Rings types) and Science Fiction (see Doc Smith). There are of course some which seem to bridge them.
 
The variety is frankly huge. Some of course good some of course awful.
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  Quote Guests Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 13-Nov-2007 at 02:01
Yes, H.G. Wells and Verne are perhaps the top genious but there are many more. Mary Shelley, for instance, created that outstanding work called Frankenstein, which is considered by many the first real science fiction novel. And who forgets Samosata, Kepler, Cyrano, Voltaire, Poe, Flammarion, Burroughs, Asimov, Heinlein, Clarke, Phillip K. Dick, Gibson and hundreds of others.
However, what I am interested in this thread are those unknown names of each country. For instance Stanislav Lem came from Poland and is a top star, but there are thousand of others that perhaps only Arabs, East Indians, Chineses or Turks known. I can contribute also with Spanish speaking science fiction writers.
 
That's my invitation.
 
 
 
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Posts: 591 		  Quote Peteratwar Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 20-Nov-2007 at 09:49
never forget the ER EDDISON books. Difficult to read but very good. Lord Dunsany and many others.
 
There have been many 'pure' science fiction books and many 'pure' fantasy books.
 
However, there is a genre which comnines both and is very much what one would call science fantasy.
 
Whilst I am very much into English books in the overall genre I regret that I have rarely read any foreign langusage books. I did in the past read some French science fiction but never any Spanish. German was a language I don't know well.
 
So get me going on English novels etc and I'm fine
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Posts: 1211 		  Quote Cezar Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 06-Dec-2007 at 17:18

Hello, Pinguin. I'm a SF fan too and I've read quite a lot of books. Unfortunately I never found any written by an author from Chile.

Romanian SF and fiction writers are not very well known abroad though they are quite a few and some of them did wrote some quality works. I tried in vain to find a site in English or Spanish to offer you a link about them. You can try a Google search with the names I give below but Don't expect too much.

Felix Aderca - one of the pioneers - his book "Orase scufundate"(Sunk cities) 1936 is a distopy

Vladimir Colin - one of our best - more than 20 novels of different genres Fantasy, fantastic and SF

Ion Hobana - not the very best but a vluable promoter of the Romanian SF

George Anania & Romulus Barbulescu - a most valuable pair (someone compared them with A&B Strugatky) their style is definitely Hard SF and their works can be compared with Clarke . Their novel Doando is a kind of the Rama series but they also produced some very interesting original ideas.

Tudor Negoita- a few novels not that good. Something in Vogt style but with a better quality of writing and less imagination.
 
Rodica Bretin - a mix of fantasy and SF - she writes something like LeGuin though I like Rodica's work more, and that's not because she's Romanian.
 
Pavel Corut - since 1992 he wrote a series of books, with a very nationalistic touch (the "Octogon" series). Some kind of political, policier, spy fantasy and SF.
 
Horia Arama, Radu Nor, Gheorghe Sasarman, Vicor Anestin, etc.
There are other writers but I really cannot pick them up right now. Romanian SF suffered during Ceausescu regime since it was regarded as dangerous. I was waonder how was it in Chile during the dictatorship. A friend of mine had neighbours that were refugees from your country. It must have been really bad since people were refugiating in Romania by then.
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  Quote Guests Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 06-Dec-2007 at 20:44

That's quite interesting, "Cezar". I am very interested in SF of behind the former "iron curtain". I love Lem, but I am afraid we don't know many more because very few literature from Easter Europe arrived to here.

With respect to Chilean authors, the fact is, no matter SF in Chile is more than 150 years old, there haven't been outstanding SF writers that could enter the international markets of book distribution. You know, most what people consumes from Latin America are folkloric tales and political dramas, in the style of "100 years of solitude" or "The house of Spirits". The rest simply don't call the attention of the outside world.

The dictatorship in Chile was a reign of terror. Not many people died (3.000) but the dictator managed to spread fear at all level of society in a planified manner. One million Chileans (10% of the people of the time) went abroad and most of them never came back. They spread all over the planet.

And yes, I also knew some Chilean that took refuge in Rumania, and we are thankful to your country for taking care of them. In Chile at the time (1970s) the real poors lived like in the most inhuman conditions imaginable, so even in countries with economical problems, the fact that they got an apartment was a great achievement. Fortunately these times, at least in this part of the world, are over. Ending extreme poverty is our priority, and it is working.

Thanks for asking about my country. I will keep in mind your recommendations. 


Edited by pinguin - 06-Dec-2007 at 20:47
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