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Is it the image of a whale, as suggested by the empty orbits to the right, or a giant squid, its tentacles waving left? This is neither the one nor the other, but the image of a marine juggernaut is perhaps appropriate, as mysterious creatures of the depths – Moby Dick, Nessie, the Nautilus – have a more than tangential impact on this diagram. Which is what this picture, looking closer, seems to be. And so much more: it's also a work of art and a timeline; a literary checklist and historiography of a particular kind. It's probably a few other things too, but it's first and foremost a map of known and unknown places and the links that unite them.
Entitled A science fiction story, this map is the work of Ward Shelley, sculptor, performance artist and painter based in Brooklyn (1). One of his specialties in this last discipline are the huge chronological diagrams, including an extra-large flow chart and a very enlightening autobiography (2). It traces, from left to right, the origins and evolution of a whole genre of popular fiction – science fiction.
A short and precise definition of a genre as wide as SF is not easy, although the decisive test to distinguish it from its Siamese twin, the fantasy, quoted in the Shelley diagram, is useful: Science fiction deals with improbable possibilities, the fantasy of plausible impossibilities. In simple terms: if he has elves, it's a fantasy. If she has extraterrestrials, it's SF.
One thing to keep in mind: Whatever the future (3), SF is always a criticism of the time when it was produced. Once this has been done, you will be less likely to be bothered by Seventies SF's flared trousers. So, as now, some of the main themes of the genre revolve around the exploration of space, contacts with exotic species, advances in robotics and computer science, and human engineering of the space-time continuum. .
But we are – perhaps true to the genre – ahead of ourselves. Let's take a look at this map from its curly-curved beginnings: the fear and wonder that have been the companions of humankind since the invention of the campfire story.
Among the old channels of pre-SF literature, we can cite the philosophy (the Republic), mythology (the Anglo-Saxons Beowulf), the pre-scientific imagination (the Golem of the medieval Jewish tradition), exploration of the New World (Defoe's Robinson Crusoe) and art (Thomas More's Utopia). The last two works could equally well have been clbadified in the same category, which reveals the reverse of the obsolete work of Mr. Shelley: his clbadifications are extremely debatable. This is of course part of the fun of this card.
SF remains a wink in the speculative fiction writer until two great literary traditions meet or merge into each other: the Enlightenment (bringing a bit of science) and romance (offering the fictional part). This would eventually lead to the creation by SF of cradles of the Gothic novel, modern versions of folk tales and fairy tales and other genres, some (4) heading into chasms towards, one of the suspects, their own. elaborate diagrams.
The years leading up to 1900 produced clbadic science fiction works such as Mary Shelley's Frankenstein or L.S. Mercier The year 2440. He also saw three prolific and iconic writers, each contributing to SF's growing field: Jules Verne, H.G. Wells and E.A. Poe. After 1900, the genre explodes into a cumbersome clutter of subgenres, dominated by a plethora of influential magazines bearing titles like Strange tales and surprising.
A generalized chronology distinguishes periods dominated by adventure ("rockets and rifles" after 1920), science ("the golden age" of SF, after 1940), sociology (the "clbadical period" After 1950), the form (a Wave & # 39; after 1960) and Star Wars (SF turns into dominant styles after 1980). Some influential genres are cited, such as Space Opera, "Soft" and "Hard" SF, and Cyberpunk. The rest of the diagram is full of hundreds of books – and movies – representing the widest variety of stories imaginable, offering even the reader almost interested in SF a practical map of vast areas to explore further …
Many thanks to Nick Andert, J.B. Post, Jeff Cupp, Stannous Flouride, Sue Somers and Toon Wbadenberg for sending this card, a winning contribution to the annual Best Scientists Card Contest organized by Places & Spaces. To learn more about this contest and view other maps, click here.
Strange cards # 506
Do you have a strange card? Let me know [email protected]
(1) See bigger (and bigger) on Mr. Shelley's website.
(2) here and here.
(3) Typically, either a future in which science has made enormous progress (towards utopia) or, more frequently in recent years, society has collapsed (in dystopia). Strictly speaking, these evolutions do not necessarily have to occur in the future, but can also occur in alternative realities, past or present.
(4) horror, westerns, crimes / mysteries, fantasies.
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