Gary Westfahl traces the history of American Science Fiction from the beginning (Westfahl argues that Hugo Gernsback started it all) to the genre’s decline in the late 1960s. I enjoyed Westfahl’s insights, but a couple of his chapters stand out for me: “Five Ways to Conquer the Universe: The Forms of Space Opera” and “Artists in Wonderland: Towards a True History of Science Fiction Art.” One of my quibbles with Westfahl’s history of SF Art is that no art was included in this book. It would have been useful to see the artwork Westfahl refers to.
I also have to warn you about one of Westfahl’s Bad Habits: without warning he’ll drop a “spoiler” into the discussion of a book or story. Fortunately, I’ve read most of the stories Westfahl analyzes, but it was still jarring. Other than those quibbles, I recommend The Rise and Fall of American Science Fiction, from the 1920s to the 1960s. GRADE: A-
Table of Contents:
Acknowledgments ix
Introduction 1
Part I. The 1920s and Thereafter
1. The Emergence of American Science Fiction and Its Impact on the World 7
2. August 1928: Science Fiction’s Second Birthday 21
3. Artists in Wonderland: Towards a True History of Science Fiction Art 39
Part II. The 1930s and Thereafter
4. Pulp Science Fiction: A Student’s Guide 61
5. Beyond Logic and Literacy: The Strange Case of Space Opera 77
6. Five Ways to Conquer the Universe: The Forms of Space Opera 85
Part III. The 1940s and Thereafter
7. The Tall Dark Stranger and the Boy Next Door: A. E. van Vogt and Robert A. Heinlein 99
8. The Three Golden Ages of Science Fiction 111
9. Assemblers of Infinity: The Early History of Science Fiction Anthologies 124
Part IV. The 1950s and Thereafter
10. Invasion of the Saucer Men: How the Universe of Science Fiction Expanded in the 1950s 153
11. Hard Science Fiction: An Overview 180
12. The “Big Three” Approaches to Juvenile Science Fiction and Why One Worked and the Others Did Not 196
Epilog: The 1960s and Thereafter
13. After Things Fell Apart: The Fragmentation of Science Fiction in the 1960s and 1970s 211
14. Science Fiction Today: The Triumph of the Marketplace 233
Conclusion 247
Chapter Notes 251
Bibliography 268
Index 277
Somehow I didn’t notice the fall of sf in the 60s, but I was awfully busy chasing girls back then.
Dan, I noticed a trend of the Big Name SF writers to migrate from SF magazines to SF paperbacks. Then, the Big Names started to be published in hardcover–Frank Herbert with the DUNE series, Heinlein with his increasingly sexy SF novels–and making the Best Sellers lists.
Robert Silverberg has written often about how SF changed in the early ’60s and he changed what he was writing, only to return big time several years later.
Jeff, I just picked up hardcover editions of some of Silverberg’s SF novels from the early 1970s (I had only paperback editions). SF book publishing changed in that era and that meant the decline of SF magazines.
You ONLY had paperback editions? Isn’t that sufficient?
Rick, I prefer classic mystery and SF hardcovers whenever I can find them. But the paperbacks tend to have better cover artwork.
In my collection I also have few “pulps” which I found mainly in the markets in London – but I put them in little plastic bags because they are so “brittle” and fall apart – not really good for reading. That goes especially for the magazines from the 40s and 50s.
So most of my SF is dated after 1960.
Wolf, the pulp magazines I owned (before I donated them to SUNY at Buffalo) looked like they could fall apart at any moment. The high acidity in the pulp paper made them fragile. Now, the Librarians at SUNY at Buffalo are engaged in a project to de-acidfy the pulp magazines to preserve them. We’ll see how that goes.
Even though I stopped reading SF years ago I still find books like this of some interest, and was much impressed with Alec Nevala-Lee’s “Astounding” a couple of years ago. This would probably appeal to me, but I doubt that any of the SF writers in the sixties envisioned $45 paperbacks.
Michael, my local Library ordered THE RISE AND FALL OF AMERICAN SCIENCE FICTION when I asked them to. Today, I’ll swing by the Library and give the librarians some Halloween candy!
Speaking of Halloween, what is the story up there? DO you think you’ll have your usual crowds? Or is it banned, as it is in some places?
Jeff, North Tonawanda has shorted “Trick-or-Treating” tomorrow from 5:30 to 7:30 P.M. Most of our friends decided not to participate so they’re just shutting their lights off. I leaned that way but Diane decided we needed to “help” the kids so she prepared about 50 bags of candy (we usually get over 100 kids). Diane’s going to sit in the driveway and pass them out. She loves to see the little kids in costumes.
We’re going to go dark and not hand out candy this year. I’m curious as to how many kids will be out on the streets — there’s normally over 600. We’ll be inside, watching our dvd box set of Val Lewton films. We’d been watching the Universal monster films over the last few years. I don’t know where we’ll go after this (though I’m sure we’ll have some Val Lewton left for next year).
Jeff, I’m curious to see how many kids actually do the “Trick-or-Treat” thing here in 2020. Many surrounding communities have cancelled it entirely.
We’ll be dark too. We haven’t done Halloween for several years, after people stopped coming to the few houses on our little street.
Rick, “Trick-or-Treat” might be in decline nationwide. We were in Dallas last Halloween for BOUCHERCON 50. When we returned home, our neighbors told us the weather was terrible–high winds and rain–so there were very few kids on our street asking for candy.