Page Created: 03/06/14. Last Updated: 06/13/14.
JOHN J PIERCE
Critical Works:
..........Foundations of Science Fiction: A Study in Imagination and Evolution (1987)
..........Great Themes of Science Fiction: A Study in Imagination and Evolution (1987)
..........Odd Genre: A Study in Imagination and Evolution (1994)
..........When World Views Collide (1989)
Collections Edited:
..........The Best of Raymond Z Gallun
..........The Best of Murray Leinster
..........The Best of Cordwainer Smith
Magazines Edited:
..........Galaxy Magazine (1977 - 1978)
On Line:
..........Blog / The Seventy Year Itch: http://theseventyyearitch.blogspot.com/
..........Encyclopedia of Science Fiction: http://www.sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/pierce_john_j
..........FaceBook Page: https://www.facebook.com/pierceqfpl
..........Wikipedia Entry: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_J._Pierce
MEETING SUMMARY
Meeting Date: May 10, 2014.
Meeting Site: Bergen Highlands United Methodist Church, Upper Saddle River.
Official Attendance: 20.
Meeting Program: Talk / Discussion of Origins of Science Fiction Literature with Critic / Editor.
Notes:
Additional Notes from the Meeting appear after the Newsletter Account.
Newsletter Account:
The following account is reprinted with permission from THE STARSHIP EXPRESS Copyright 2014 Philip J De Parto:
The regular meeting of the Science Fiction Association of Bergen County was held at the Bergen Highlands United Methodist Church on Saturday, May 10, 2014, The meeting was moved to the church due to the loss of the Saddle River Valley Cultural Center (see Association Notes on Page Two of Newsletter).
We had a very lively pre meeting set of activities. Three bags of free books and manga were given away. Our Animation Associates very much enjoyed seeing additional episodes of ROCKET GIRLS, courtesy of last month's speaker, Phil Lipari. John Upton had photos of the masquerade contest from the World Science Fiction Convention. Barry Weinberger's Ice Nine discussion had lots of news about works of science fiction television and cinema.
Our speaker was John J Pierce, the author of four books about the origins and evolution of science fiction literature which form "A Study of Imagination and evolution": FOUNDATIONS OF SCIENCE FICTION; GREAT THEMES OF SCIENCE FICTION; WHEN WORLD VIEWS COLLIDE and ODD GENRE. He is a former editor of GALAXY MAGAZINE and also edited collections of short stories by Cordwainer Smith, Murray Leinster and Raymond Z Gallun for Del Rey Books.
Mr Pierce agrees with Lois McMaster Bujold's statement that a genre is a group of works which converse with each other. Although there were works which contained some or all of the elements of what we would consider science fiction before his time, it was Jules Verne who was the father of written science fiction. Before Verne, works of this sort existed in isolation. But Verne was popular, influential and prolific. He changed the world of letters.
The roots of science fiction literature go back thousands of years and include utopias, imaginary voyages, Gothic romances, speculative dialogues and essays, and all manner of heroic works. Even the name "science fiction" (as well as scientific romance) exist before Verne, but they describe different things. (science fiction meant something like today's term, pseudo science , for example). This write up continues on the "05/2014 Meeting" Page of the Association's website.
Additional Notes:
Here are works mentioned by Mr Pierce as proto-science fiction works, organized by date:
1608 - Johannes Kepler wrote SOMNIUM, an essay-like book about imagining life on the moon in 1608 which was published after his death.
1687 - Aphra Behn wrote EMPEROR OF THE MOON, a farce about a man who'd read too many Moon travel stories of the 17th Century and took them to seriously, in 1687.
1763 - THE REIGN OF KING GEORGE VI, 1900 - 1925 was written by an anonymous author in 1763 and deals mostly with politics and very little with technology.
1770 - Louis-Sebastien Mercier wrote L'AN 2440 (The Year 2440), the first utopia set in the future. This was an important development in the road to science fiction because when a work is set in the future, you must work out the steps needed to get from the present to that future. The work inspired many futuristic utopias and inspired many futuristic utopias.
1795 - Heinrich Zshcokke wrote a science fiction trilogy, DIE SCHWARZEN BRUDER (The Black Brothers), in the late 18th Century. It concerns a secret society working to construct a utopia. The first volume (1791) is set in the past, the second (1793) in the author's present, and the third (1795, last date is used because it is the most arguably sf) in the future. Zshcokke encouraged others to continue the story, and A K Ruh appears to have taken him up on the offer.
----- Side note 1: My (Phil's) recollection is that Gordon R Dickson had planned to write a trilogy of trilogies in the same format (past, present, future), but only the future (the Dorsai books) got written, and they expanded to be more than a trilogy.
----- Side note 2: Mr Pierce referred to the work as the first science fiction shared world. Phil stated that, depending upon how broadly one defines of the genre, story of the Trojan War might qualify.
1800 - A K Ruh wrote GARLANDS AROUND THE FUTURE in 1800. Mr Pierce said that this is obviously in the same world as BRUDER 3, but others disagree.
1810 - Julius von Voss wrote INI. EIN ROMAN AUS DEM EIN UND ZANZIGSTEN JAHRHUNDERT in 1810.
1822 - Honore de Balzac wrote THE CENTENARIAN: OR THE TWO BERINGHELDS in 1822 in which a scientist kills to get glands which will prolong his life.
1833 - Jane C Webb Loudon wrote THE MUMMY!: OR A TALE OF THE TWENTY-SECOND CENTURY in 1833 (according to JJ; Wikipedia says published in three volumes in 1827; perhaps the 1833 was a combined edition). The work is notable because it is set in the future; it tells an actual story; it attempts to domesticate the future (integrate technology into everyday life as opposed to treating it as wondrous); and considers secondary effects like traffic tie-ups and accidents by balloon aircraft.
1836 - Mary Griffith wrote THREE HUNDRED YEARS HENCE in 1836. Edgar Allen Poe reviewed this a futuristic utopia set in the America.
1890 - French writer Albert Robida wrote a number of futuristic works from 1879 to 1919. His LE VINGTIENME SIECLE. LA VIE ELECTRIQUE depicts a television device called the telephonoscope.
1894 - Gustavus W Pope wrote JOURNEY TO MARS THE WONDERFUL WORLD: ITS BEAUTY AND SPLENDOR; ITS MIGHTY RACES AND KINGDOMS; ITS FINAL DOOM in 1894. (Phil's note: The Wikipedia article points out a number of correspondences to the later ERB Barsoom books.)
1935 - This is a movie, not a book: KOSMICHESKIY REYS (Cosmic Journey) was produced in the Soviet Union in 1935.
Miscellaneous:
- The DNA of DRAGNET runs through television shows like CSI.
- The DNA of literature is like Darwin's finches, it evolves and adapts to fill specific niches.
- Novels can be defined as prose narratives about ordinary people. Darrell Schweitzer has identified a romance novel written in 200 BC.
- While Jules Verne was the father of science fiction, H G Wells was the Great Assimilator. The future setting of THE TIME MACHINE marks the first post-historic (so far in the future that its inhabitants have no recollection of our contemporary civilization) future.
- In STAR TREK, you have a nice, cooperative future with Huck Finn (James T Kirk) in charge.