Father of Science Fiction: H. G. Wells

H. G. rise up is the True sustain of Science lying At the very end of the squared-toe Era, there emerged a gentleman of literature the likes of which the world had n ever so earlier seen. close to know him beaver as an English novelist, though most of his plant life were non novels. Some c all(prenominal) him a political and neighborly commentator, due to the didactic alkalis in galore(postnominal) of his flora. Due to inclusion of the social and natural attainments in his sketchs, he is besides known as a normalizer of acquaintance.His devotion to the phylogeny and establishment of emerging day studies as a comprehension most for sure garnered him the reputation as an primaeval futurist. His pervasive regularize in the growing of the cognition manufacturing genre is indisputable. However it was his masterful weaving unneurotic of futurism and speculative apologue into a single body of work sanctified to the future of mankind that earns H. G. surface the act of The give of Science fabrication. Herbert George intumesce was born in Bromely, Kent, England in September of 1866, the son of a m precaution and a professional cricketer.When he was eight years experient come up broke his leg and began reading library carrys to pass the judgment of conviction, affect his desire to write. He attended a number of schools throughout his archaean life, acquiring an xtensive background in physics, astronomy, and chemistry. He even out studied biology under Thomas Henry Huxley at the Royal College of Science, acquiring drawn-out knowledge in the theories of evolution. Joining the school Debating Society nurtured his interest toward social issues and reform.Wells considered himself a socialist and was a member of the Fabian Society that everyplacewhelm other much(prenominal) notable members as George Bernard Shaw and Virginia Woolf. At that time he as well bringed The Science School Journal, allowing him a forum to develop hi s playpen for literature, expressing his iews on indian lodge and perfecting his burgeoning fiction. after(prenominal) doing some teaching, he eventually graduated from The University of London with a Bachelors of Science in zoology. His prolific writing charge that followed involve 100s of works over the span of fifty years.His talent for cartel the possibilities of lore and engine room in the form of fictional stories that became known as information fiction or as the genre was known in Britain at the time, the scientific romance. Science fiction as a red-brick literary genre is distinguished by its accustom of trustworthy cientific ideas and concepts to form a story that is plausible within a futuristic or alternative-world setting. The fanciful factors of science fiction are largely realizable within the realm of scientific theory and fact.This differentiates science fiction from other speculative genres such(prenominal) as head game and crime in that those w orks are not concerned with scientific and expert possibility. Even bloody shame Shelleys Frankenstein (1818), though certainly innovative in use themes of science fiction, is to a greater extent undefiledly classified as a horror novel. Horror and fantasy genres also delineate rom science fiction in that they include magical and supernatural elements that are absent from the realistic and logical science fiction genre.Though some story elements of sci-fi potful be purely imaginary, accurate depictions of science and technology are employ to tormulate realistic conjectures ot the tuture, or even alternative timelines of the present or past. What distinguishes H. G. Wells from earlier authors who delve into themes of recent science fiction is that he studied science as a primary quill disciplinary field and apply his knowledge in a literary fashion, focusing on scientific and technological plausibility. All of Wells scientific romances contain realistic elements that are base d on applied scientific methodology and knowledge.Some of these include such famous works as The magazine cable car (1895), The Invisible Man (1897), and The War of the fields (1898). Though Wells is considered the Father of Science Fiction, it is oft argued that bloody shame Shelleys Frankenstein is the first work that could be considered true science fiction. Many of the innovative themes use by Mary Shelley unquestionably fall into the realm of modern science fiction. Never before had any story been written about a man of science (the term scientist was not yet coined and would not be until 1834) that performs experiments in a laboratory.Written as a response to the recent Industrial Revolution, Shelley uses fantastical scientific innovations to explore the moral and ethical consequences of technology, a device used by nearly all modern science fiction writers, including Wells. However, unlike Wells, Shelleys works include precious little in the way of factual scientific fact or theory, leaving the audience to speculate about their plausibility. Her schooling, though broad and advanced for a oman of the Romantic era, was in literary studies and include no instruction in the natural or physical sciences.Her sources were express board to discussions with her peers of earlyl 9th century experiments in vivisection and galvanism, the latter of which is an antiquated term for the stimulation of muscles by electric current, applied in the occurrence of Frankenstein to the reanimation of dead tissue. Her scientific education is in contrast to Wells, who had an extensive educational background in the sciences. Although Shelleys science is neither plausible nor the main focus of her story, its ealistic nature make Frankenstein truly terrorization to her audience, which was her intention in using such scientific elements.Shelley had sooner conceived the work as a horror story, thus her themes of science fiction become secondary to the theme of horror as the fo cus of the work. She elysian the archetype of the monster that followed in literature and film. Though Shelleys idea of using science merged with fiction was innovative for the time and implemented by later writers (including Wells, and not for another 80 years), Frankensteins designation as science fiction remains ncillary to that as a landmark novel of the horror genre.The title of The Father of Science Fiction has also been applied to popular French writer Jules Verne, unless is more accurately applied to H. G. Wells. patch certainly a brilliant and talented writer that intemperately influenced science fiction as a genre of literature, Vernes novels can easily be disputed as works of true science fiction. Much like Shelleys Frankenstein, the works of Verne contain elements and themes that are considered scientific but accessory to his primary literary theme.Much vigilance is given to Vernes Voyages Extraordinaires, a series of fifty-four stories hich include such famous work s as Journey to the Center of the earthly concern (1864), From the Earth to the Moon (1865), and Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Sea (1869). At the time of their take, the technological advancements present in Vernes works had been extrapolated by him to aid in his fantastic voyages, but would soon atter become scientific realities. This get him the reputation ot being a technological prophet, a reputation also held by Wells.Some of his prophecies that came true include the electric submarine, the helicopter, and a projectile to admit passengers to the moon. Although Vernes scientific prophecies were at generation more grounded in reality than those of Wells, they were made almost primarily in the area of transportation, unlike Wells, whose prophecies were made in multiple areas of science. The argument can be made that Verne himself inspired these technological advancements. Many pioneering submarine, aviation and rocketry innovators stool credited Verne as the inspiration for their winning inventions. However, Jules Verne was in no way a scientist. He was educated as a lawyer and studied geography, the latter of which inspired him to write his stories of risky venture and travel. Verne argued incessantly that his stories were not meant to be read scientifically, and even stated l do not in any way pose as a scientist2. The science he did use in his stories was well researched Verne often spent time in the company of the best contemporary scientists of his day, consulting them on possibilities of future technology that he could realistically yet fantastically chip in to his adventure stories.While not all science fiction writers are scientists, the case of whether Verne or Wells is The Father of Science Fiction can raise Wells as the true Father when its argued hat Wells scientific educational background gives him credibility and authority. His use of scientific elements as the primary theme of his works (unlike Verne, whose science was used as an auxiliary to the theme of adventure) makes him more deserving of the title. Also, Vernes title of technological prophet passed to Wells because of his dedication not Just to science but also the serious exploration and query of the future.In 1901, H. G. Wells wrote a book called Anticipations of the Reactions of Mechanical and Scientific Progress upon man Life and Thought which is onsidered the first comprehensive and widely read view of future evolutions in the short history of predictive writing3. Wells was not the first person to take seriously the study of the future, but rather he had access to a vast amount of early speculative writings, including some utopian novels that explored the future state of nightspot, that he combine into a single body of work.With the festering of scientific thought during the eighteenth and 19th centuries and the movement of scholars away from religious apocalyptic future inquiry, intellectual thinking and literature that ealt with general human progress instead of eschatology began to emerge. The development of social sciences that studied human interaction showed predictive power when applied to how future society might develop. Many 19th century novelists such as William Morris synthesized sociology with speculative fiction perfecting the utopian novel that gives an image of an holy person society set in the future.Earlier works inherited by Wells that included futurist themes often had a different purpose than the actual scientific study of the future such as exploring God and nterpreting history. In Anticipations, all the early tendencies toward future thought were combined by Wells into the first volume of work that gave complete attention to futurist ideas and consistently explored the future. analogous the works of Verne, Anticipations investigates the future of transportation, accurately predicting major highways and interstates as well as the prevalence of motor vehicles.He accurately predicts the rise ot suburbia and large metropolises as an enormous unbroken sprawls of middle-class life. The book also dwells extensively on the future of world rder and government, even predicting the formation of the European Union. After the publication of the book, the Royal Institution requested a lecture on future study, which he published under the name The Discovery of the approaching (1902). The lecture calls for a whole new science to establish an reproducible and working vision of the future, and is known to this day to be the birth of future studies.Wells continued this theme with other works dedicated to the future such as A Modern Utopia 1905), The Future in America (1906), What is glide slope? (1916), A Year of Prophesying (1925), The Fate of Homo Sapiens (1939) and many, many more. His work The Shape of Things to Come (1933) is a fictional outline of future history, the title a phrase coined by Wells that has been used countless times and is still used today. The term foresight us ed in Anticipations was also coined by Wells.Wells other accurate future predictions include lasers, cell phones, the Internet, and the nuclear bomb (a phrase he used in his book The World Set Free 1914 to describe the bombs that would not be developed until the 1930s). The attention that Wells gave to surveying the future not nly established future studies as a legitimate science, but also helped firmly established future thought as a major theme of science fiction. forrader Wells published Anticipations, he published his first and most well-known novel The metre Machine (1895).The story features a scientist known yet as The Time traveller who built a device that can move through time. This device is known as a time machine, a term coined by Wells and still used to this day in reference to such a device. The Time Traveler Journeys forward in time almost 800,000 years and meets a collected society of child-like humans known as the Eloi. He also meets the frightening race of Mo rlocks that live underground and are keepers of the technology that achieve the above-ground serenity.The Time Traveler also soon learns that the Morlocks feed on the Eloi, and that their technology is used to keep the Eloi passive. He comes to the conclusion that the two races are a harvest of Darwinian evolution and the large gap between the social classes of British society. He speculates that the Eloi were once the leisure class, and due to their conquest of nature with technology they have become feeble in an environment where intelligence and position are no onger necessary for survival. He also speculates that the Morlocks are descendants of the oppressed working class.This application of Darwins theories as a literary paper echoes Wells education under Huxley who was known as Darwins Bulldog. Before publication of The Time Machine, the premise of time travel as a diagram device had been used very little. There were some old folks tales and less than a handful of modern fictional works that had included time travel. The idea was certainly popularized by Wells and considered the inspiration of all later science fiction works that feature time travel. Like Anticipations, it also established time settings in the future as a major element of science fiction.Wells is the first author to use modern science fiction elements to compose social and political commentary. The Time Machine famously illustrates the possible future consequences of a stratified society that becomes besides dependent on technology and will be subject to a form of extreme social Darwinism. In The War of the Worlds, Wells examines Victorian attitudes and values. In his story of Martians attempting to colonize Earth and exterminate humans, Wells provides an imaginative vehicle tor ommentary on British Imperialism.Wells also explores morality and technological ethics, specifically within the realm of vivisection and genetic engineering in his novel The Island of Dr. Moreau (1896). The use of science in a fictional setting to make a didactic point is a reoccurring theme in Wells scientific romances. It has since whence became a major literary device in modern science fiction works to explore the impact of technology on society and humanity. In his best-known and most influential work, 2001 A Space Odyssey (1968), British author Arthur C.Clarke explores the moral and hilosophical implications surrounding technology and artificial intelligence, evolution, and alien life. Clarke was strongly influenced by Wells he was even vice president of the H. G. Wells Society. The British author C. S. Lewis was a champion of science fiction that is philosophically reflective and includes a moral point. He created his Cosmic Trilogy as a direct influence by H. G. Wells, citing his novel The First manpower in the Moon (1901) as the best sort of science fiction I have read4.Out of the Silent Planet (1938), the first book in Lewis trilogy, is so similar to The First Men in the Moon that the opening age says Certain slighting references to earlier stories of this type which will be found in the following pages have been put there for purely spectacular purposes. The author would be sorry if any reader supposed he was too stupid to have enjoyed Mr. H. G. Wells fantasies or too unappreciative to acknowledge his debt to them. 5 Wells influence on science fiction extends to many more authors, including British science fiction author Olaf Stapledon.Stapledon himself was a heavily influential writer, contributing many ideas to the genre of science fiction. Stapledon and Wells orresponded for over a decade, both creating ideas together and borrowing from each other. In his book The Billion Year Spree, Brian Aldiss calls Stapledon the greatest of Wells followers6. Wells science fictional bowl over extended beyond the sphere of British authors and diffused quickly to America, where his influence can be seen in such notable science fiction authors as Isaac Asimov and Robert Heinlein.During the 19th and 20th centuries, when the idea of the utopia as story element began to have a prominent place in literature, Wells himself wrote a number of utopian novels such as A Modern Utopia (1905) and Men Like Gods (1923). Wells progresses the idea of the utopia with his novel The Time Machine by romping the theme into an anti-utopia point of view. He illustrates the seemingly utopian society of the Eloi, and upon the discovery of the violent Morlocks, the world transforms into a horrifying dystopia.In his novel When the slumberer Wakes (1899) about a man who falls asleep for two hundred years and wakes up in the future, Wells gives definitive form to the dystopia as a science fiction theme. This theme was taken up by later authors, most notably the British authors George Orwell and Aldous Huxley in their amous novels Nineteen lxxxiv (1949) and Brave New World (1932) respectively. These two novels have been explicitly touted by their authors as directl y influenced by the works of Wells, and have in turn influenced many other authors, works, philosophers, thinkers, and even nations and governments.The achievement of H. G. Wells in the development of science fiction as a respected and important literary genre is unquestionable. His background as a scientist combined with his adept queries on futuristic ideas provided a springboard into an illustrious and intluential literary career His imaginative inventions ot science fiction themes such as the time travel, alien invasions, and out of sight men have taken their place as staples of sci-fi literature.This, on with his many coined terms, technological prescience and populizing of proto-science fiction themes into mainstream literature designate Wells as the most important science fiction writer the genre has ever seen. And when his pervasive influence on future science fiction writers is regarded along with his other contributions, the only conclusion that remains is that H. G. W ells is the true Father of Science Fiction. Works Cited Wells, H. G. Anticipations of the Reactions of Mechanical and Scientific Progress upon kind-hearted Life and Thought.