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Golden Age of Science Fiction

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The Golden Age of Science Fiction was a period in which a number of foundational works of science fiction appeared in American genre magazines. Exemplars include the Foundation series of Isaac Asimov and the Future History series of Robert Heinlein, but the form included dozens of other authors. In the history of science fiction, the Golden Age follows the "pulp era" of the 1920s and '30s, and precedes New Wave science fiction of the '60s and '70s. The 1950s are, in this scheme, a transitional period. Robert Silverberg, who came of age then, saw the '50s as the true Golden Age.[1]

The age is often associated with the influence of editor John W. Campbell. The new approach was more sophisticated, but technology and optimism, which had always been stressed, continued to be foremost: In historian Adam Roberts's words, "the phrase valorises a particular sort of writing: hard SF, linear narratives, heroes solving problems or countering threats in a space-operatic or technological-adventure idiom."[2]: 287 

History

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Further information: History of US science fiction and fantasy magazines to 1950

From Gernsback to Campbell

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Science fiction magazines first appeared in 1926 with the launch of Hugo Gernsback's Amazing Stories.[3]: 23  This is usually considered to be the beginning of the pulp era of science fiction, though definitions vary.[4]: 109 [5]: 45  Several additional magazines by Gernsback and others appeared, and in some cases disappeared again, in the years that followed;[6][7]: xiii  in 1937, there were seven science fiction pulp magazines in publication.[8]: 98  In October 1937, John W. Campbell became editor of Astounding Stories. He finished the already in-progress December 1937 issue and started exercising full editorial control from the January 1938 issue onwards, changing the title to Astounding Science Fiction starting with the March 1938 issue.[9][10] Campbell's editorship of Astounding is generally held to mark the beginning of the Golden Age,[9] though the precise starting point varies slightly depending on definition—from 1937 at the earliest to 1940 at the latest.[2]: 288 [11]: 288 [12]: 128 [13]: 64 

Alva Rogers [Wikidata], in the 1964 book A Requiem for Astounding, writes that the period was both the Golden Age of science fiction as a whole and of Astounding in particular, and identifies the July 1939 issue as "the first real harbinger of Astounding's Golden Age".[14]: 59, 68  The July 1939 issue of Astounding has been adopted by others as the starting point of the Golden Age,[15]: 5 [16]: 79  and The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction writes that "The beginning of Campbell's particular Golden Age of SF can be pinpointed as the summer of 1939" more broadly.[10] The July issue included "Black Destroyer", the first published story by A. E. van Vogt, as well as the first appearance by Isaac Asimov in the magazine with the story "Trends"; the August issue contained the first published story by Robert A. Heinlein, "Life-Line"; and the September issue had the first story by Theodore Sturgeon, "Ether Breather".[10][15]: 5 [16]: 79  Rogers nevertheless holds that, despite the appearance of these early stories, "it wasn't until 1940 that the Golden Age came into full being".[17]: 75 

Campbell and Astounding

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As editor of Astounding, Campbell took a proactive role.[2]: 287  Even before he assumed the editorship, it had become the best-selling science fiction magazine and paid authors higher rates than its competitors did.[10][18]: 19–20 

Causes

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Besides the editorial influence of Campbell, George Mann identifies the broader cultural shift brought about by World War II as an important factor in determining the trajectory of the genre during this time period.[19]: 13  Increasing scientific literacy among the readership has also been proposed as a contributing factor.[18]: 22  Another aspect is that many of the emerging writers of the time had themselves grown up reading science fiction magazines.[20]: 3 [21]: 149 

Characteristic tropes

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Many of the most enduring science fiction tropes were established in Golden Age literature. Space opera came to prominence with the works of E. E. "Doc" Smith; Isaac Asimov established the canonical Three Laws of Robotics beginning with the 1941 short story "Runaround"; the same period saw the writing of genre classics such as the Asimov's Foundation and Smith's Lensman series. Another frequent characteristic of Golden Age science fiction is the celebration of scientific achievement and the sense of wonder; Asimov's short story "Nightfall" (1941) exemplifies this, as in a single night a planet's civilization is overwhelmed by the revelation of the vastness of the universe. Robert A. Heinlein's novels, such as The Puppet Masters (1951), Double Star (1956), and Starship Troopers (1959), express the libertarian ideology that runs through much of Golden Age science fiction.[22]

Algis Budrys in 1965 wrote of the "recurrent strain in 'Golden Age' science fiction of the 1940s—the implication that sheer technological accomplishment would solve all the problems, hooray, and that all the problems were what they seemed to be on the surface".[23] The Golden Age also saw the reemergence of the religious or spiritual themes—central to so much proto-science fiction prior to the pulp era—that Hugo Gernsback had tried to eliminate in his vision of "scientifiction". Among the most significant such Golden Age narratives are Bradbury's The Martian Chronicles (1950), Clarke's Childhood's End (1953), Blish's A Case of Conscience (1958), and Miller's A Canticle for Leibowitz (1959).[24]

End of the Golden Age

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The large, mainstream companies' entry into the science fiction book market around 1950 was similar to how they published crime fiction during World War II; authors no longer had to publish only through magazines.[25]

Several factors changed the market for magazine science fiction in the mid- and late 1950s. Most important was the rapid contraction of the pulp market: Fantastic Adventures and Famous Fantastic Mysteries folded in 1953, Planet Stories, Startling Stories, Thrilling Wonder Stories and Beyond in 1955, Other Worlds and Science Fiction Quarterly in 1957, Imagination, Imaginative Tales, and Infinity in 1958. In October 1957, the successful launch of the Soviet satellite Sputnik 1 narrowed the gap between the real world and the world of science fiction, as the space race began. Asimov shifted to writing nonfiction he hoped would attract young minds to science, while Heinlein became more dogmatic in expressing libertarian political and social views in his fiction.[citation needed]

In the early 1960s, emerging British writers, such as Brian W. Aldiss and J. G. Ballard, cultivated New Wave science fiction, indicating the direction other writers would soon pursue. Women writers emerged, such as Judith Merril, Joanna Russ and Ursula K. Le Guin.[citation needed] John Clute, writing in The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction, asserts that it was Frank Herbert's novel Dune (1965) that "arguably capped and put paid to the Golden Age of SF. No sf novel since published, it may be, has seemed so sure of the world it describes."[26]

Prominent authors

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Early (1938–1946)

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Later (1947–1959)

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Alternate date range

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F. Orlin Tremaine, editor of Astounding between October 1933 and November 1937,[10] said that "I believe we can safely call the years 1933–37 the first golden age of science fiction".[27]: xvii 

Robert Silverberg, in a 2010 essay, argued that the true Golden Age was the 1950s, and that the "Golden Age" of the 1940s was a kind of "false dawn". "Until the decade of the fifties", Silverberg wrote, "there was essentially no market for science fiction books at all"; the audience supported only a few special interest small presses. The 1950s saw "a spectacular outpouring of stories and novels that quickly surpassed both in quantity and quality the considerable achievement of the Campbellian golden age",[1] as mainstream companies like Simon & Schuster and Doubleday displaced specialty publishers like Arkham House and Gnome Press.[25]

The English novelist and critic Kingsley Amis endorsed that view[according to whom?] when he compiled and titled The Golden Age of Science Fiction: An Anthology (1981), with two thirds of the stories from the 1950s and the remainder from the early 1960s.

A long-running joke held that the "Golden Age" of science fiction was not a period in the history of the genre, but rather a nostalgic period in a young boy's life, often age 12 or 13 years. (Thus, Q: "When was the Golden Age of Science Fiction?", A: "About 12...")[9][28][29]: 45–46 

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b Robert Silverberg (2010). "Science Fiction in the Fifties: The Real Golden Age". Library of America. Archived from the original on August 25, 2012. Retrieved September 20, 2012.
  2. ^ a b c Roberts, Adam (2016). "Golden Age SF: 1940–1960". The History of Science Fiction. Palgrave Histories of Literature (2nd ed.). Palgrave Macmillan. pp. 287–331. doi:10.1057/978-1-137-56957-8_11. ISBN 978-1-137-56957-8. OCLC 956382503. Fans bicker pleasantly amongst themselves over the dates most properly connected with this Age, nominally golden. There is a consensus that it starts in 1938–39, some say it ends when World War II does, some that it lasts into the 1950s, but this need not distract us.
  3. ^ Westfahl, Gary (2021). "Science Fiction from 1926 to 1960". Science Fiction Literature through History: An Encyclopedia. ABC-CLIO. pp. 23–27. ISBN 978-1-4408-6617-3.
  4. ^ Westfahl, Gary (2003). "Three Decades That Shook the World, Observed through Two Distorting Lenses and under One Microscope". Science Fiction Studies. 30 (1): 109–122. doi:10.1525/sfs.30.1.0109. ISSN 0091-7729. JSTOR 4241144. Archived from the original on 2025-01-19 – via DePauw University.
  5. ^ Tymn, Marshall B. (1985). "Science Fiction: A Brief History and Review of Criticism". American Studies International. 23 (1): 41–66. ISSN 0883-105X. JSTOR 41278745. Science fiction entered a new phase when, in 1926, Gernsback placed the first issue of Amazing Stories on the newsstands. [...] With Amazing Stories the pulp era of science fiction began.
  6. ^ Nicholls, Peter; Ashley, Mike (2023). "Pulp". In Clute, John; Langford, David; Sleight, Graham (eds.). The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction (4th ed.). Retrieved 2025-04-20.
  7. ^ Bleiler, Everett Franklin; Bleiler, Richard (1998). "Introduction". Science-fiction: The Gernsback Years : a Complete Coverage of the Genre Magazines ... from 1926 Through 1936. Kent State University Press. pp. xi–xxx. ISBN 978-0-87338-604-3.
  8. ^ Nevins, Jess (2014). "Pulp Science Fiction". In Latham, Rob (ed.). The Oxford Handbook of Science Fiction. Oxford University Press. pp. 93–103. ISBN 978-0-19-983884-4.
  9. ^ a b c Nicholls, Peter; Ashley, Mike (2021). "Golden Age of SF". In Clute, John; Langford, David; Sleight, Graham (eds.). The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction (4th ed.). Retrieved 2025-04-05.
  10. ^ a b c d e Edwards, Malcolm; Nicholls, Peter; Ashley, Mike (2024). "Astounding Science-Fiction". In Clute, John; Langford, David; Sleight, Graham (eds.). The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction (4th ed.). Retrieved 2025-04-28.
  11. ^ Ash, Brian, ed. (1977). "Science Fiction Art". The Visual Encyclopedia of Science Fiction. Harmony Books. p. 288. ISBN 0-517-53174-7. OCLC 2984418. Shortly before the outbreak of war, science fiction was beginning a new phase, one signalled by the appointment of John W. Campbell as editor of Astounding. This next period, roughly from 1938 to 1950, is referred to by some as the Golden Age of Science Fiction.
  12. ^ Higgins, David M.; Duncan, Roby (2013). "Key Critical Concepts, Topics and Critics". In Hubble, Nick; Mousoutzanis, Aris (eds.). The Science Fiction Handbook. A&C Black. pp. 125–142. ISBN 978-1-4725-3897-0. Golden Age: A term used to refer to the period from 1937 (when John W. Campbell took over as editor of Amazing [sic] Stories) through the late 1950s in US SF publishing. The Golden Age followed the pulp era of the 1920s and 30s
  13. ^ Withers, Jeremy (2020). "Perfectibility and Techno-Optimism in the Pulp Era". Futuristic Cars and Space Bicycles: Contesting the Road in American Science Fiction. Oxford University Press. pp. 25–64. ISBN 978-1-78962-175-4. what many people refer to as the 'Golden Age' of sf (c.1940–60).
  14. ^ Rogers, Alva (1964). "The Dawn of the Golden Age: 1939–1940". A Requiem for Astounding. With editorial comments by Harry Bates, F. Orlin Tremaine, and John W. Campbell. Advent:Publishers. pp. 59–74. ISBN 978-0-911682-08-3. LCCN 64-57082. {{cite book}}: ISBN / Date incompatibility (help)
  15. ^ a b Asimov, Isaac (1989). "Introduction: 'The Age of Campbell'". In Asimov, Isaac (ed.). The Mammoth Book of Golden Age Science Fiction: Short Novels of the 1940s. Running Press. pp. 1–6. ISBN 978-0-88184-480-1.
  16. ^ a b Asimov, Isaac (1972). "Postface to 'Trends'". The Early Asimov; or, Eleven Years of Trying. Doubleday. pp. 79–82.
  17. ^ Rogers, Alva (1964). "The Golden Age Begins: 1940". A Requiem for Astounding. With editorial comments by Harry Bates, F. Orlin Tremaine, and John W. Campbell. Advent:Publishers. pp. 75–84. ISBN 978-0-911682-08-3. LCCN 64-57082. {{cite book}}: ISBN / Date incompatibility (help)
  18. ^ a b Lambourne, R. J.; Shallis, M. J.; Shortland, M. (1990). "Science and the Rise of Science Fiction". Close Encounters?: Science and Science Fiction. CRC Press. pp. 1–33. ISBN 978-0-85274-141-2.
  19. ^ Mann, George (2001). "John W. Campbell and the Golden Age of SF". The Mammoth Encyclopedia of Science Fiction. Carroll & Graf Publishers. pp. 13–15. ISBN 978-0-7867-0887-1.
  20. ^ Carr, Terry (1979). "Introduction". In Carr, Terry (ed.). Classic Science Fiction: The First Golden Age. Robson Books. pp. 1–17. ISBN 978-0-86051-070-3.
  21. ^ Page, Michael R. (2018). "Astounding Stories: John W. Campbell and the Golden Age, 1938–1950". In Canavan, Gerry; Link, Eric Carl (eds.). The Cambridge History of Science Fiction. Cambridge University Press. pp. 149–165. ISBN 978-1-107-16609-7.
  22. ^ Roberts, Adam The History of Science Fiction, pp. 196–203, New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2006. ISBN 0333970225
  23. ^ Budrys, Algis (August 1965). "Galaxy Bookshelf". Galaxy Science Fiction. pp. 186–194.
  24. ^ Roberts, Adam The History of Science Fiction, pp. 210–218, New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2006. ISBN 0333970225
  25. ^ a b Budrys, Algis (October 1965). "Galaxy Bookshelf". Galaxy Science Fiction. pp. 142–150.
  26. ^ Clute, John (2023), Entry: "Dune; Part One" in The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction, online version.
  27. ^ Tremaine, F. Orlin (1964). "Editorial Number Two: "in absentia"". In Rogers, Alva (ed.). A Requiem for Astounding. With editorial comments by Harry Bates, F. Orlin Tremaine, and John W. Campbell. Advent:Publishers. pp. xvii–xviii. ISBN 978-0-911682-08-3. LCCN 64-57082. {{cite book}}: ISBN / Date incompatibility (help)
  28. ^ Stableford, Brian (2004). "Golden Age of SF". Historical Dictionary of Science Fiction Literature. Scarecrow Press. p. 139. ISBN 978-0-8108-4938-9.
  29. ^ Carter, Paul A. (2004) [1976]. "From the Golden Age to the Atomic Age: 1940–1963". In Barron, Neil (ed.). Anatomy of Wonder: A Critical Guide to Science Fiction (5th ed.). Westport, Connecticut: Libraries unlimited. pp. 45–58. ISBN 978-1-59158-171-0.

Further reading

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