Visions of the Future: The 1890s- Not Quite Utopia

The Gilded Age. The Victorian Era.The Second Industrial Revolution. The decade of the 1890s was a period of great wealth and prosperity for some, but a period of poverty and upheaval for others. The science fiction of the era was revolutionary, and set a precedent for what was to come in the succeeding centuries.

History:

The great struggle for the American continent continued with the Battle of Wounded Knee in 1890 between the Lakota tribe and the United States Cavalry. This was only one of the many continuing revolutions and internal conflicts that marked the decade.

The Panic of 1893 occurred in the United States after the railroad-based, overbuilt economy crashed. Yet, America still got involved in the war for independence in Cuba, leading to the Spanish-American war in 1898.

Some other notable events of the decade include the Klondike Gold Rush, and the commencement of the modern Olympic games.

Science:

[Still from Blacksmith Scene]

Inventors in the 1890s had a fixation with flight and travel. A notable milestone in flight history was the Derwitz Glider, a manned craft created and flown by Otto Lilienthal in 1891. The first commercial automobiles were produced by French company Panhard et Levassor in the same year.

Thomas Edison created the first motion picture device, the Kinetoscope, during 1893 and 1894. The first film, Blacksmith Scene, was shown at the Brooklyn Institute of Arts and Sciences on May 9, 1893.

Several discoveries were made in the fields of chemistry and physics during the 1890s. Within one decade, the elements argon,neon, krypton, and xenon were discovered, as well as the X-ray.

Stories:

In 1890, William Morris wrote News From Nowhere, a romanticist, Marxist utopia story he used to defend socialism.

Author of the highly intellectual Lumen, Camille Flammarion published Omega: The Last Days of the World in 1894. It was about a comet made of Carbonic-oxide, which collided with earth in a fictional 25th century.  The story was very philosophical, as was its predecessor, and contemplated the consequences of an apocalyptic catastrophe.

And then there was H.G. Wells. Considered by many to be the Father of Modern Science Fiction, Wells revolutionized the science fiction landscape by intelligently and skillfully exploring the concepts that would become staples of the genre in the century to come.

In 1895, Wells published The Time Machine, the story of one traveller’s magnificent voyage through the fourth dimension to the far future, and the dystopian posthuman society he finds there. 1896 saw the publication of Wells’ The Island of Dr. Moreau, in which a mad scientist attempts to create intelligent animals through bizarre and unethical experiments. Finally, in 1898, H.G. Wells wrote the quintessential alien invasion story, The War of the Worlds, a frightening disaster tale of survival in the midst of strange and unbeatable odds.

What better place to transition into the science fiction of the twentieth century than with the classic works of H.G. Wells. As the century turned, science fiction reached a turning point as a genre.

Keep on glowing in the dark,

Elora

Top-5 Thursday-Early Space Adventures

Science fiction seems to have a fixation with the final frontier. Even before the Space Race, Star Trek, and Star Wars, enterprising authors sent their characters to the stars. (Yes, enterprising. There’s another Star Trek pun I can...Chekov my list. Not even sorry).

Here is a list of some of the most interesting, and influential space stories from the early days of the genre.

5. “The Brick Moon” by Edward Everett Hale (1869)-

This short story written in the form of a journal was the first to describe an inhabited, artificial satellite. It accounts the marvelous journey of people accidentally launched into space with the brick sphere they constructed as a navigational tool.

4. “The Unparalleled Adventure of One Hans Pfaall” by Edgar Allan Poe (1835)-

Intended by Poe to be released as a true account, and later revealed as a hoax, this satirical piece of fiction describes the journey of the titular Hans Pfaall to the moon in a balloon that converted the vacuum of space into breathable air.

3. Lumen by Camille Flammarion (1872)-

A dialogue framed in a work of highly philosophical fiction, Lumen speculates about the existence and nature of extraterrestrial life, and makes rather accurate assumptions about the speed of light.

2. A Voyage to the Moon by George Tucker (1827)-

Not only the earliest space adventure on this list, but also one of America’s oldest works of science fiction, George Tucker’s A Voyage to the Moon, described a Lunarian civilization that satirized the politicians and scientists of its time.

1. From the Earth to the Moon by Jules Verne (1865)-

It had to be Verne, didn’t it? Yes, it did. Not only was this novel one of the most influential space adventures of its time, it also described the process of getting to the moon in a nearly realistic way… As I’ve already described on this blog multiple times.

So, there are some precursors to the inspiring space age stories we know and love. Have you read any of them? Are you inspired to? I’d love to hear any thoughts in the comments!

Keep on glowing in the dark,

Elora

Visions of the Future: The 1820s- A Modern Prometheus

                                                 

          

    I hope you’re strapped in. We’re about to travel back 195 years to a time when science fiction was still in its infancy. Today, we’re going to look at the future according to the 1820s.

    Two years before, a young woman had revolutionized fiction with a story she had written for a competition between friends. Frankenstein, by Mary Shelley, combined elements of literature that had come before with scientific speculation of the day to make a stunning commentary on human nature.

   1820 was science fiction’s first full decade, and the genre was already far ahead of its time.

History:

    The mid-nineteenth century was a time of global political upheaval. The American revolution inspired nations around the world to fight for their own liberation, and establish their own constitutions. A wave of Constitutionalist revolutions hit southern Europe in the year 1820. They were followed by the Mexican revolution, in which Mexico won independence in 1824, and the Decembrist revolution in Russia, which took place in December of 1825.

    Great Britain saw new developments in their legal system, when the death penalty was repealed for over 100 crimes in 1822, and means of punishment such as drawing and quartering, and flagellation became antiquated.

    The United States was in the midst of a great debate concerning slavery. In the 1820s, slavery was still legal, but some slaves who had been freed were allowed to return to their continent of origin. In 1822, the first freed slaves arrived in Africa and settled in the American colony of Liberia.

    In order to avoid the conflict in Europe, the United States instituted the Monroe Doctrine in 1823, which effectively severed relations between the old world and the new. However, the nation experienced conflict of its own during the election of 1824 when John Quincy Adams was elected president, despite the fact that his opponent, Andrew Jackson, had won the popular vote. Frustration over this issue was one of the factors that led to the development of the modern Democratic party.

Science:

(A Difference Engine)

    Many explorers doubled as scientists in the nineteenth century. This was especially true of those undertaking expeditions to the Antarctic. In 1820, a Russian expedition came very near the coast of the mysterious continent. Later that same year, British Naval officer Edward Bransfield arrived at the northernmost point of the Antarctic mainland.

    At the same time, in a completely different field of study,Hans Christian Ørsted, discovered the relationship between electricity and magnetism. Already, electricity was important to science fiction and to society.

    In 1822, the Rosetta Stone was unearthed by Archaeologists, and used to decipher Ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics.

    Also during that year, Charles Babbage proposed his “Difference Engine”- a calculation device that was an early ancestor of the computer.

    The Stockton and Darlington Railroad opened in 1825, and served as the first railroad to implement steam-powered trains. In 1826, the patent for the internal combustion engine was given to Samuel Morey, and the oldest existing photograph was taken.

    The electric motor was developed by Anyos Jedlik in 1828, and the next year, William Burt received  the patent for a very early typewriter.

Stories:

   Mary Shelley wrote a second novel in 1826 called, The Last Man. It tells the tale of a plague that ravages earth in the far future, and follows the lives of the survivors. This novel was not well received. Evidently, it let down readers, who were hoping for something of the same caliber as Frankenstein. However, The Last Man serves as a precursor to stories of apocalyptic pandemics, including the zombie subgenre that is hugely popular today.

    An American politician named George Tucker contributed to the genre in 1827 with his satiric story, A Voyage to the Moon. Using the pseudonym Joseph Atterley, he described the civilizations of the Lunarians in order to parody some of his political colleagues, and faulty scientific ideas of the day.

    Jane C. Louden’s The Mummy! was similar in many ways to Frankenstein, as it involved a reanimated corpse. However, it is unique as the story takes place in the twenty-second century, where technology is highly developed. It is also one of the first novels to utilize the “mummy’s curse”. It seems to have been quite timely, as the Rosetta Stone was discovered just five years prior to its release.

Worldview:

(Stormy Coast Scene after a Shipwreck- Horace Vernet)

    In response to the increasing industrialization of the western world, many thinkers in the early nineteenth century embraced Romanticism, an offshoot of Enlightenment thought that emphasized nature, imagination, and overwhelming emotional experiences. This inspired the focus on horror, amazement, and awe in early science fiction.

    Because nature was so central to Romanticism, it was considered an atrocity to try to master it. Therefore, when Victor Frankenstein brought life from lifeless flesh, he experienced deep mental anguish and horror. He was attempting to upset the balance of nature.

     However, it is clear that Frankenstein was also trying to play God, and create his own race of superhumans. This is the same basic intent Eve had when she ate the fruit in the Garden of Eden. She wanted to be like God. Both the historical Eve, and the fictional Frankenstein experienced the ghastly consequences of elevating themselves to the place of the Most High.

(If you want to read more about the idea of humans trying to create life, check out this post!)

    We see from the very beginning, science fiction was answering deep questions about the human condition. These are important themes for us to think about as believers, and there are many truths we can draw from the stories that ask them.

Conclusion:

    The world was changing quickly. Political structure, science, and philosophy were transforming more rapidly than ever before. The 1820s ushered in a new era of storytelling, a new mythology that compensated for the strange, new world around it.

Keep on glowing in the dark,
Elora

Top-5 Tuesday: Stories That Paved the Way for Science Fiction

Hey everyone! I wrote this post yesterday, and was all ready to put it up. Unfortunately, I was not prepared for the event of catastrophic systems failure. Fortunately, I am still able to present to you Top-5 Tuesday!!! On Wednesday…

I think it is pretty reasonable to assume that nothing originates in a vacuum. That goes for science fiction as well as anything else. Since we’re about to delve into the exciting history of the genre, I thought it best to do a little preliminary research into its prehistory. Where did science fiction get its inspiration. Where did the themes and styles originate. What stories did the earliest pioneers of sci-fi draw from when they wrote.

Obviously, there are far too many items to fit on this one list. These are just five interesting stories in history that laid a foundation for the stories we enjoy today. Rather than putting this in order of importance, (because I really couldn’t say), I’m putting it in chronological order.

So, charge up your flux capacitors, set your chronometers, and strap in. We’re about to take a trip through time!

The Epic of Gilgamesh (c. 2100 B.C.)-

The Epic of Gilgamesh is one of the earliest known works of literature. It sets a precedent for all stories that came after it by exploring themes of life, death, immortality, and humanity’s relationship with higher beings.

A True Story or True History by Lucian of Samosata (2nd century A.D.)-

This epic parodies the Iliad, the Odyssey, and other classical stories that claimed to be historical in nature, but were steeped in myth and legend. Lucian, a Greek-speaking Assyrian, spun a tale of fantastic voyages to the heavens, and cosmic battles between the celestial bodies. Basically, space travel.

The Divine Comedy by Dante (c. 1308-1321)-

This masterful poem had an impact on almost all literature that came after it, including science fiction. It details a journey into the physical realms of Hell, Heaven, and Purgatory, which is at the same time a metaphorical journey into the depths of human nature.

Utopia by Sir Thomas More (1516)-

More set the precedent for an entire genre of fiction by describing an island similar to England which instituted what he considered to be the perfect society. Today, the kind of speculation More made is commonly used in science fiction in depicting future civilizations and alien societies. This novel also became the basis for the offshoot genre of Utopian fiction, Dystopian fiction.

Gulliver’s Travels by Jonathan Swift (1726)-

This satire describes a fantastic voyage which the author explains in a manner more rational than magical. Swift pokes fun at the political affairs of his day through strange creatures and unusual settings. He also explores ideas of the importance of humanity and its affairs.

These stories are only a few that introduced themes and concepts vital to the relatively new genre of science fiction. Have any more masterpieces I should have added? Further details on how one or more of these inspired sci-fi? I’d love to hear from you in the comments! I hope you join me next week, as I begin my series on the history of sci-fi with the novel that is generally considered to be the first of its kind, Frankenstein.

Keep on glowing in the dark,

Elora

Visions of the Future: Introduction- A Trek Through Time

 
For a while now, I’ve wanted to do a series of posts on the history of science fiction in each decade starting with the publication of Frankenstein in the 1820s. It’s a new year. I’m going to do it. We’ll be taking a look at how inventions and events have played into sci-fi, and how sci-fi has impacted popular thought and science, one decade at a time. Hopefully, we will begin to see the bigger picture of how science fiction, culture, and actual science interact, as well as getting a grasp on the various worldviews and philosophies that have transformed the past two centuries.

Here’s the basic outline of how I’ll be exploring each decade.

Summary:

First, I will write a summary of what science fiction was generally about in the particular decade.

History:

The job of a sci-fi writer is to present ideas relevant to his or her day in a way subtle-yet-clear enough to make audiences think. An understanding of the historical events and social issues of a time period will help us make sense of why an author is saying what he or she is saying.

Science:

Next, I’ll list some of the main scientific theories and inventions that kept sci-fi writers thinking and imagining, as well as the theories and inventions inspired by fiction.

Stories:

This is the fun part. I get to list and briefly discuss the most influential, interesting, and important sci-fi books, movies, TV shows, and games of the decade I am discussing.

Worldview:

Here, I will discuss some of the dominant philosophies and ideas that informed the decade and its science fiction, as well as how we should address these ideas as Christians.

Conclusion:

Finally, I will write about the impact of this decade’s sci-fi on the genre, and on society as a whole!

Well, I’m really excited to start on this trek through time. I certainly hope that you will join me, and that we will all learn a thing or two along the way! The series will begin two weeks from today with my first post, “Visions of the Future: The 1820s- The Modern Prometheus”

Keep on glowing in the dark,

Elora

Staring at the Sun

Hey all! I wrote this post as a reflection on a book I read for school called Conformed to His Image, by Kenneth Boa. It’s a great read, and it taught me a lot. I recommend it! These are a few of the things I learned…

     I’ve been told my whole life not to stare at the sun, but I still do. I don’t literally stare at the sun, of course. Otherwise I wouldn’t be able to see. I do, however, perform the mental equivalent of staring at the sun when my puny, human brain tries to wrap itself around the concept of eternity. I hear the charge in Colossians 3 to “set your mind on things above”, and take it as a call to completely understand what my life will be like after death. In my current state, I can’t imagine anything without an end, so the thought of eternity can be blinding and paralyzing. The question remains, however. How do I “set my mind on things above”? Through the book Conformed to His Image, by Kenneth Boa, I learned that pursuing God is meaning enough for my life now, and throughout all of eternity.

  In 2003, the Hubble telescope photographed galaxies over 13 billion light years away. Some of these galaxies contained eight times as many stars as the Milky Way galaxy, defying current physical theories by their sheer size. God knows every one of the stars in those galaxies by name.  In 1968, Physicists discovered that the proton, one of the three particles that makes up the atom, is itself a composite particle. They observed an even smaller particle called a quark, which makes up both protons and neutrons.  In the scientific world, the quark was groundbreaking and revolutionary. God, however, knew about these incomprehensibly small particles since the beginning of time, when he spoke them into being. He transcends everything that we can see and that we know exists. Our God is one, but also three persons. From His character flow virtues like love, faithfulness, holiness and truth. Without Him, morality would have no foundation, and therefore, no substance. As Kenneth Boa reminds us, “Ultimate reality is not the cosmos, or a mysterious force, but an infinite and loving person” (pg 153). In short, God is wholly other. He is infinite. His understanding and knowledge literally have no end.

    Though we are not infinite, our souls are created to learn and seek after God. When He made humanity, He made us intellectual, emotional, and volitional, like Himself. We are meant to relate to Him on each of those levels. Only when we relate to Him are we truly whole on each of those levels. This is one of the most incredibly, ineffably beautiful things about God. This is one of those concepts that we will forever be learning about and trying to understand more fully. Boa defines this mystery well, “He [God] has designed to seek intimacy with the people on this puny planet, and has given them great dignity and destiny” (pg 29). Not only did God create us, He also knows us, and fulfills us. Ingrained in our nature is a longing for the truth. God- the God who created the smallest subatomic particle, and the largest supernova- offers that truth freely to whomever will seek Him. However, there is too much truth for us to learn in our short earthly lives. The learning must go on into eternity. As Tozer says, “There is simply not enough time to think, to become, to perform  what the constitution of our natures indicates we are capable of” (pg 62).

    The application of these facts to my everyday life encourages my soul, and quells my nagging doubts about living in a future without end. In my humanity, I am created to seek and worship God. As long as that is my focus, I will be satisfied not only in my earthly life, but in my entire life. “We will never be bored in heaven, because God’s greatness and knowledge are boundless; the surprises will never end, and the joy will ever increase”, says Boa (pg 161). When I learn about God, I am “setting my mind on things above”. I am investing in the thing that will continue to be the meaning and purpose for my life forever and ever.

    I am immensely encouraged by the idea that I don’t have to understand all of eternity right now- I have all of eternity to learn. I don’t need to stare at the sun; but I do need to live in the light of it. The glow of God’s everlasting plans should guide my every step. Right now, I can set myself on the never-ending path by using my limited capacity to seek God and pursue Him. Then, my life will be like that of the righteous person in Proverbs 4:18, which, “is like the shining sun that shines ever brighter unto the perfect day”.  I can’t look at the sun now. I need it to live, but my eyes cannot behold it. As I move from this ephemeral plane into the Perfect Day, I will be changed so that I can comprehend more and more. I’m not there now, but that’s ok. I’ve only just begun. As Boa once again quotes Tozer, “For now begins the glorious pursuit, the heart’s happy exploration of the infinite riches of the Godhead. That is where we begin, I say, but where we stop no man has yet discovered, for there is in the awful and mysterious depths of the Triune God neither limit nor end… To have found God and still to pursue Him is the soul’s paradox of love…justified in happy experience by the children of the burning heart” (pgs 149-150).

Keep on glowing in the dark,

Elora