Visions of the Future: The 1920s- An Unexpected Future

The Roaring Twenties. The Jazz Age. The Golden Age. The Crazy Years.

The 1920s was a decade of many names and great transformation. Much of the western world experienced an economic and cultural boom after the Great War that changed daily life and worldview forever- whether for better or for worse.

History:

Much of the technology and thought developed in the previous decades was realized in the mainstream during the 1920s.

Automobiles, motion pictures, telephones, and electricity were accepted by the general public. Media began to be a focal point of popular culture, and celebrities such as actors, musicians, and sports stars became public icons.

In the western world,there was a general migration from rural areas into urban areas. Also, women were given the right to vote in many nations.

The ideas of the past decades were also tested in the real world during the 1920s. The Communist state, The Soviet Union, was created in 1922. In 1925, a schoolteacher was declared guilty of teaching evolutionism in a public school, fueling controversy over the debate between creationism and evolutionism.

The prosperous times of the 1920s could not last, however. In 1929, the economic boom ended, and the stock market crashed, leading to the Great Depression of the 1930s.

Science:

In 1922, the BBC started broadcasting on the radio.

The first mechanical television was created by John Logie Baird in 1925. He also worked on the first color television in 1926.

Film technology developed rapidly in the 1920s. Warner Brothers released the first movie with a soundtrack, Don Juan in 1926,and the first all-talking, all-color movie, The Lights of New York, in 1929

The first liquid-fuelled rocket was launched by Robert Goddard in 1926.

Stories:

In 1920, Czech playwright Karel Capek wrote the play R.U.R.: A Fantastic Melodrama. R.U.R. stands for Rossum’s Universal Robots, and this play was the first work ever to use the word “Robot”.

The same year, David Lindsay published A Voyage to Arcturus, a philosophical science-fantasy that inspired both C.S. Lewis, and J.R.R. Tolkien.

In 1923, Hugo Gernsback released an entire issue of Science and Invention based around science fiction. This led to the creation of the magazine Astounding Stories, which changed its name to Analog Science Fiction and Fact, and continues as the longest running science fiction magazine to this day.

A very early science fiction film was released in Russia in 1924. Yakov Protazanov directed the silent space adventure, Aelita: Queen of Mars, based on a novel by Alexei Tolstoy.

In 1926, the first solely science fiction magazine, Amazing Stories, began publication.

One of the most cinematic and iconic science fiction science films ever, Metropolis, directed by Fritz Lang, was released. The German film portrayed a dystopian society where workers were oppressed by the upper class. It also had a really cool robot.

Pulp writer Edgar Rice Burroughs published another science fiction novel, The Moon Maid in 1926. It was originally intended as a commentary on Soviet Russia, but had to be changed from its original version, because editors viewed it as too controversial.

Influential comic strip, Buck Rogers in the 25th Century- the story of a Great War veteran put in suspended animation until the 25th century- began publication in 1929.

Strangely enough, the name “science fiction” was not used to define the genre for the first hundred years of its existence. Short story author, and magazine founder Hugo Gernsback  coined the term in 1929.

Keep on glowing in the dark,

Elora

Visions of the Future: The 1910s- The World on Fire

In spite of the turmoil that marked the turn of the 19th century to the 20th, this time period showcased the most advanced technology and the highest standard of living of any time in recorded history to that point. The future indeed looked bright. However, the underlying tension in the world would come to a head, and force people to look at the dark side of the prosperity and scientific advancement of the time. The events of the years from 1910-1919 would change humanity’s visions of the future forever.

History:

The reign of technology had as of yet been unchallenged when the builders of the passenger liner RMS Titanic declared their craft unsinkable. However, their hastiness proved to be tragic as the liner was wrecked on an iceberg on April 15, 1912.

Sparked by the death of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, and fueled by the increasing militarization of Europe, the Austro-Hungarians declared war on the Serbians on July 28, 1914. Allies on both sides were dragged into a conflict the likes of which had never been seen before. The scope of the battlefield, and the new military technologies, such as tanks, airplanes, chemical warfare, and advanced weaponry earned this war names such as “The Great War”, or “The World War”. The generations that lived through the war were shaped by the inhumanity and violence they had witnessed, and their worldview was shaped by it.

In 1917, the Bolshevik Revolution overturned the power in Russia, and resulted in the Soviet Union becoming the first official communist state in the world.

Science:

[The Metropolitan Opera House]

Aside from military technologies, transportation and communication continued to be developed in the 1910s.

On January 13th, 1910, the first radio transmission was broadcast from a performance at the Metropolitan Opera House in New York City.

Theoretical physicist Albert Einstein continued to turn scientific theory upside down, and published his general theory of relativity in 1915.

Another earth-shattering discovery occurred in 1919, when Ernest Rutherford successfully transmutation of an atom for the first time.

Stories:

[Frankenstein- 1910]

The 1910s saw many great science fiction classics on the silver screen for the first time. In 1910- nearly 100 years after its initial publication, Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein was adapted into a silent film. It was followed by Robert Louis Stevenson’s Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde in 1913, and Jules Verne’s 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea in 1916.

Film had not displaced the written word, however, and several influential stories were released by new and beloved authors.

In 1911 Hugo Gernsback published his story “Ralph 124C41+” in serialized form in the magazine, Modern Electrics. It told the story of the protagonist, Ralph, saving the heroine from disaster using technological marvels. It was highly predictive of coming technologies. Some of the most notable predictions Gernsback made are the video phone, television, transcontinental air travel, solar energy, sound movies, synthetic food and materials, space flight, and radar.

In  1912, Edgar Rice Burroughs, who would become known for his pulp adventure science fiction stories, published the first of his Mars based stories, Under the Moons of Mars, (later known as A Princess of Mars), which introduced the iconic space traveler John Carter.

The same year, Arthur Conan Doyle, most notable for his Sherlock Holmes mysteries, published The Lost World. This is one of the last novels in the subgenre that has since been named after Doyle’s story. The Lost World tells the tale of an expedition to a forsaken plateau in the Amazon basin where prehistoric creatures such as dinosaurs still roam.

Always innovative and predictive, H.G. Wells published The World Set Free in 1914, in which he predicted nuclear weapons, and their potential effects on the world.

“The City of Endless Night” by Milo Hastings was an early tale of the dystopian genre, first appearing in serialized form in 1919. In the spirit of the post- Great War world, it described a revitalized Germany, and predicted the rise of fascism.

Keep on glowing in the dark,

Elora

Top-5 Tuesday- Most Influential Sci-Fi Novels of the 19th Century

[This is my sci-fi shelf. And yes, it is in chronological order]

I’ve talked about them all before, but these are the game-changers, the classics, the turning points- the top five science fiction novels from the 19th century you definitely need to read.

5. The Time Machine by H.G. Wells (1895)-

Do you love Doctor Who? Geek out over Back to the Future? Enjoy a good time travel episode of Star Trek or Stargate? Then you should read The Time Machine. While it’s not the first piece of time travel fiction, it defines the sub-genre in a way nothing else before it had. Have you ever referred to time as the fourth dimension? Just another contribution from H.G. Wells to society.

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

There is no doubt that Jules Verne was a master of imaginative science fiction. His space adventure, De la terre à la lune, was not only uncannily close to actual moon landing events 100 years later, but it also inspired generations of writers, scientists, and visionaries to shoot for the moon. You’ll even find reference to this novel in the newly released Disney movie, Tomorrowland.

3. Frankenstein by Mary Shelley (1818)-

The one that started it all. This hybrid horror story was allegedly born on a dark and stormy night in the mind of an eighteen-year-old girl. It united mythology with science, and philosophy with electricity in a new and revolutionary way that has forever impacted literature and culture.

2. Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson (1886)-

If any science fiction story can be called modern mythology, this one can. It has inspired countless copies, spinoffs, spoofs, and remakes, as well as retaining its distinction as an individual work of classic literature. Whether or not you enjoyed reading it in your literature class, you have probably enjoyed something that was inspired by it, such as the Star Trek episode, “The Enemy Within”.

1. The War of the Worlds by H.G. Wells (1898)-

Yes, he’s back again. The War of the Worlds has fascinated and frightened audiences from the beginning. Not only was it popular as a serial story, then as a complete novel, but it also made radio history when presented in Orson Welles’ legendary broadcast, and spawned several silver screen adaptations. If I say it is the quintessential alien invasion story one more time, will you guys be mad?

What are your favorite 19th century sci-fi stories? Which ones are you planning to pick up this summer? How have you enjoyed our trek through sci-fi history so far? I’d love to hear from you in the comments. Don’t forget to come back next Wednesday as we dive into a new century of science fiction!

Keep on glowing in the dark,

Elora