Visions of the Future: The 1840s- With Eyes Wide Open

(Samuel Morse's telegraph)
As in the 1820s and 30s, revolution spread rapidly across the globe. However, these revolutions were not only political, they were also philosophical, social, and technological. As the consequences of new ideas began to infiltrate everyday life, both science and fiction served as a sort of mirror, showing people the darker sides of human nature.

History:

Around 1848, violent revolutions in Europe caused mass migrations into America. Immigrants sought opportunity to advance their standing in life under the banner of freedom and democracy. Meanwhile, back in the old world, radical ideas were causing great unrest and violence. In 1849, a group of radical Russian intellectuals, including author Fyodor Dostoevsky, were arrested and sentenced to death for treason. They were brought before a firing squad, but at the last minute, their sentence was changed, and they were exiled to Siberia.

Science:

(Louis Agassiz)

In 1840, acclaimed natural scientist Louis Agassiz was the first to propose an ice age in earth’s past. 1944 saw the first usage of Morse’s telegraph. This was when he sent his famous Biblical message, “What hath God wrought”, (which comes from Numbers 23:23). In 1847, photography was first used in war, giving civilians a grisly look into the horrors of the Mexican-American war.

Stories:

Edgar Allan Poe was still a very influential romanticist author in the 1840s, and wrote several proto-science fiction/horror stories. One of these is the grisly tale “The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar”. This tells the story of a hypnotist who puts someone into a hypnotic trance just before he dies. It seems to be a precursor to many cryogenic suspension stories, and explores themes of life, death, and the attempted perpetuation of life.

James Fenimore Cooper, the American romanticist of The Last of The Mohicans fame, delved into the newborn science fiction genre with his novel The Crater, in which shipwrecked sailors discover a civilization in a crater on an island previously unknown to the outside.

Yet another romanticist, Nathaniel Hawthorne, wrote a short mad-scientist story, which explored man’s obsession with physical appearance.

Worldview:

If you couldn’t tell, most of the sci-fi of the 1840s came from the worldview of Romanticism. However, during this decade, a new philosophy was devised that would completely change the landscape of society in the middle of the 20th century.

In 1848, the German philosophers Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels created the Communist Manifesto, which outlined their ideas of a perfect society, based on a completely equal society, and a complete rejection of any religion but atheism.

Science was changing. Philosophy was changing. The world was changing. In this time of upheaval and chaos, science fiction writers were still asking questions basic to humanity: how can we prevent death? What happens when we tamper with the human body? What is out there beyond the world that we know?

Keep on glowing in the dark,
Elora

Top-5 Valentine's Day- Things Early Sci-fi Got Wrong

I hope you see this list of sci-fi concepts from the 19th century that were wrong as a symbol of my deep and lasting affection for all of you readers. Thanks for reading, and feel loved.

Sci-fi is a genre of speculation, not certainty. Looking back at sci-fi from even thirty years ago, like Back to the Future II, we can point and laugh at things that didn't end up happening. Of course, there are also a lot of very fascinating things that science fiction does get right.

Today, however, we are going to point and laugh (in an analytical sort of way) at the things that nineteenth century didn’t get right. To clarify, the names listed beside each concept are not necessarily the inventors of the concepts. Rather, they are the creators who popularized them in science fiction.

Let it begin!

5. The Rocket Cannon (Jules Verne)-

In his 1865 novel From the Earth to the Moon (also known as something I can’t spell or pronounce in French), Jules Verne tells the story of a gun club whose members decide to launch a vessel out of a giant cannon into space. Interestingly, his calculations for the rocket cannon are almost plausible, but aren’t quite practical for manned space travel.

4. The Moon’s Atmosphere (George Tucker)-

The moon’s atmosphere appears in far more works than just Tucker’s 1827 space satire, but since we talked about it in a previous post, I thought I would use it for this example. For all the people of the time knew, the moon could have had a perfectly breathable atmosphere, but further study has shown that what little atmosphere the moon has is only comparable to the outer fringes of the earth’s atmosphere, and is not at all sufficient to sustain caricatures of earth civilizations.

3. Martian Canals (H.G. Wells)-

The Martian canals were actually a subject of scientific study from the end of the 19th century until the beginning of the 20th century. However, increased astronomical study and technology have proved these presumed remnants of Martian civilization to be little more than optical illusions. Still, they made for a pretty believable origin story for angry extraterrestrials who want to conquer earth.

2. American Socialist Utopia in the Year 2000 (Edward Bellamy)-

The late nineteenth century was the time when socialist ideals were really beginning to make an influence on culture. In Looking Backward, socialist Edward Bellamy foresaw the United States of America in the year 2000. While it can be argued that American government is increasingly socialist, fifteen years after Bellamy’s proposed society was set to exist, I think we can safely say that The United States is either completely socialist, or all that utopian.

1. The Reanimation of a Dead Human Brain (Mary Shelley)-

Life and death have been one of the central issues of human philosophy since we were kicked out of the Garden of Eden. Therefore, it makes sense for us to postulate about bringing life back into dead tissue by scientific means, as Victor Frankenstein did in Mary Shelley’s 1818 novel. However, the human brain is so complex, that the amount of damage caused by prolonged, well, death, would render it unusable. There’s your happy tip for the day.

On the next top five list, we’ll talk about things 19th century sci-fi actually got right. In the meantime, there will be a post about 1840s sci-fi! Yay! Also,you can tune in to my radio show, SpaceTime on Moody Campus Radio at 7 PM central time on Tuesdays. This Tuesday, February 17th, I’ll be talking about the 50s, 60s, and 70s in sci-fi history (I’m moving through sci-fi history much faster on the show than on the blog), as well as Back to the Future III! Thanks for reading. As always, please leave comments.

Keep on glowing in the dark,

Elora

Visions of the Future: The 1830s- Lighting and Fire

The world was in flux. Science turned up new wonders and terrors everyday. Revolution spread like a wildfire. The future was uncertain. Readers turned to the fledgling genre of science fiction for diversion, but also for any sort of idea of what the future might hold.

History:

The 1830s was another decade rife with revolutions and change. In the year 1830, Mormon church was established, and challenged societal and religious norms. The Belgian Revolution took place that same year.

In 1831, an American slave named Nat Turner instigated a rebellion with several other slaves which ended in violence, bloodshed, and hatred. The same year, young ministry student and natural science hobbyist Charles Darwin set sail on his legendary voyage on the HMS Beagle. Also, Greece became an independent nation.

1833 saw the founding of the city of Chicago; and the first presidential assassination attempt in America in 1835 when Richard Lawrence misfired twice in an attempt to shoot president Andrew Jackson. Finally, in 1839, the First Opium war was waged between England and China.

Science:

(NGC 3603)

Both proteins and enzymes were first discovered in the 1830s. The discovery of the first enzyme in 1833 marked the beginning of the science of biochemistry. The first recognized protein was discovered in 1838.

Astronomy also advanced during this era, with new sightings and techniques. In 1834 John Herschel sighted what is now known as open cluster NGC 3603. Then, in 1839 Thomas Henderson calculated the first parallax measurement to Alpha Centauri. The first photograph of the moon was taken in 1839.

Some notable inventions of the 1830s are Morse’s telegraph (1837), and the Colt revolver (1838).

Stories:

(This is a picture of Edgar Allan Poe in a birthday hat that my brother left on my phone. I thought I would share it.)

Edgar Allan Poe became the chief figure of science fiction during the 1830s. Though most people usually think of Poe as a horror writer, he often delved into ideas of science and technology. Usually, Poe’s stories concluded grimly, as the technology so many people praised ended up being the downfall of the main characters. A few examples of Poe’s stories are the apocalyptic “Conversation of Eiros and Charmion”, and the satirical “Unparalleled Adventures of One Hans Pfaal”, which chronicled a voyage in a hot air balloon.

James Fenimore Cooper, of The Last of the Mohicans fame, broke into the genre with The Monikins, a tale of a civilization of intelligent apes published in 1835.

Also published in 1835, a fascinating Russian novel called The Year 4338: The Petersburg Letters, describes a future utopia on the eve of the apocalypse. China and Russia are the main world powers in Vladmir Odoevsky’s speculated future.

Worldview:

(Kierkegaard)

One of the early proponents of existentialism, Soren Kierkegaard, rose to prominence during the 1830s. He was a theologian who often criticized organized religion, and made a distinction between the “objective”-the material world- and the “subjective”-the moral/ethical/spiritual realm.

Around the same time, philosopher Auguste Comte pioneered the science of sociology, calling his views the “religion of humanity”.

Writers and poets of the time were still heavily influenced by Romanticism.  

What would scientists come up with next? Who could know what the next day would hold, much less the next four-thousand years? Would it be apocalypse, or utopia. The only place these questions were answered was in the minds of science fiction pioneers.

Keep on glowing in the dark,

Elora

Top-5 (Never mind that anymore...)Day- Inventions, Advancements, and Ideas That Inspired Early Science Fiction

[Insert lame time travel joke here]

I think my laptop forgot to tell me that every other Tuesday is its day off. Well, a list is good any day of the week, right? Even if the name doesn’t sound as snappy?

Today we’re going to talk about the inventions, ideas, and advancements that sparked thought and speculation among early sci-fi writers. Just like the last list, this is in chronological order.

Let’s get started!

5. Aviation-

Throughout history, mankind has wondered what it would be like if he could fly. Writers speculate about the implications as scientists experiment with the possibilities. In its infancy, science fiction had such creations as Leonardo da Vinci’s flying machine designs, the hot air balloon, and early forms of airplanes and rocket propulsion to tinker with.

4. Galileo’s telescope (1609)-

From the beginning, science fiction has flirted with the idea of space travel? What is up there in the dark expanse? What might we find out there where no man has gone before? (Out of timeline, I know. But I couldn’t help it.) Astronomer Galileo Galilei used his telescope to discover many hidden secrets of the heavens, and later scientists improved on his original design to learn even more about the final frontier. (Why not. I already started it).

3. Electricity-

The study of the mysterious force of electricity began long before Benjamin Franklin’s famed kite experiment. Egyptian texts from 2750 BC discuss the powers of electric fish found in the Nile. The eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, however, saw a surge in experimentation with electricity,(pun very much intended). Scientists like Franklin discovered new characteristics and uses of the phenomenon, and the world was revolutionized. It was even discovered in 1791 that the human body utilized electrical signals. That very obviously inspired the plot of Frankenstein, and many other stories.

2. The Internal Combustion Engine (mid 1850s)-

The advent of the internal combustion engine was a new epoch in the history of technology. The power that had been placed into the hands of man seemed to make him invincible. He was better, stronger, and faster. (This is quickly disintegrating into dorky references and puns). Ordinary people could go farther and produce more than ever before. The engine obviously had an impact on what people thought, and wrote about.

1. Darwin’s Origin of the Species (1859)-

Charles Darwin’s theory on naturalistic evolution impacted not only science, but on society as a whole. Once there was a proposition that the natural world could, possibly exist without supernatural intervention, peoples’ relationships with God, nature, and other people were forever changed. For many years, The Origin of the Species served as a sort of holy book for the worldview of naturalism. Much science fiction has adopted this worldview. One of the most notable naturalist sci-fi writers is H.G. Wells.

These are just a few examples of real life ideas and occurrences that prompted sci-fi writers to speculate farther and dig deeper. What else would you add? Was this list interesting to you? Did you think it was redundant? Let me know 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