Science Fiction

A Genre that has to deal with Benefits - Science-fiction - more than just Spinning

Science fiction literature deals with a future, technologically more advanced world. In German, the term stands for science and fiction. Typical are elements such as time travel, spaceships and experiments on humans. In addition, warlike encounters with an alien lifeform and the invalidation of physical regularities are in focus for the authors.

Known precursors of literature originate from antiquity. Especially Homer's "Odyssey" (8th century BC) is famous as well as "The Air Travel" and "True History" by Lucian of Samosatas. Other well-known works are "The City of the Sun" (1602) and "New Atlantis" (1626). The author H.G. was groundbreaking for the science fiction literature. He has been writing about spaceships and robots in his stories and novels, such as in "The Time Machine" (1895) and in "The War of the Worlds” (1898), as these did not yet exist. Likewise, the Frenchman Jules Verne. With his novels "Journey to the Center of the Earth” (1864) and "Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea" (1869/1870), it's not possible to imagine literature without him.

The author Mary Shelley tells in "Frankenstein or The Modern Prometheus" about the doctor Victor Frankenstein, who creates artificial life. Blinded by the supposed positive characteristics, he creates a monster that acts without conscience and moral.

For the German-speaking area, Kurd Lasswitz is to mention. He deals with possible political developments and their consequences for humanity in his novel "Two Planets" (1897). The novels "Atlantis" (1924) and "Atomgewicht 500" (1934) by the author achieved great popularity after the First World War. He deals with the abuse of nuclear power as a means of warfare.

Over time, science fiction as a genre was taken more and more seriously. The potential readers have recognized that the content of the books can become a reality and that it was certainly ahead of its time. Also for hidden social criticism, the genre is still utilized today. Nowadays, one can hardly imagine things without science fiction, neither in the fictional field nor from the genre film. It enjoys growing popularity and has become a serious form of literature.