Science Fiction Golden Age

That period of time where ScienceFiction was at its best. Opinions on when this was varies.

The golden age of ScienceFiction from approximately 1940 - 1970 was characterized by a focus on extrapolation of hard science, mainly physics. Its range of character development and cultural representation is sometimes limited by the assumptions of the times. On the other hand its originality of theme and broad range of technological ingenuity are often preferable to the stylistic excess of ScienceFictionNewWave and the self-aggrandizing pomp of CyberPunk. It is of course impossible to appreciate any of these without the others, but those who confine their SF reading to modern authors are missing out on some purely wonderful stuff.

ScienceFictionGoldenAge authors include:

: RobertHeinlein, ArthurCeeClarke, IsaacAsimov. Also SpragueDeCamp, Philip Dick (PhilDick), PhilipJoseFarmer?, AlfredBester?, EeDocSmith, RayBradbury, FrankHerbert, HarryHarrison?, FritzLeiber?, and others.

Of course some folks take exception to the term "Golden Age" and prefer their own favorite authors to this crew. ChacunAsonGout (each to their own).

I always thought that the ScienceFictionGoldenAge was 14.

I think the quote (by whoever) goes 'the golden age of science fiction is whenever you were 13' <g>

It's 12. See http://www.law.utexas.edu/lpop/etext/lsf/rock23.htm

In general, what is said above is very true - there was a focus on science as it existed then. And there has been a lot of crappy ScienceFiction by authors I won't name in the last 10 years or so, especially with all the fantasy stuff. However, there are authors in ScienceFictionNewWave and especially CyberPunk that are just as much "hard" Science as in the Golden Age, if not more. RudyRucker, is one example. His stuff is about as "hard" Science, Math, QuantumMechanics (see his web page for his scholarly work) as anyone above, if not more, and yet he is classified in CyberPunk. Then look at StephenBaxter, DavidBrin. There is a current movement, as I read it in the British ScienceFiction magazine today for "hard" ScienceFiction.

-- sg

I think that the ScienceFictionGoldenAge was about both hard science and the heavily optimistic view of science as the resolution of all our problems. Later SF has plenty of hard science, but much less faith in science as the solution. CyberPunk tends to a very dark view of the future, more dystopic. Current SF (later 1990s - early 21st Century) is less dystopic, but a lot more aware of the difficulties of a single scientific solution solving all our problems. -- PeteHardie

I would go with a more generally accepted definition of ScienceFictionGoldenAge that refers to a specific period and authors, and not just to when I think SF was at its best. The criteria I have seen most often for ScienceFictionGoldenAge is that period where the pulp magazines, and their editors, dominated the genre - very much the pre-paperback era. This would start anywhere from the mid 1920's to late 30's and run into the mid 40's to 50's. What makes this a difficult definition is that many of the key authors of that period (see above) were productive, and in fact were often at their best, well after the 'Golden Age' ended. -- ClaudeMuncey

CategoryScienceFiction