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to fantasy. The definition also excludes historical dramas about space like Andy Weir’s The
Martian.
Science Fiction: Evolution
In the 20th century the world wars had a profound impact on the genre of sci-fi literature
especially in the United States, but it then mainly catered to a young audience (Gunn 257).
Following World War II there was development in nuclear energy and atomic bombs,
advancements in space travels with man travelling to space and possibility of cloning humans.
Theodore Sturgeon’s Thunder and Roses (267) was one of the earliest serious science fiction
stories to depict the hazards of nuclear warfare. Other works like that of H.G. Well’s The Shape
of Things to Come (1933) and Walter Miller Jr’s A Canticle for Leibowitz (1960), etc highlighted
the vagaries of a post-nuclear world and led to a rise in sci-fi literature in the 20th century
(Roberts 245). There was also a plethora of literature revolving around themes such as robots,
space travel, time travel and alien beings. Dark dystopian side was also seen in works like
Yevgeny Zamyatin’s We (1924), Orwell’s 1984 (1949) and Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World
(1932). Further, Philip K. Dick’s book Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? (1968) prefigured
the 1980s phenomenon known as ‘cyberpunk’. Cyberpunk refers to a combined fascination for
cybernetics i.e. science of communication, and ‘punk’ which referred to an interest in studying
the social consciousness (McFarlane 172).
The United States was the epicentre and flag-bearer of the ‘golden age’ of science fiction
(Sterling, 2020). Cheap printing process and production of inexpensive magazines ensured that
science fiction now reached a mass audience. These works were obviously not as polished as
those of Verne or Orwell but they helped in increasing the mass acceptability of this genre
(Rieder 207). Magazines and periodicals like Amazing Stories and Air Wonder Stories produced
scientific pulp fiction on a mass scale (Rieder 248). Since the 2000s science fiction has exploded
as part of popular culture, both on page and on the big screen. Considered to be high art in the
20th century, to be mainly consumed by science enthusiasts or ‘nerds’, science fiction took over
the market in the new millennium (Roberts 157). In the early years the literature mainly carried
forward the scientific optimism of the late 20th century.

Interpreting the space age: Literature of the twenty first century Report 2022

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