The Road to Science Fiction: From Gilgamesh to Wells

Volume 1

The Road to Science Fiction: From Gilgamesh to Wells

Volume 1

James Gunn (Anthology Editor)

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Now in Paperback!

Between an ancient Roman's trip to the moon and the fantastic tales of H.G. Wells lies a journey through time and space and an awesome evolution in scientific thinking. From Gilgamesh's search for immortality to Lucian's odyssey on the moon; from Jonathan Swift's hilarious satire on scientists in Gulliver's Travels to Mary Shelley's horrifying description of a scientist who has gone too far in Frankenstein from Edgar Allan Poe's balloon trip in the year 2848 to Jules Verne's prophesies of the impact of scientific inventions on future civilization; from Edward Bellamy's utopian escape from the industrial Revolution to H.G. Wells's magnificent story of Earth threatened by an inescapable menace-here are the chief ancestors of the modern science fiction story. For the first time, these and other key works are gathered together in one anthology, complete with revealing commentary on the authors, their eras, and the role each played in establishing what we today recognize as science fiction.

The Road to Science Fiction is a six-volume anthology of science fiction that covers the development of science fiction from its earliest prototypes in the Sumerian Gilgamesh and the Greek epics to approximately 1990. Created originally to provide anthologies for use in classes, these volumes have become mass-market sellers as well, since they are not only a source of outstanding stories but also explain what constitutes science fiction, how it developed and the contribution the authors and the stories have made to the evolution of science fiction.

Cloth edition previously published in 1979.

Chapter 1 Introduction
Chapter 2 The First Voyage to the Moon
Chapter 3 From A True Story-by Lucian of Samosata
Chapter 4 Strange Creatures and Far Traveling
Chapter 5 From The Voyages and Travels of Sir John Mandeville-Anonymous
Chapter 6 The Good Place That Is No Place
Chapter 7 From Utopia-by Thomas More
Chapter 8 The New Science and the Old Religion
Chapter 9 From The City of the Sun-by Tommaso Campanella
Chapter 10 Experience, Experiment, and the Battle for Men's Minds
Chapter 11 From The New Atlantisby Francis Bacon
Chapter 12 A New Look at the Heavens and Another Trip to the Moon
Chapter 13 Somnium, or Lunar Astronomy-by Johannes Kepler
Chapter 14 Commuting to the Moon
Chapter 15 From A Voyage to the Moon-by Cyrano de Bergerac
Chapter 16 The Age of Reason and the Voice of Dissent
Chapter 17 From "A Voyage to Laputa"-by Jonathan Swift
Chapter 18 Imaginary Voyages in the Other Direction
Chapter 19 From The Journey to the World Underground-by Ludvig Holberg
Chapter 20 Visitors From Space
Chapter 21 Micromegas-by Francois Marie Arouet de Voltaire
Chapter 22 Science and Literature: When Worlds Collide
Chapter 23 FromFrankenstein-by Mary Shelley
Chapter 24 Science as Symbol
Chapter 25 Rappaccini's Daughter-by Nathaniel Hawthorne
Chapter 26 Anticipations of the Future
Chapter 27 Mellonta Tauta-by Edgar Allen Poe
Chapter 28 Expanding the Vision
Chapter 29 The Diamond Lens-by Fitz-James O'Brien
Chapter 30 The Indispensable Frenchman
Chapter 31 From Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea
Chapter 32 From Around the Moon-by Jules Verne
Chapter 33 Lost Civilizations and Ancient Knowledge
Chapter 34 From She-by H. Rider Haggard
Chapter 35 The New Frontier
Chapter 36 From Looking Backward-by Edward Bellamy
Chapter 37 New Magazines, New Readers, New Writers
Chapter 38 The Damned Thing-by Ambrose Bierce
Chapter 39 A Flying Start
Chapter 40 With the Night Mail-by Rudyard Kipling
Chapter 41 The Father of Modern Science Fiction
Chapter 42 The Star-by H.G. Wells
Chapter 43 About the Editor

Product details

Published	21 Sep 2002
Format	Ebook (PDF)
Edition	1st
Extent	1
ISBN	9798216216421
Imprint	Scarecrow Press
Publisher	Bloomsbury Publishing

Anthology Editor

James Gunn

...provides one of the most comprehensive views of the field and should be required reading for all students of sf. It has withstood the test of time, with classic stories....Gunn's headnotes and introductions remain provocative, even years later. The Road to Science Fiction can be read as an historical document, one that says much about Gunn, his mind, and his take on sf as it does about the state of sf from its roots to its full maturity as a genre.

Science Fiction Studies
An excellent introduction to the history of the genre.

The New York Times
The best series, historically arranged, of SF anthologies ever assembled...All six volumes belong in the library of every university, school, and teacher and reader of science fiction. Gunn has gathered stories of importance to the development of SF and stories that represent the best writing of the genre.

Anatomy of Wonder, 5th Edition
...of great use to teachers and students of science fiction. However, Gunn's work is accessible to any serious reader. I recommend it for anyone with an interest in acquiring a useful vocabulary of texts and authors for use during those conversations in which the value of science fiction is questioned...Gunn's prose is serious and well informed without being prolix.

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