Science Fiction in the Twentieth Century

This work is an attempt to look beyond science fiction as a series of texts and authors, and to try to see it for what it is - a peculiarly 20th-century genre of literature, which tries to make sense of the changes which science and technology has brought to modern society. It is also a cultural phenomenon which had had a considerable impact upon the way in which people view the world and their place in it. The book traces science fiction from the 19th century, through the establishment of American domination of the field after 1945, to the large-scale industry which it has now become. It also examines the special pleasures experienced by the science fiction reader, and the way in which this has brought into existence a community of readers and writers. Edward James is the editor of "Foundation: The Review of Science Fiction" and the first volume of "The New Cambridge Medieval History".