Periods Of SF

Is it right to continue discussing decades-old popular fiction while global conflict escalates? Some would say not. However, fiction continues to be written during major conflicts. CS Lewis' major contemporary sf-fantasy novel, That Hideous Strength, was published in 1945.

In his introduction to the 1976 Science Fiction Master Series edition of Poul Anderson's Brain Wave, Brian Aldiss refers to:

Flowers For Algernon by Daniel Keyes

The Poison Belt by Arthur Conan Doyle

More Than Human by Theodore Sturgeon

The Space Merchants by Frederik Pohl and Cyril M. Kornbluth

The Demolished Man by Alfred Bester

- but not to HG Wells' In The Days Of The Comet which is surely the most directly relevant other sf novel?

Keyes' and Doyle's novels are mentioned because they have plot points in common with Brain Wave. The other three are mentioned because, like Brain Wave, they were published in the early 1950's which Aldiss identifies as a good period for sf.

He identifies 1976 as a period of commercialism in sf when quantity of output overcame quality. He acknowledges that Anderson was a big output man but praises what he calls this first novel as "...fresh and interesting." (p. 7) I have argued on this blog that Anderson excelled in both quantity and quality through his exceptionally long career.

High is heaven and holy.