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1938 is a watershed in the history
of science fiction. |
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Perhaps the most important,
after 1926, |
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when magazine science
fiction first began, |
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with Gernsbeck's "Amazing".
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John W. Campbell Jr.
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became editor of "Astounding Stories",
in 1937. |
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Prior to 1938,
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those who wrote
science fiction |
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were primarily pulp writers
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in their orientation.
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This, perhaps,
sounds uncomplimentary |
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but it isn't
meant to be. |
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There are a
group of writers |
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who wrote
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for what were
then called |
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"The Pulp Magazines",
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which published specialty
literature of all sorts: |
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Westerns,
romances, |
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detective stories,
jungle stories, |
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adventure stories,
sea stories, |
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war stories.
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And they paid very little.
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In order to make
a decent living, |
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someone who wrote
these stories |
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had to write a great
many of them. |
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And the only way he could
write a great many |
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was to write in
many categories. |
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And some of them wrote
science fiction, as well. |
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As a result,
science fiction was |
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heavily adventure flavored.
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The writers did not
necessarily know |
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much science outside
of that which they read |
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in the Sunday supplements.
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Campbell changed all that.
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Campbell himself had gone to M.I.T.
and Duke University, |
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had majored in physics,
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and had the engineering
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attitude.
And what he wanted, |
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were people who would
write stories, |
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in which the science
was realistic. |
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Not realistic in the sense
that they couldn't go out |
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into the blue yonder.
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Not realistic in the sense that they
couldn't extrapolate wildly. |
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But realistic in the sense
that people |
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who worked with science
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resembled people who actually
worked with science. |
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That scientists acted the way
scientists do. |
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That engineers acted the way
engineers do. |
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And, in short,
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that the scientific culture,
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be represented accurately.
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What Campbell had done,
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was to create
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a science fictional world
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that was very largely
a consensus. |
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Not everybody wrote
in the Campbell background. |
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Those who didn't,
didn't always write. |
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But the most remarkable
stories of the period, |
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did create a world
of computers, |
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or trips to outer space,
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of missiles,
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of a science important
culture. |
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To those of us who remember
the Golden Age, |
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we are now living in a
science fictional world. |
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And one which Campbell's science fiction
did significantly |
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succeed in creating.
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