[Ads-l] Has the Earliest Modern Usage of the Term "Science Fiction" Gotten Any Attention from Science Fiction Historians?

[ADSGarson O'Toole]

Thanks for your response, Bill. Your citations reveal that "scientific
fiction" has been used with different senses.

The sense listed in the OED for "scientific fiction" is sharply
limited. The following OED excerpt uses an equal sign to indicate that
the OED editors were concentrating on sense three of the noun "science
fiction".

[Begin excerpt from OED]
scientific fiction  n. now chiefly historical = science fiction n. 3.
[End excerpt from OED]

Here is OED sense three for the noun "science fiction":

[Begin excerpt from OED]
Fiction in which the setting and story feature hypothetical scientific
or technological advances, the existence of alien life, space or time
travel, etc., esp. such fiction set in the future, or an imagined
alternative universe.
[End excerpt from OED]

I think that the 1874 citation I listed for "scientific fiction" in
the previous message does fit sense three of "science fiction" because
it refers to the works of Jules Verne which are typically recognized
as science fiction.

I think your analysis of the 1851 citation you posted is plausible. So
it does not really fit the current OED sense specified for "scientific
fiction", but it is interesting.

The 1860 citation you posted seems to be an attack on Darwinism. The
writer appears to be using the phrase "scientific fiction" to mean: a
proposed scientific theory that is false (according to the writer).

I am not sure how to interpret the 1862 citation I posted. I have not
read Bulwer-Lytton's "A Strange Story". From a modern perspective it
might be considered: weird fiction, occult fiction, supernatural
fiction, or science fiction.

Garson

On Fri, Jul 17, 2020 at 3:37 PM Bill Mullins <amcombill at hotmail.com> wrote:
>
> ----
>
> > The Oxford English Dictionary has an entry for "scientific fiction"
> > which is one of the key precursors of "science fiction". The first OED
> > citation is dated 1876.
>
> > The passage below is from a book review printed in 1862. . . .
>
> 1851 Boston MA _Christian Freeman and Family Visiter [sic]_ 17 Oct 2/6 [genealogybank.com]
> "The work might be termed a book of scientific fiction."
>
> The book being reviewed, Vol 3 of _Episodes of Insect Life_, is online here:
> https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc2.ark:/13960/t6251hj11&view=1up&seq=9
>
> I believe the reviewer is saying that this book, which is scientific non-fiction, has the literary qualities of good fiction.
>
>
> 1860 _The Ladies' Repository_ Oct 634/2 [proquest]
> "We regret that a book otherwise so valuable should be blighted by a theory so false and gross as that great scientific fiction revived by Darwin -- [ital]the development theory[/ital]."
>
>
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

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The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org