[Ads-l] science-fiction, 1898 antedating (?)

[Shapiro, Fred]

Stephen's discovery of this 1898 citation is a major one.  The OED has the following citation, under the sense of "A work of science fiction" (isn't that a circular definition?):

1897   H. B. Mason in Pharmaceut. World 20 May 592/1   My last remembrance had been of reading Mr. [J. U.] Lloyd's Etidorhpa... The complete arrest of bodily function and tissue waste which the central figure of that remarkable science-fiction achieved at the point where gravitation ceases, somewhere between here and China, impressed me deeply.

However, Stephen's 1898 citation is clearly referring to the genre, and to the modern usage of the term.

Fred Shapiro


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Subject: science-fiction, 1898 antedating (?)

Bulletin of Pharmacy [Detroit], October, 1898, v. 12 n. 10 p. 466/1.

Mr. H. G. Wells, the imaginative writer of science-fiction, has recently brought out a thrilling romance whose basis is the intended conquest of the earth by the inhabitants of Mars. In "The War of the Worlds," Mr. Wells tells us [....]

Stephen Goranson
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Stephen Goranson's Home Page - Duke University<https://nam12.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=http:%2F%2Fpeople.duke.edu%2F~goranson%2F&data=04%7C01%7Cfred.shapiro%40yale.edu%7C648e812dd7074445386a08d8c83d478f%7Cdd8cbebb21394df8b4114e3e87abeb5c%7C0%7C0%7C637479512818988648%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000&sdata=6WOveWUEV7ktKE9zOLO4RdGnaZXPd%2FPxss2QwfqKYbo%3D&reserved=0>
Stephen Goranson. goranson "at" duke "dot" edu. Jannaeus.pdf. My paper on the history of Alexander Jannaeus as the Qumran- and Essene-view "Wicked Priest" and Judah the Essene as the "Teacher of Righteousness" (3 August 2005 [revised 12 January 2006]; 34 pages), "Jannaeus, His Brother Absalom, and Judah the Essene ". Dura-Europos.pdf "7 vs. 8: The Battle Over the Holy Day at Dura-Europos"
people.duke.edu





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