(TBASF) Lesson Topic 1: Elements of Science Fiction

Science fiction is a literary genre in which a background of science or pseudoscience is an integral part of the story. Although science fiction is a form of fantastic literature, many of the events recounted are within the realm of future possibility, e.g., robots, space travel, interplanetary war, and invasions from outer space.

Science fiction is generally considered to have had its beginnings in the late 19th century, with the romances of Jules Verne and the novels of H. G. Wells. Science fiction has established itself as a legitimate branch of literature.

Science fiction literature anticipates and comments on political and social concerns, and a variety of science-fiction subgenres have emerged: feminist science fiction; disaster novels and novels treating the world emerging from a disaster's wake; stories postulating alternative worlds; fantastic voyages to "inner space"; and "cyberpunk" novels set in "cyberspace," a realm where computerized information possesses three dimensions in a "virtual reality."

Please view the Elements of Science Fiction presentation below. It will provide you with even more background information on the characteristics of science fiction.

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