Ward Shelley’s Chart of the History of Science Fiction

By John Farrier in Entertainment, Science Fiction on Mar 8, 2011 at 6:09 pm

Artist Ward Shelley creates enormous, sprawling timelines that show the development of different ideas or cultural trends. Pictured above is a small selection from his chart illustrating the history of science fiction. One part that I find interesting at the very top of the diagram (see at link) is his notion that the genre was, during the 1940s, dominated by an emphasis on science, then sociology, and then forms.

Link via reddit | Artist’s Website


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  1. Romeo Vitelli
    Mar 8th, 2011 at 7:49 pm

    Frankenstein was the first true S.F. novel. Mary Shelley’s later book The Last Man was the first post-apocalyptic S.F. novel.

  2. Alex
    Mar 9th, 2011 at 12:58 am

    I found it interesting that it noted Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein as the first science-fiction novel (someone more familiar with the history of the genre should probably chime in).

    I think it was the first “mad scientist” novel ever written.

  3. PT
    Mar 9th, 2011 at 7:36 am

    Disappointed I couldn’t find Alastair Reynolds. Says 2009, but perhaps it’s (mostly) much more outdated than that.

  4. Krikkit
    Mar 9th, 2011 at 7:38 am

    Talk about information overload. That is nearly unreadable.

    I looked it over for about five minuets without figuring out a good method to read the wholes thing in logical order. And some things are listed in multiple categories and ahh…!

  5. Mercutio Stencil
    Mar 9th, 2011 at 4:59 pm

    I take some small offence to the fact that Kepler’s Somnium was put in to the ‘pre-scientific’ category. Kepler is arguably one of the first modern scientists. I would agree with Asimov and Sagan in calling it one of the first works of science fiction.

    I mean, it’s about a guy who goes to the moon and meets aliens. True, there are demons and witches involved, but the magic clearly served the same plot points at hyper-advanced technology in modern sci-fi.


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