the sf and f explosion

[sartorias]

In 1971, sf and f scholar Thomas Clareson had some still-relevant insights into the sudden explosion of sf and f some five years previous. With a few quotes from his essay, I throw out a couple of ideas about why it happened. I'd love to discuss what you thing about why it happened. Here is the link.

Comments

[supergee]

Blogging this, thanx. I enjoyed meeting Tom Clareson at a Mythcon.

[marycatelli]

Hmmm. The first thing I think of is remembering something Asimov said several decades ago, remembering that in his lifetime, there was a period where a fan could read every piece of SF published, whereas by the time of his writing, he was finding that the Hugo often went to a work he had never heard of, the expansion had been so large.

[kalimac]

He's not the only one to have pointed this out. There's a fascinating essay by Delany, I believe in The Jewel-Hinged Jaw, about the knowability of fields of literature in this sense, and what effect it has when a field becomes too large to be knowable any more.

[sartorias]

Yeah, he does talk about it. I forget if it's in that book--I am on the road, my library at home.

[sartorias]

It was possible to read everything when I was a teen. Our local library got everything.

[whswhs]

I have the impression that Stranger in a Strange Land was the first sf novel to make the bestseller list. It then became an influence on the emerging "counterculture"; commonly it was read as a set of answers rather than as a set of questions, which was what Heinlein claimed for it. On the other hand, Heinlein may have been shielding his actual beliefs behind a wall of irony. The reference to Crowley's Book of the Law in the third part is of interest, as not many people even knew about the Great Beast back then.

[sartorias]

It, Dune, and Lord of the Rings in paper came out roughly at the same time, and hit really big.

[whswhs]

The other two were a couple of years later. Of course LotR was originally published in the 1950s, but the unauthorized Ace edition brought it to the attention of a large audience that was ready to be receptive-it looks as if that was 1965, four years after Stranger. I remember buying the second and third volumes and sitting up all night reading them in one go.

[sartorias]

I just remember everyone discussing and reading them roughly mid-sixties. Discovering sf and f, basically.

[scallywag195]

I think the sf/f of the last hundred years has proliferated in part, to explain current history. There is always a need for escapism, but at the same time, a need to grapple with life changes.