Founder of science fiction?

[SportsFan68]

Today's crossword puzzle had the clue "Science fiction founder."

The answer was Verne.

I say Mary Shelley and Frankenstein.

I'm looking forward to the poll results, assuming anybody wants to vote, of course.

[earendel]

Today's crossword puzzle had the clue "Science fiction founder."

The answer was Verne.

I say Mary Shelley and Frankenstein.

I'm looking forward to the poll results, assuming anybody wants to vote, of course.

Hugo Gernsback is generally referred to as the "father of science fiction" (he actually created the term, although originally it was "scientifiction") because of his publishing of the first magazine devoted to the genre, Amazing Stories. However one could argue that he only popularized the genre and that Shelley, Verne or others were the actual progenitors.

Addendum: Depending upon the definition of "science fiction" one could include Cyrano de Bergerac's "Voyage from the Earth to the Moon" in the 17th century.

[TheConfessor]

They are not mutually exclusive. Most things have more than one founder. Such as the United States, which had the "Founding Fathers."

[NellyLunatic1980]

I don't like science fiction, so I went with Gastonia.

[Bob Juch]

See: Stableford, Brian. "Frankenstein and the Origins of Science Fiction". Anticipations: Essays on Early Science Fiction and Its Precursors. Ed. David Seed. Syracuse: Syracuse University Press, 1995.

There were a lot of science fiction novels before Verne's.

[MarleysGh0st]

I certainly wouldn't say WGAS to this poll, so I'd have to pick Verne from these choices. Frankenstein is certainly an early work with a science fiction theme, but it was a one-off work for Shelly, while Verne made it into a genre.

We could probably find other works that would fit as sort of science fiction, if we're looking for the earliest example. How about Sir Thomas More's Utopia?

[Ritterskoop]

Poe?

I'd choose Shelley between the two in the survey, since she was earlier.

Heinlein may have been the first to use the term "science fiction", which makes him all the cooler.

[andrewjackson]

I can live with "Frankenstein" being considered the first science fiction novel but I don't see Shelley as the one founder of science fiction.

I think Verne or Wells has a better case as the founder if you want to pin it on one person. They wrote multiple books, the science aspect was much more integral, and they did more to establish the genre as something separate.

Even better is to say that there were several writers who created the genre science fiction. If you do that Shelley, Poe, Verne, Wells, de Bergerac, Swift, Voltaire, and others would be in the group.


Looking back at the crossword clue as presented I don't have any trouble with Verne. Crossword clues often have multiple possible answers. If it said "Aircraft inventor" the answer wouldn't have to be a Wright. Lilienthal could just have easily been an answer. He didn't have the first heavier-than-air powered flight but you could say he invented airplanes.

[kayrharris]

I say it's too tough to call between Shelley and Verne. JMHO.

[mrkelley23]

Poe?

I'd choose Shelley between the two in the survey, since she was earlier.

Heinlein may have been the first to use the term "science fiction", which makes him all the cooler.

Interesting. I'm surprised that Heinlein would be the first to use the term, since he disliked it as a descriptor, preferring the more general and inclusive "Speculative fiction."

[mrkelley23]

Oh, and as far as the first writer to include what is now termed as science fiction in his/her writing, I'd go with the unknown author of the Gilgamesh saga.

To "found" something, I think you have to show a genesis, and then a continual line of works in that genre. Which makes Verne, or Gernsback, or Wells, a much likelier answer.

[tanstaafl2]

While I think it is fair to say the Frankenstein is perhaps one of the earliest works of true science fiction as we know it today it was essentially the only science fiction work (and perhaps to a lesser degree The Last Man) that Shelley was known for, or at least that I know her for.

Others, as noted, wrote stories that could be considered science fiction in the broad sense before Jules Verne but he was the first one that I think of as bringing the genre to a wider audience, along with H.G. Wells. However given that Verne predates Wells if you must select one I would give the nod to Verne as the "founder" of science fiction.

[a1mamacat]

Today's crossword puzzle had the clue "Science fiction founder."

The answer was Verne.

I say Mary Shelley and Frankenstein.

I'm looking forward to the poll results, assuming anybody wants to vote, of course.

I place Shelley in Horror, not SciFi

[Emily_Litella]

L Ron Hubbard

Isn't he the founder of that Science Fiction religion?

[Bob Juch]

A good case can be made that Mark Twain's "Mysterious Stranger" and "A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court" are science fiction.

[TheConfessor]

Today's crossword puzzle had the clue "Science fiction founder."

The answer was Verne.

I say Mary Shelley and Frankenstein.

I'm looking forward to the poll results, assuming anybody wants to vote, of course.

Looks like you get the same daily crossword that I do in the Austin newspaper. I just got around to doing it. It took me over 7 minutes, which is pretty bad, for such an easy crossword. At least I assume that's pretty bad, comparing myself to the people I saw in the "Wordplay" documentary. My best time is around 6 minutes, but I'm gradually getting better. Some guy in the movie was knocking them out in about two minutes.

The only identifier of the puzzle's source is the small notation at the bottom, "United Feature Syndicate, Inc."

The exact wording of the VERNE clue was:
46 Down -- Founder of science-fiction

And by the way, I just did yesterday's Jumble, and I don't get it. The cartoon shows two guys fishing from a boat. The caption says "Where you can find the most fish." The answer appears to be "In the middle." Why would that be true?

[SportsFan68]

Looks like you get the same daily crossword that I do in the Austin newspaper. I just got around to doing it. It took me over 7 minutes, which is pretty bad, for such an easy crossword. At least I assume that's pretty bad, comparing myself to the people I saw in the "Wordplay" documentary. My best time is around 6 minutes, but I'm gradually getting better. Some guy in the movie was knocking them out in about two minutes.

The only identifier of the puzzle's source is the small notation at the bottom, "United Feature Syndicate, Inc."

The exact wording of the VERNE clue was:
46 Down -- Founder of science-fiction

And by the way, I just did yesterday's Jumble, and I don't get it. The cartoon shows two guys fishing from a boat. The caption says "Where you can find the most fish." The answer appears to be "In the middle." Why would that be true?

Yep, same outfit.

I got the same answer for the Jumble and couldn't figure it out either. Maybe in the middle of the boat between the two fishers?

[RDelo5]

L Ron Hubbard

Isn't he the founder of that Science Fiction religion?

Scientology sucks!