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Golden Age of Science Fiction

In the history of science fiction, the Golden Age is the period in which the genre is considered to have matured in American science fiction magazines, in particular Astounding Science Fiction; the period is usually referred to as the Golden Age of Science Fiction, though sometimes more specifically as the Golden Age of Astounding. Its beginning is marked by John W. Campbell's assumption of the editorship of the magazine in the late 1930s. The end date is less agreed upon: it is often placed in the mid-1940s, though it ranges from 1941 to the early 1960s. Historiographically, the Golden Age follows the pulp era and precedes the New Wave.

History
From Gernsback to Campbell 1932 The first science fiction magazine was Hugo Gernsback's Amazing Stories, which was launched in 1926. This is usually considered the beginning of the pulp era of science fiction, though definitions vary. Several additional magazines by Gernsback and others appeared (and in some cases disappeared again) in the years that followed; by 1937, seven science fiction pulp magazines remained in publication. In October 1937, John W. Campbell became editor of Astounding Stories. He finished the already in-progress December 1937 issue and started exercising direct editorial control from the January 1938 issue onwards alongside outgoing editor F. Orlin Tremaine, changing the title to Astounding Science Fiction for the March 1938 issue, when he gained full editorial control. , in the 1964 book A Requiem for Astounding, writes that the period was both the Golden Age of science fiction as a whole and of Astounding in particular, and identifies the July 1939 issue as "the first real harbinger of Astounding Golden Age". The July 1939 issue of Astounding has been adopted by others as the starting point of the Golden Age, and The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction writes that "The beginning of Campbell's particular Golden Age of SF can be pinpointed as the summer of 1939" more broadly. Mike Ashley—who comments that the Golden Age of science fiction may be more appropriately referred to as the Golden Age of Astounding—similarly finds the July 1939 date arbitrary, viewing the change that happened as occurring gradually during 1938–1939 with each successive issue of Astounding contributing. Campbell and Astounding As editor of Astounding, Campbell took a proactive role. required greater scientific accuracy than had previously been the norm, and asked authors to consider what the effects of their ideas upon society and the individual would be. More broadly, he was not content with the prevailing literary quality that appeared in magazines at the time but insisted upon more proficient writing. He thus developed a stable of writers who were able to produce the kind of science fiction he wanted; authors who could not or would not write in Campbell's preferred style—the most high-profile example being Ray Bradbury—turned to his competitors instead. Michael R. Page, in The Cambridge History of Science Fiction, further points to Campbell being interested in science fiction for its own sake, rather than treating it solely as a business as the main science fiction editors before him (except Gernsback) had done. at the latest, in the early 1960s with the advent of the New Wave of science fiction. A common perspective is that it ended at the end of World War II or shortly thereafter. Rogers personally favours an end date of 1943, while acknowledging that many would consider this overly restrictive and granting that 1944–1945 "could be considered a Final Phase of the Golden Age". while David M. Higgins and Roby Duncan, in The Science Fiction Handbook, describe it as encompassing the late 1950s. ==Analysis==
Analysis
Causes Besides the editorial influence of Campbell, George Mann identifies the broader cultural shift brought about by World War II as an important factor in determining the trajectory of the genre during this time period. Increasing scientific literacy among the readership has also been proposed as a contributing factor. Another aspect is that many of the emerging writers of the time had themselves grown up reading science fiction magazines. Carter further points to the rapid expansion of the market in the late 1930s, with a large number of new science fiction magazines going into print (a substantial proportion of which went out of business not long thereafter due to paper shortages during the war) and thus providing opportunities for aspiring writers. ==Other possible Golden Ages==
Other possible Golden Ages
The term "Golden Age of science fiction" was coined by science fiction fans nostalgic for the period, The Golden Age of French science fiction, by contrast, is considered by The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction to be the 1880s through the 1930s, when there were no dedicated science fiction magazines but the genre regularly appeared in nonspecialized magazines. The Golden Age of science fiction cinema is generally held to be the 1950s, especially in a US context; a second Golden Age is sometimes considered to have started in 1977 with the releases of Star Wars and Close Encounters of the Third Kind. In the context of English-language science fiction, other periods than the conventional one have also been considered Golden Ages. Alva Rogers similarly deems the period encompassing the early 1940s the second Golden Age of Astounding, with the first being the first few years following Tremaine's appointment as editor. Some writers, among them Mike Ashley and Robert Silverberg, take the position that the real Golden Age occurred in the 1950s. In Ashley's opinion, Galaxy reached the same heights in the early 1950s as Astounding did in the early 1940s. Silverberg, in a 2010 essay, similarly points to a diversity of publishing options for writers of serious science fiction. Besides Galaxy, the other main newcomer The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, and a couple dozen other new or revitalized competitor magazines, Silverberg notes the emergence of a new market for science fiction: books, in both hardcover and paperback format, by publishers such as Doubleday and Ballantine Books. As a result, Silverberg argues, the financial risk to writers was lessened—if one outlet rejected a story there were plenty of others that might accept it, which had not been the case when the field was largely dominated by a single editor in the form of Campbell—and this made writing science fiction professionally a more attractive prospect, leading to prolific and proficient output from a large number of writers. Peter Nicholls, in the original 1979 edition of The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction, wrote that inasmuch as more first-rate science fiction had been written in the preceding decade than in any other ten-year period, one could argue that the Golden Age was then ongoing. The aphorism "The Golden Age of Science Fiction is twelve" was coined by science fiction fan Peter Graham, one of the editors of the fanzine Void, 1960. Many variations exist, or 14. The reason is often given as this being the age when most start reading science fiction, first experience a sense of wonder, or both. ==See also==
Source: Wikipedia ↗
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