{"id":39129,"date":"2017-09-12T05:59:13","date_gmt":"2017-09-12T09:59:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/?p=39129"},"modified":"2017-09-05T13:42:14","modified_gmt":"2017-09-05T17:42:14","slug":"lucian-samosatas-science-fiction","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2017\/09\/lucian-samosatas-science-fiction.html","title":{"rendered":"Lucian of Samosata’s Science Fiction"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

I have been meaning to blog about Lucian of Samosata since\u00a0Lorraine Boissoneault wrote an article about him for\u00a0Smithsonian<\/em> magazine<\/a> towards the end of last year. It discusses the question of whether Lucian\u2019s work fits the genre of science fiction, discussing other contenders for the \u201cfirst work of science fiction\u201d such as the Epic of Gilgamesh<\/a>,\u00a0Johannes Kepler\u2019s novel\u00a0Somnium<\/em><\/a>,\u00a0<\/em>and Mary Shelley\u2019s\u00a0<\/a>Frankenstein<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

There is also a very good article about Lucian in ARAMCO World.<\/em><\/a>\u00a0It highlights his identity as a native speaker of Syriac, explores the characteristics of his writing more generally, and also gives\u00a0some attention to\u00a0his\u00a0story \u201cThe Sorcerer\u2019s Apprentice\u201d which is familiar to many from the adaptation of it in Walt Disney\u2019s\u00a0Fantasia<\/em><\/a>. But it also includes a treatment of his invention of the fictional space ship,\u00a0war in space,\u00a0inhabitants of the moon, and the \u201csuperman,\u201d to name just a few elements that most people today associate with science fiction, but without crediting Lucian.<\/p>\n

Would you credit Lucian as being the first author of science fiction? Would another author \u2013 or perhaps an anonymous work such as 1 Enoch \u2013 seem to precede Lucian and thus be more deserving of credit? Or are none of these ancient authors and works\u00a0science<\/em> fiction, precisely because there can be no science fiction in the modern sense until there is\u00a0science<\/em> in the modern sense of the word?<\/p>\n

Both of the articles above suggest that there is at the very least a direct connection between Lucian and science fiction, not only because of the themes, motifs, and plot elements shared between them. Lucian\u2019s writings themselves had in some cases a direct, but in every instance at least an indirect, influence and impact on the authors who developed the modern genre of science fiction. And so if he is not the father of sci-fi, he is at the very least its grandfather or great-grandfather.<\/p>\n

What do you think? Should a class on science fiction start with Lucian, or skip directly to something more recent?<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>\"\" \"\"<\/a>\"\" \u00a0\"\"<\/a>\"\" \"\"<\/a>\"\"<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>\"\" \"\"<\/a>\"\" \"\"<\/a>\"\"\u00a0\"\"<\/a>\"\"<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I have been meaning to blog about Lucian of Samosata since\u00a0Lorraine Boissoneault wrote an article about him for\u00a0Smithsonian magazine towards the end of last year. It discusses the question of whether Lucian\u2019s work fits the genre of science fiction, discussing other contenders for the \u201cfirst work of science fiction\u201d such as the Epic of Gilgamesh,\u00a0Johannes […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":136,"featured_media":41730,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[86,94],"tags":[595,3871,14441,14442,10890],"class_list":["post-39129","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-science-fiction","category-syriac","tag-ancient","tag-genre","tag-lucian","tag-samosata","tag-science-fiction"],"yoast_head":"\nLucian of Samosata's Science Fiction<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"I have been meaning to blog about Lucian of Samosata since\u00a0Lorraine Boissoneault wrote an article about him for\u00a0Smithsonian magazine towards the end of\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2017\/09\/lucian-samosatas-science-fiction.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Lucian of Samosata's Science Fiction\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"I have been meaning to blog about Lucian of Samosata since\u00a0Lorraine Boissoneault wrote an article about him for\u00a0Smithsonian magazine towards the end of\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2017\/09\/lucian-samosatas-science-fiction.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Religion Prof: The Blog of James F. 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