Re: North American SF writers?

Christophe Bachmann wrote: 
John Jr wrote:

I'm reading How to Write Science Fiction by Orson Scott Card right now
and had a thought.  Most science fiction is written by North
Americans. Now I realize that this is a generalization but why do you
all think this is?

I'm inclined to think that it might have something to do with the
pioneering spirit and all that stuff everyone knows about North
Americans but I wonder if there is something more subtle.  Surely the
English did some pioneering in their colonial days and Europe is in my
opinion on the fore front in terms of social change and global
community.  Why when these countries are imagining the future and
making it happen are there fewer Science Fiction writers from outside
North America?  Anyone have any perspective on this?


I'm inclined to think it also has to do with the economic power of USAmerica, which combined with the powerful advantage of the english tongue being de facto international standard gives english-language science fiction a very hefty boost in visibility and dominance.

There are lots of science fiction in non english languages, I could give lists of french, russian and even flemish but they are not often translated in american, when US production is often translated in any language.

I would also think that the US superiority complex (most evident in movies) that makes the US industry think that if it's not american it's bad, and if it could be good, it would be better remade with a US crew can explain some. When even french movies are shot in english and dubbed in french how can one compete with the impression that english language, and specifically the US hold the lion's share.

Of cours these reasons don't explain everything, but I'd like to see the number of science fiction books written compared with the number of potential writers, and of potential readers...



I think the original posters view is an absurd generalisation; I predict that he is from the USA ;-) Science Fiction originated in Europe as scientific romance, and as you say, much has been and still is written in languages other than English, as well as in other English-speaking countries.

I, of course, am in Europe so have a different set of prejudices :-)

Brian Stableford has proposed that SF is grounded in the mid-nineteenth century with the impact of four areas of technology on an increasingly well-informed public;

* the prospect of 'unlimited' transport (at that time, railways and steamships)
* the Theory of Evolution and the beginnings of ecological awareness
* socialism and social engineering - utopias and dystopias
* The prospect of a technology-facilitated global war

The best-known early stories in the genre that mix some or all of these elements are by authors such as Jules Verne and H.G. Wells.


As you say, there is much SF written in languages other than English, but it is rarely translated. Some exceptions include Pierre Boulle (La Planète des Singes - translated as Monkey Planet, which became the film Planet of the Apes), the Perry Rhodan series which originates in Germany, and Stanislaw Lem - Solaris etc. Let us also not forget the man who gave us the word 'robot' - Karel Capek, the Czech author of R.U.R, Rossum's Universal Robots.

On the magazine side, the French magazine Metal Hurlant (founded by Philippe Druillet and Jean "Mœbius" Giraud among others) was the inspiration for the American magazine Heavy Metal, which began by running translations from Metal Hurlant and using the original artists.

There is a long history of English SF writers, such as Arthur Clarke, Brian Aldiss, Edmund Cooper, Eric Frank Russell, J.G. Ballard, John Brunner, John Wyndham, E.C. Tubb, Keith Roberts, Michael Moor*** etc.....

In recent times, such names as Douglas Adams, Iain Banks and Ken McLeod should be familiar to even the most insular of Americans.

All this ignores fantasy, whose lineage starts with myth and fairy-stories, and where in recent times you trip over authors such as Tolkien and Pratchett.

The greatest development of SF occurred in the US through the medium of the pulp magazines. Hugo Gernsback (an emigrant from Luxembourg) started the first SF pulp, Amazing Stories, in 1926, and he also coined the phrase "Science Fiction" to describe the stories he was publishing. The pulp market was a fertile breeding ground for new writers, and perhaps accounts for the preponderance of US authors in the later part of the 20th century, and why SF has an unjustified reputation as a purely US and downmarket literature. I submit that SF transcends nationality and is global literature.

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