# Futuristic fiction - when and why? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 1, 2007, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/futuristic-fiction-when-and-why/414009 "2007-08-01T17:34:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2007, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/futuristic-fiction-when-and-why/414009/1 "2007-08-01T17:34:28Z")
OK, it was hard to come up with a succinct title. Last night, I was watching UFO on DVD. For those who don’t know about the show, this was a '60s British TV series set in the future - 1980 to be exact. It’s fun, campy, and nostalgic. I was discussing the show with a friend, and the conversation turned to this topic: When was the first story that was set in the future? Clearly, there is a great deal of science fiction that was written in the first half of the 20th century that was set in the future, but I don’t know about fiction written earlier than that. For example “The Time Machine” and “Frankenstein” were both set in present-day, right? All the fiction written by Shakespeare and Chaucer was contemporary also, wasn’t it? So, when was the dawn of fiction set in the future, and why didn’t people write this type of literature 500 years ago? ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2007, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/futuristic-fiction-when-and-why/414009/2 "2007-08-01T17:40:52Z")
The first one I’m aware of is Jules Verne’s first book (but unpublished until about ten years ago) set in the 20th century: > **[Paris in the Twentieth Century: The Lost Novel: Jules Verne, Richard Howard:...](https://www.amazon.com/Paris-Twentieth-Century-Jules-Verne/dp/034542039X)** > > Paris in the Twentieth Century: The Lost Novel \[Jules Verne, Richard Howard\] on Amazon.com. \*FREE\* shipping on qualifying offers. Paris in the Twentieth Century: The Lost Novel He followed it up with other stories set in the (sometimes far) future: > **[In the Year 2889: Verne, Jules: 9780809501281: Amazon.com: Books](https://www.amazon.com/Year-2889-Jules-Verne/dp/0809501287)** > > In the Year 2889 \[Verne, Jules\] on Amazon.com. \*FREE\* shipping on qualifying offers. In the Year 2889 Wells set some of his stories (besides The Time Machine) in the future as well, most notably **The Sleeper Wakes** ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2007, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/futuristic-fiction-when-and-why/414009/3 "2007-08-01T17:44:59Z")
As for why people didn’t do this sort of thing earlier, I suspect a lot of it has to do with the idea of significant progress being made in relatively short times is a recent observation. Before these “future lit” stories there were stories about sleepers awakening after long periods of time. A female author (whose name escapes me – dammit - she deserves a better fate), a contemporary of Mary Shelley, wrote about a mummy who awakened in the present day. Edgar Allen poe later used the same idea for his short story “Some Words with a Mummy”. And Mark Twain, relatively late in the game (the 1880s) has his backwards time traveller in “A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court”. So the first notions of progress seem to have compared the past witgh the present, and only a long time later tried to compare the present with an extrapolated future. ---
**Author:** ![Dunderman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ecb155/32.png) [@Dunderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dunderman)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2007, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/futuristic-fiction-when-and-why/414009/4 "2007-08-01T17:49:25Z")
If myths qualify as fiction, then the end-of-the-world myths must be some of the very first cases. ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Captor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f17d59/32.png) [@Evil\_Captor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Captor)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2007, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/futuristic-fiction-when-and-why/414009/5 "2007-08-01T17:58:14Z")
“Memoirs of the Twentieth Century” is a story written in 1733 which purports to be a series of letters written to said HIgh Treasurer of Britain from ambassadors to various countries in 1997 and 1998. Here’s the wikpedia link where I found it: > **[Time travel](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Time_travel)** > > Time travel is the hypothetical activity of traveling into the past or future. Time travel is a widely recognized concept in philosophy and fiction, particularly science fiction. In fiction, time travel is typically achieved through the use of a hypothetical device known as a time machine. The idea of a time machine was popularized by H. G. Wells' 1895 novel The Time Machine. > It is uncertain if time travel to the past is physically possible, and such travel, if at all feasible, may give rise... ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2007, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/futuristic-fiction-when-and-why/414009/6 "2007-08-01T18:22:54Z")
The standard text on the subject is I. F. Clarke’s [The Pattern of Expectation: 1644-2001](http://www.amazon.com/Pattern-Expectation-1644-2001-Ignatius-Frederick/dp/0224014714/ref=sr_1_1/002-5625761-1946464?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1185990869&sr=1-1), published in 1979. Chapter I is “The Discovery of the Future,” in which he presents a number of candidates for first future fiction. As with most things the genre took a while to evolve into a form we would recognize, so you get to pick which book satisfies your criteria. Chronologically. 1. _Aulicus his Dream, of the Kings Sudden Comming to London_, by Francis Cheynell. A six-page tract in the form of a dream, a nightmare vision of King Charles triumphant in London. 1. _Epigone, histoire du siecle futur_, by Jacques Guttin. Set in a future France with a vast kingdom but just as a backdrop to a adventure story. 1. _Memoirs of the Twentieth Century, being Original Letters of State under George the Sixth_, by Samuel Madden. A future in which Britain is powerful and the Catholic countries are not. 1. _The Reign of George VI, 1900-1925_, anonymous. Another English utopia because of enlightened British wisdom. 1. _L’An 2440_, by Sebastian Mercier. The biggie. “The first satisfactory model of the new fiction.” A “detailed utopian account of peaceful nations, constitutional monarchs, universal education, and technological advances.” The book was wildly popular, went into many printings, and was translated in several other languages. Clarke lists dozens of other books pre-Verne. A more recent source of early speculative writing is [The Encyclopedia of Fantastic Victoriana, by Jess Nevins](http://www.amazon.com/Encyclopedia-Fantastic-Victoriana-Jess-Nevins/dp/1932265155/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/002-5625761-1946464?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1185991647&sr=1-1), which starts much earlier than Victoria, despite its name. He evidently has done research into scads of forgotten magazines of the late 18th and early 19th century to uncover much that is new to us. Why didn’t it appear earlier? I think it was because it wasn’t necessary. Writers had been pounding out such yarns for thousands of years; they just set them in the unexplored sections of the world, where any wonders were plausible. Most say that the founder or at least forerunner of science fiction was the [True History by Lucien of Samosata](http://www.users.globalnet.co.uk/~loxias/vera_historia01.htm), circa 150 AD. I love the very free translation of the intro by this author: > [@](#): > > Mental Health Warning from the author. All books are full of lies - especially serious books and most especially philosophy. My book is uniquely honest because I guarantee that it does not contain a single word of truth. There is no evidence for any of my claims. None of of the events happened to me. I did not do any research. Every word is bullshit. Reader - you have been warned. DO NOT TAKE THIS SERIOUSLY. It wasn’t until most of the earth had been explored and found to be inhabited by humans much like the travelers that there was a need to find an “other” place in which to set these tales in. The future was a convenient device, because unlike the tales set in China or the Indies, nobody could go there and report back the reality. ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2007, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/futuristic-fiction-when-and-why/414009/7 "2007-08-01T18:24:58Z")
Thanks for your detailed response. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2007, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/futuristic-fiction-when-and-why/414009/8 "2007-08-01T20:41:19Z")
Sorry, I was distracted by the aftermath of the Eugenics Wars in the 1990s. At least the tyrannical Khan and his henchmen are nowhere to be seen. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2007, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/futuristic-fiction-when-and-why/414009/9 "2007-08-02T03:11:48Z")
Francis Bacon wrote [_The New Atlantis_](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_New_Atlantis) in 1626 – ostensibly just a story set in an imaginary country, like More’s _Utopia,_ but really about the potential of science to change the world. Sort of futuristic. ---
**Author:** ![Declan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ecae2f/32.png) [@Declan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Declan)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2007, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/futuristic-fiction-when-and-why/414009/10 "2007-08-02T03:20:33Z")
[QUOTE=beowulff] OK, it was hard to come up with a succinct title. Last night, I was watching UFO on DVD. For those who don’t know about the show, this was a '60s British TV series set in the future - 1980 to be exact. **It’s fun, campy, and nostalgic.** [/QUOTE] In addition to that , it was also one of the most realistic shows about fighting ET’s, with the exception of that flying sub/fighter. Declan ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2007, 3:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/futuristic-fiction-when-and-why/414009/11 "2007-08-02T03:32:44Z")
[_UFO_ stills & commentary.](http://davidszondy.com/future/UFO/ufo.htm) ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2007, 12:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/futuristic-fiction-when-and-why/414009/12 "2007-08-02T12:30:47Z")
Rudyard Kipling wrote science fiction. One of his SF stories, published in 1905, was “With the Night Mail: A Story of 2000 A.D.”.