Out of This World
Ashley, Mike. Out of This World: Science Fiction But Not as You Know It. London: British Library, 2011. 144 p. ISBN 978-0-7123-5835-4. Companion volume to exhibition of the British Library, 25 May-15 September 2011. (Bibliographical information from Ransom review, cited and linked below, and John J. Pierce discussion.)
Reviewed Amy J. Ransom, Belphégor: Issue on "Littératures populaires et médiatique" (Popular Literature and Media), 11 January 2013 ("11-1 | 2013").[1]
The volume’s most attractive trait is [...] its 175 color illustrations, which include book and magazine covers and illustrations, film stills and sets, works of art, author portraits, manuscript pages, and even photos of astronomical features and space travel. [See below. — RDE]
Ashley mentions a number of works not often cited [...]. In particular, he traces the alternate history back to Livy and identifies a Spanish text as the first purposeful time machine story. He also points out that William Gibson and Bruce Sterling did not invent steampunk, identifying Joan Aiken’s The Wolves of Willoughby Chase (1962) and several 1980s works by Michael Moorcock as doing so.
Further sections explore the questions of “Be Prepared!” for future wars, “Inventing the Future,” “Cities of the Future,” and “Machine or Human,” which looks at the iconic figure of the robot. Ashley gives significant coverage to the concept of the “Singularity,” the moment when technology will have advanced so far that an artificial intelligence spontaneously achieves consciousness, identified by Vernor Vinge in a 1993 speech. He also describes nanotechnology, identifying Charles Stross’s Singularity Sky (2003) and Rudy Rucker’s Postsingular (2007), as novels exploring this area.
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John J. Pierce also stresses the illustrations in Ashley's book ("Imagination and Evolution: A Conceptual History of Science Fiction" [in revision]):
A two-page spread in Ashley's book is devoted to posters by William Heath called “The March of Intellect” that appeared between 1825 and 1829 under the alias Paul Fry. Ashley explains that the March of Intellect was a movement devoted to the quest for knowledge and to scientific research, a movement that was embraced by luminaries as diverse as Robert Owen and Queen Caroline. Heath’s posters were a spoof of that movement – which must have gotten a lot of attention to be worth spoofing.
The posters Ashley reprints depict automatons, balloons and steam-powered transport, which all figure in [Jane] Webb’s novel [The Mummy (1827)]. But one also depicts a “Direct to Bengal” express of the Grand Vacuum Tube Company. Even so, apart from The Mummy! there is little if any sign that Heath influenced sf, although there might have been some connection – direct or indirect – between his poster and a trans-oceanic express tube in [Jules] Verne’s Paris in the 20th Century (not published until 1994), and even the express tubes in Albert Robida’s The Twentieth Century. (Pierce 71)
Notable relevant illustrations not yet mentioned include:
The launch of Viking 1 from Ca[e Canaveral, 20 August 1975 (p. 7).
Frontispiece from Le Philosophe sans prétention, ou l'homme rare ('The Philosopher without pretension, or the rare man', Paris 1775) by Louis Guillaume de la Folie. It depicts a traveller from Mercury arriving on Earth in his wonderful new electric flying machine. [...] (p. 15)
A lobby card [i.e., small poster] for the 1924 film Aelita.[2][3] [...] (p. 25) [See for corner images of armored soldiers who look like cyborgs or human/robot combinations.]
Still from Stephen Soderbergh's 2002 film adaptation of Stanislaw Lem's Solaris (p. 25). [See for very elegant, Modernist design of spacecraft/space station(s).]
Painting by Lloyd Rognan for the cover of Imaginative Tales, November 1955 around which Raymond A. Palmer wrote his novella of an alien menace, 'The Metal Emperor'. (pp. 38-39) [See for the "Metal Emperor" as a giant, ungainly, we would hope comic robot, opposed by a realistic USAF fighter jet from the period.][4][5]
Interior of Tardis from Dr Who (p. 53). [Spelling given as TARDIS in text; no identification beyond credit to BBC Worldwide in front matter. See for TARDIS interior rendered in psychedelic surrealism.]
The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (1999) by Alan Moore, with Captain Nemo's Nautilus, illustration by Kevin O'Neill. DC Comics. (p. 57) [Note Nautilus looking like a giant metal squid.]
The Cyberworld of The Matrix (1999) [...]. (pp. 62-63) [Iconic image of three apparently male human figures in rear-center of frame, apparently at the back of a long "box"[6] composed of symbols in old-computer-screen green, except a deeper green than usual, and with bright spots. Note for containment of virtual humans inside a cybernetic mechanism of sorts.]
Science Wonder Stories, May 1930, cover by Frank R. Paul for 'City of the Living Dead' by Laurence Manning and Fletcher Platt. (68-69) [Note supine male human body with a large number of electrical connections; cf. and contrast Neo in THE MATRIX coming to consciousness in the real world ("Why do my eyes hurt?" .][7]
H. G. Wells's War in the Air realize in Pall Mall Magazine during 1908. Illustration by A. C. Michael. (p. 85) [Fleet of dirigibles with Imperial markings of English city: note streamlined sleekness of the airships, with no visible fins and a rear propeller, which may be used for steering as well (although that is not indicated).]
George du Mauier's cartoon for Punch Almanack for 1879 depicting the telephonoscope in the style of Albert Robida. (p. 89) [The device like a recent, very large flatscreen TV but two-way, and contrasting with the Victorian clothing and furniture of room in which a fairly old couple is watching; note contrast also with the speaking tubes used by the man — with the tube near his mouth — and held in her lap by the woman.]
Nikola Tesla portrayed by Warwick Gable in an interview published in Pearson's Magazine, May 1899. (p. 90) [Image suggests both a scientist in his lab and a stage magician.]
Frank R. Paul depicts genius inventor Ralph talking via the telephot to Alice in Switzerland from Ralph 124C 41+, first serialized in 1911-12. (p. 91) [The telephot is a large device; Alice looks very 1900's.]
Amazing Stories, February 1928. The world's first science fiction magazine. Cover by Frank R. Paul illustrating a scene from Hugo Gernsback's serial ' Baron Münchausen's Scientific Adventures. (p. 91) [Above what looks like a Moonscape floats what may be a huge sphere but in any event looks like a colorful version of one of the STAR WARS Death Stars.]
Ashley's volume can be usefully used in conjunction with the earlier but also excellent Yesterday's Tomorrows: Past Visions of the American Future (1984).
RDE, with thanks to John J. Pierce, 23May20
