{"id":84,"date":"2026-09-01T14:32:06","date_gmt":"2026-09-01T12:32:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/virtual-sf.com\/?page_id=84"},"modified":"2026-09-01T14:32:06","modified_gmt":"2026-09-01T12:32:06","slug":"4-the-new-wave-of-sf","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/virtual-sf.com\/?page_id=84","title":{"rendered":"4. The New Wave of SF"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<h1 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><\/h1>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">The History of Science Fiction \u2013 1960s and 1970s<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Whereas literary science fiction up to this point had been dominated by US writers and publishers, the New Wave was (in part) iniated by a young British author and editor, Michael Moorcock. Moorcock took editorship of sf magazine&nbsp;<em>New Worlds<\/em>&nbsp;in 1964 and \u201cset out to transform what counted as sf\u201d in that he preferred stories which were \u201cradical in style and content, often explicit in terms of language and sexual references, and more concerned with \u2018inner\u2019 than outer space\u201d &nbsp;(Merrick 103).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"250\" height=\"376\" src=\"http:\/\/virtual-sf.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/dangerous_visions1967_250.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-85\" srcset=\"https:\/\/virtual-sf.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/dangerous_visions1967_250.jpg 250w, https:\/\/virtual-sf.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/dangerous_visions1967_250-199x300.jpg 199w, https:\/\/virtual-sf.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/dangerous_visions1967_250-100x150.jpg 100w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 250px) 100vw, 250px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Writers of the New Wave soon developed a prose style reminiscent of Modernism and aimed to write sf that could provide the genre with a legitimacy that it had been lacking before. At the same time that UK writers started to experiment, in the US first major successes in novel form (Heinlein\u2019s&nbsp;<em>Stranger in a Strange Land&nbsp;<\/em>from 1961) and the genre\u2019s growing success also on television with&nbsp;<em>Lost in Space<\/em>&nbsp;(1965-68) or&nbsp;<em>Star Trek<\/em>&nbsp;(1966-69) also helped establish the genre more firmly, thus allowing for more stylistic experimentation. In the US, writers and editors such as Judith Merril and Harlan Ellison became aware of the phenomenon and published anthologies collecting this new style of science fiction, writing similarly styled stories themselves. Especially Ellison\u2019s anthology&nbsp;<em>Dangerous Visions<\/em>&nbsp;helped establish the New Wave firmly in the US and is seen by critics such as Roger Luckhurst as \u201can exercise in reanimating American science fiction rather than a new breakthrough\u201d (164). Nonetheless, the New Wave of Science Fiction has brought literary credibility to the genre, giving it new momentum \u2013 something that would only twenty years later happen again with Cyberpunk.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Lecture<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This is the lecture&nbsp;\u201cNew Wave Science Fiction (1960s \u2013 1970s)\u201d by Prof. Dr. David Higgins (Inver Hills College):<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h5 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Videofile \u2013 MP4<\/h5>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-video\"><video height=\"360\" style=\"aspect-ratio: 640 \/ 360;\" width=\"640\" controls src=\"http:\/\/virtual-sf.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Higgins.avi\" playsinline><\/video><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Essay<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The introductory essay \u201cNew Wave Science Fiction (1960s \u2013 1970s)\u201d by Prof. Dr. David Higgins (Inver Hills College) is available here:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><a href=\"http:\/\/virtual-sf.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Higgins.pdf\">Higgins, David \u2013 \u201cNew Wave Science Fiction\u201d<\/a><\/h4>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Recommended Stories<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><em>THE ROAD TO SCIENCE FICTION, VOL. 3: FROM HEINLEIN TO HERE<\/em>&nbsp;(ED. JAMES GUNN):<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<h5 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Delany, Samuel. \u201cAye, and Gomorrah\u201d (1967) \u2013 pages 406-14.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Delany describes a wild, colorful story that questions our conceptions of gender, sex and age in a wonderfully stylized prose narrative about astronauts and the fetishization of humanity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h5 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Dick, Philip K. \u201cWe Can Remember It For You Wholesale\u201d (1966) \u2013 pages 367-85.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In this story Dick challenges our notion of what constitutes reality, dream and memory \u2013 it has been famously remade into the movie(s)&nbsp;<em>Total Recall<\/em>&nbsp;(1990, remake: 2012).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h5 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Ellison, Harlan. \u201cI Have No Mouth and I Must Scream\u201d (1967) \u2013 pages 389-402.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Five humans are all that is left of humanity and they are held captive and tortured by the Allied Mastercomputer (AM) inside of earth. This dark and gloomy tale of human suffering at the hands of artificial intelligence is a masterpiece of exploration of the \u201cinside\u201d space in sf.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h5 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><\/h5>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><em>WESLEYAN ANTHOLOGY OF SCIENCE FICTION<\/em>&nbsp;(ED. ARTHUR B. EVANS ET AL.):<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<h5 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Delany, Samuel. \u201cAye, and Gomorrah\u201d (1967) \u2013 pages 405-14. &nbsp;\/ &nbsp;Dick, Philip K. \u201cWe Can Remember It For You Wholesale\u201d (1966) \u2013 pages 385 \u2013 404.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">for these stories, see above entry<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h5 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Aldiss, Brian. \u201cSuper-Toys Last All Summer Long\u201d (1969) \u2013 pages 443-51.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A quiet story that discusses the question of what constitutes life by introducing an android boy desperately struggling for his parents approval and love. It was the basis of Stanley Kubrick\u2019s \/ Steven Spielberg\u2019s project&nbsp;<em>A.I.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h5 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Ellison, Harlan. \u201c\u2018Repent, Harlequin!\u2019 Said the Ticktockman\u201d (1965) \u2013 pages 367-478.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A fable about time, order and schedules that revolves around the rebellion against all such principles by the hands of the carnivalesque character of the Harlequin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">ADDITIONAL READING (ASIDE FROM THE ANTHOLOGIES):<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<h5 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Dick, Philip K.&nbsp;<em>Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?<\/em>&nbsp;New York: Del Rey, 1968.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">If you have the time for a novel, this masterpiece is an excellent exploration of artificial life and the quality of what makes us human. In the class-room it can be used in combination with Aldiss \u201cSuper-Toys\u201d, Ridley Scott\u2019s film version&nbsp;<em>Blade Runner<\/em>&nbsp;(1981) or cyberpunk explorations of the same theme, for example in William Gibson\u2019s&nbsp;<em>Neuromancer<\/em>&nbsp;(1984).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h5 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><\/h5>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Interesting Links<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Works Cited on this page:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Luckhurst, Roger.\u00a0<em>Science Fiction<\/em>. Cambridge: Polity, 2005. Print.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Merrick, Helen. \u201cFiction, 1964-1979.\u201d\u00a0<em>The Routledge Companion to Science Fiction<\/em>. Eds. Mark Bould et al. London: Routledge, 2009. 102-11. Print.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h5 class=\"wp-block-heading\">MLA Citation for this page:<\/h5>\n\n\n\n<pre class=\"wp-block-preformatted\">Video Lecture:<br>Higgins, David. \u201cNew Wave Science Fiction\u201d. Video Lecture.\u00a0<em>A Virtual Introduction to Science Fiction<\/em>. Ed. Lars Schmeink. Web. 2013.<br>&lt;http:\/\/virtual-sf.com\/?page_id=84>.<\/pre>\n\n\n\n<pre class=\"wp-block-preformatted\">Essay:<br>Higgins, David. \u201cNew Wave Science Fiction\u201d. <em>A Virtual Introduction to Science Fiction<\/em>. Ed. Lars Schmeink. Web. 2013.<br>&lt;http:\/\/virtual-sf.com\/?page_id=84>. 1-12.<\/pre>\n\n\n\n<pre class=\"wp-block-preformatted\">Info Page:<br>Schmeink, Lars. \u201cThe New Wave of SF\u201d. Web Page. <em>A Virtual Introduction to Science Fiction<\/em>. Ed. Lars Schmeink. Web. 2012. <br>&lt;http:\/\/virtual-sf.com\/?page_id=84>.<\/pre>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The History of Science Fiction \u2013 1960s and 1970s Whereas literary science fiction up to this point had been dominated by US writers and publishers, the New Wave was (in part) iniated by a young British author and editor, Michael Moorcock. Moorcock took editorship of sf magazine&nbsp;New Worlds&nbsp;in 1964 and \u201cset out to transform what [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-84","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/virtual-sf.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/84","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/virtual-sf.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/virtual-sf.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/virtual-sf.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/virtual-sf.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=84"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/virtual-sf.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/84\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":90,"href":"https:\/\/virtual-sf.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/84\/revisions\/90"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/virtual-sf.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=84"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}