Factors of International Dominance of American Science Fiction of the 20th Century
Abstract
The article analyzes the factors that influenced the development of American science fiction as dominant in this genre, and as confirmation of the hypotheses put forward, the author’s own research results as well as the opinions of leading literary critics are presented. Modern SF since 1945 was primarily an American phenomenon, and much of the genre was written either by Americans or by authors who adopted the American idiom. This dominance was the product of various related factors which include mainly the English language that became the world language of literature and science and many other fields after the war and the geographical concentration of writers, publishers and readers in America including even foreign writers and immigrants. More important was the process of dynamic social and economic change that moved through American society feeding new perspectives and arousing interest in the future. Apart from the negative and positive effects of this process of change, the American society of the post-war decades was a society of all opportunities and which welcomed new technology, which enjoyed novelty with a strong curiosity about the prospect of more change, and which was looking for more expansion and more success. It was within this environment that SF developed into an American model to be exported and imitated all over the world. It is then worth exploring the major factors lying behind the creation of this unique model and its international dominance. In spite of its short history, the success of American SF during the post-war decades was the result of the various factors already discussed, and if it came to sweep the international scene as one of the most widely popular literary genres in the modern world, it was not only with its iconic figures in both novel and film who became idols for modern fans and readers or its themes that have explored the urgent concerns of humanity about the future, but it was incontestably with its iconic characters that have become distinctive symbols of the genre.