Nir Yaniv wrote:
>
> Many would argue that "Frankenstein" was the first SF book ever - I
> think Brian Aldyss even wrote a book on the subject. However, I would
> consider a book by Kepler which was called "Suminum" or something of
> the sort (my memory always fails me when coming to write an
> Email...), in which he describes a visit to the moon. It was written
> in the 16th century, if my recollection is any good. The reason for
> me rejecting the Icarus story as SF is that no real science was
> involved, while Kepler was an astronomer who used his best scientific
> knowledge of the moon in order to write his novel. The Icarus story,
> to my opinion, is more of a fantasy tale.
>
> (NY)
>
> [log in to unmask]
> Murphy's Law Enforcement Dept.
i wasn't paying close attention to the thread, so this might have been
mentioned before, but i can atleast think of one SF that might be before
Kepler, or atleast contemporary to it, which is More's UTOPIA. but i
would dare make a bolder statement, and find SF even earlier - the book
of revelations and it's predecessors in the old testament. true, they
have no science. but i think that imagining a future society (More), or
imagining the end of the world (Revelations) is SF at least as much as
imagining scientific development. with this i try not to get into the
eternal and unresolvable debate about whether SF should have science in
it.
back to mostly lurking (it takes a fellow actcomite to get me out of the
shadows here, i guess) Reuven
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