Science Fiction in the Library, Bibliographies
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
DOCOMEMT RESUME ED 194 080 IR 008 943 AUTHOR Sullivan, Kathryn TITLE First Contact: Science Fiction in the Library, 1920-1949. POB DATE 77 NOTE 27p. MF01/PCO2. Plus- -Postage.- DESCRIPTORS Bibliographies: Bock Reviews: *Librarians; *Library Acquisition: Library Collections: *Library Material Selection: *Negative Attitudes: policy; *Science Fiction ABSTRACT This report examining the status of science fiction ir libraries. during the 30.!year_period_of.the. genre's infancy discusses past attitudes toward science fiction and policies 'concerning its selection and acquisition. In order to determine how strong an influence reviews would have been on the purchase of science fiction, the book announcements and reviews were surveyed in four selection tools: the American Library Association catalog, Booklist, Library Journal, and Publisher's Weekly. The announcements and reviews were checked on two levels: how many books from Anatomy cf Wonder, a selective bibliography of science fiction books, were included- in the four tools: and what was said about each book. A literature search was also conducted tc discover what librarians were actually saying about science fiction. Tables display the data gathered.and a bibliography is provided. (FM) *********************************************************************** $ Reproductions supplied by EARS are the best that can be made * * from the original document. * *********************************************************************** U f DEPARTMENT OFWEALTH, EOuCATION 4 WELFARE NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF EDUCATION 40 BEEN REPRO. Isis DOCUMENT HASRECEIVED FROM DUCED EXACTLY AS CO THE PERSON OR ORGANIZATIONORION. O Atom IT POINTS OF VIEWOR OPINIONS STATED DO NOT NECESSARILYReims. INSTITUTE OF SENT OFFICIAL NATIONAL ...4. EDUCATION POSITION ORPOLICY Cb r".I CM LAJ 10 ICeihr7u Sullivan ti FIRST CONTACT: SCIENCE FICTION IN THE LIBRARY 1920 1949 "PERMISSION TO REPRODUCE THIS MATERIAL HAS SEEN GRANTED BY Kathryn Sullivan TO THE EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION CENTER (ERIC)." 1. 2 In recent years, science fiction has begun a period of serious self-examination.The self-congratulatory remarks.have all but vanished.Instead, new words have crept into SF vocabulary, words like "ghetto mentality "/ and "we precious few syndrome"2, used most commonly to explain SP readers' mistrust of readers.. The development of the "we precious few syndrome" among science fiction people both readers and writers--is not difficult to understand when the development of the genre is also examined. Ben Bova blamed SF people's defensiveness on the field's early years. "Since the lurid covers of magazines perpetuated the image in the 30's, detractors of the genre have called it pulp literature. Its critics have judged the books by their covers. Silly movies and the haughty sniff ofl an occasional literary critic confirmed their opinion."' Some critics did more than sniff at the newly emerging field. For example, one literary critic of 1939 had this to sey after describing a few plots of the then =rent science fiction: "This besotted nonsense is from the group of magazines known as the science pulps, which deal with both the World and the Universe of To-morrow and, as our items show, take no pieasure in either.The fact that they do not seems more significant than any other turned up by the Easy Chair's recent course of reading in them, 1 XI which began as a mild literary inquiry.These stories are more maturely written than those in the cowboy pulps, for example, in only that they use longer words and more involved sentences. Their conventions and narrative formulas are also less primitive than the James Gunn, Analom, November, 1974: 5. 2 Neil Barron, Anatomy of Wonder:Science Fiction (New York: R.R. Bowker, 1976):xx. 3BenBova, "From Mai Professors to Brilliant Scientists: The Evolution of a Genre," Library Journal 98 Nay 15, 1973): 1646. 3 2 chase-with-etc...shooters of the horse opera. Some of them are, to be sure, just that chase rephrased in terms of death rays, with heroic earthmen overcoming malign Venusians on the last page, but the majority of them forgo melodrama in favor of exegesis."4 After criticism like that the appearance of a "we precious few" " __syndrome becomes somewhat easier to understand. -SP-people-bad good reason to be defensive in the 1930es and does,Yet, even now, rumblings can still be heard. frost that field of fiction. "For generations, librarians and teachers have felt uncomfortable about science fiction."5 "We asked children's librarians for SF and they said *Oh, we do not allow children to read escapist literature.*We asked adults* librarians for it and they said *Oh, we do not carry children's books on this side of the building."o "And, twenty.five years ago, nobody gave a damn about pure quill sf.Libraries excluded it."( Those librarians who are also SF fans tend to wince at such statements.What did their predeoessors do to deserve such scorn? Did librarians actually exolude SF altogether from their collections? Such action would have been against even the earliest. Library's Bill of Rights, first adopted by the American Library Association in1939. .**1.--Bookts and. other reading matter selected for purchase from the public funds should be chosen because of value and interest to people of the 4Bernard DeVoto, "DoomBeyondJupiter," Harper 179 (September 1939):446. henBevel "FromMad Professors toBrilliantSoientistss The Evolution of a Genre,""Library journal 98 (Nay 15, 1973)t1646. 6UraulaK. Leftist, The Language of the Night (New Yorks 0. P., Putnam's Sons, 1979):215, 7Alexei and Cory Panshin, "Elie End of the Ghetto?" !bailee#i5 (Ootober1977):15. 4 3 community, and in no case should the selection be influenced by the race or nationality or the political or religious views of the writers."' Aa the ALA did not fore° individual librarians or library boards to accept this polity of selection, there maar have been some which did the-actions-of-a fewrlibrariet-bring such criticism against all libraries? What, then, would help to turn SF people against libraries? Did inflamatory statements against SP appear in library journals? Or did the library profession asawhole completely ignore the emerging field of science - fiction ?' The fact that these questions remained unanswered prompted this report. During a literature search of this subject, many articles on the development of science fiction were discovered, but none at all on the attitudes of specific groups outside the field toward science fiction. Occasionally in an article a SP writer like Ben Bova would mention that librarians felt "uncomfortable" about science fiction, but it was never explained what bad given him that impression of the library profession's attitude. If librarians did not exclude science fiction, what, then, would they have done with SF books? A clue might be found. in Article I of the 1939 Library's Bill of Rights.At that time, books were selected not only because of library patrons' interests, but also because a particular book would. be of value to the community, such as nonfiction, classics, and the socalled "serious" literature. 8JudithH. Krug, "A History of the Library Bill of Rights," American Libraries 3 (January 1972):81. ttt5 4 If librarians were trying to interest their patrons in ',serious literature, and because science fiction did have the "pulp literature" stamp on it from its magazine beginnings in 1926, itwould followthat librarians would not strongly endorse science fiction. If that was _ _ the_case, most -librarians- would -then- have treated-SF-the--same--as-west ernsr mysteries, romances, etc..which is to say that the interests of the clientale of the particular library woulddeterminebow much of the particular branchof fiction would be stocked. II.LIMITING FACTOR It wouldbealmostimpossible atthepresent timetoconduct a nationwide surveyof librariestosee how SF iris treated in each from science fiction's early years to now.An easier method would be to survey the selection tools used by most libraries. BenBova wrote, "'fears ago, librarians bought science fiction books on the strength of reviews or because a publisher bad established a science fiction line for which libraries could. place standingorders."9 For those librarians whose reacting interests were is other fields of fiction, reviews would be the only way to select books-whetherSF, westerns, or anything else. As an attempt to uncover how strong an influence reviews would be on the purchase of SF by libraries, this report will focus on the new `Nat*announcements and book reviews of four authorities in the library world of book buying. The first major authority is the American Library Association Catalog, which for about 37 years recommended books for 9Ben Bova, "From Mad Professors to Brilliant Scientists:The Evolution of a Genre," Librar,LJournal 98 (May 15, 1973):1646. 5 inclusion in library collections.The other three authorities are. journals--- Too, Library Journal, and Publisher's Weekly. The last journal is more for publishers and book sellers, but it is often used for library acquisitions as well. To attempt to-correspondwith-Ben Bova's "years- ago" mentioned-- above, the time period for the survey will be from 1920 to 1949. This time period was decided upon for two main reasons. For one, although science fiction haibeen written since the second century A. D., when Lucian wrote his True History, the term, "science fiction", was 10 only coined about 1929. H. O. Wells, in the 1890's, called his works in the field "fantastic and imaginativeromances."11 Other terms, culled from Reader's Guide to Periodical Literature and Cumulative Book Review Digest, and existing in their pages from about 1920 on up to about 19,41 are "Pseudo-scientific Novelsw, "Science in Fiction", "Science in Literature", "Utopian Romance", "Prophetic Novels", "Novels of the Future", and "Interplanetary Novels". One not faniliar with the genre would be hard.put to recognize all these as belonging to the same field, much less trying to find books listed under the different indexing terms.