Talk:Australian science fiction/Archive 1

Archive 1

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A question for a Wikipedian far more experience that I is that of whether Australian ‘Science Fiction’ is appropriate title for this article, or whether it should be ‘speculative fiction’ or ‘fantastic fiction’ or whatever. Few Australian writers in this area specifically write in one ‘fantastic’ genre, most write in many of them - fantasy, horror, magical realism, etc - but not many of them habitually publish literary realism and enough of them I would say identify with writing fiction where their imagination can shape reality in the narrative space, according to the themes and sensibilities they wish to write about – one way of describing Speculative or fantastic fiction. This is actually a question for Wikipedia as a whole in this are, not just this article, I would guess. I suspect it has been addressed elsewhere, I have just not come across it in my limited time in this sphere, so help and advice is welcome here from experienced users. While a separate article about Australian Fantasy, Horror etc, is a possibility, for the purposes of the organic growth, from general to the specific, typical of Wikipedia, it needs in my view to start with an article which gives an overview of what is a reasonably distinct literature, and perhaps, if necessary, be broken into more specific articles later on, if justified. Some obvious suggestions: The article could be broken into periods of which I understand there have been a few which can be identified for scholarship purposes. For example in the early nineties there was a trend by publishers in Australia towards the establishment of Australian imprints usually marketing Fantasy and Science Fiction novels by Australian authors. I understand Harlan Ellison commented to Jack Dann at this time, that Dann, who moved to Australia in the early 90s was arriving at the dawn of ‘golden age’ in Australian SF. Whether this is the case is a question for scholarship, but I certainly think Ellison’s comment demands analysis as he is a central commentator in the field. Section on key figures who have broken ground, or advanced certain areas or are just well known and respected. George Turner for example is respected as a ground breaking figure in the field. Perhaps this is better gazeteered in the periods section in temporal sequence… a useful point to debate or just arrive at through the process of successive contributions and edits Growth of Fandom, and is consolidation into large scale professionally run Conferences and conventions, centering around global and local themes, workshops etc. Themed Australian Anthologies, which have showcases Australia Horror, SF etc. Or another example is Lucy Sussex’s She’s Fantastical, which was the first anthology of Australia Women’s fantastic fiction, and indeed was shortlisted for the World Fantasy Award. There are many others. Section on Magazines such as Aurealis and Eidilon and their predecessors. I understand professional and amateur magazines have long been a key component of the development of this literature and need to be examined in any article purporting to overview its scope. The establishment of Australia Speculative Fiction Literary Awards such as Ditmar Award and Aurealis Award The growing profile of Australian Speculative fiction internationally. Will probably think of more, but this is decent start I guess. Mesmacat (talk) 07:10, 25 January 2009 (UTC)

Last edited at 07:22, 25 January 2009 (UTC). Substituted at 08:39, 29 April 2016 (UTC)

Controversial statement without citation

"Early (pre-Second World War) Australian science fiction was often what today one could consider racist and xenophobic, fueled by contemporary worries about invasion and foreigners." This is a quite controversial statement not to have a citation. Also, it is highly subjective; different people have different views on what is racist or not, and these change over time. Can Wikipedians please keep their politically-correct bias out of articles, please. If this doesn't get a citation soon, I will delete it. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 158.143.143.73 (talk) 12:23, 3 November 2010 (UTC)