SOURCE: Parrinder, Patrick. “Working Daydream, Workshop Definitions.” In Science Fiction: Its Criticism and Teaching, pp. 1-28. London: Methuen, 1980.

In the following essay, Parrinder surveys the history of science fiction literature in order to provide a definition of the genre.

The idea of literature is unthinkable without the conception of genres, or conventional literary forms. Many of the forms which still dominate our literature go back to the beginnings of Western civilization; these include the lyric, the drama, the satire, and the fable. Others, such as the novel, the crime story, and science fiction, came to prominence in very recent times. To refer to these new classes of writing as genres is to make a double assertion. At the very moment of insisting on their novelty and modernity, we imply that they have precursors and a history, that the contemporary practice is a combination of elements (which can now...