French science fiction
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French science fiction is a substantial genre within French literature. Arguably dating back further than English science fiction, it remains an active and productive genre which has evolved in conjunction with anglophone science fiction and other French and international literature.
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History
As far back as the 17th century, space travel and aliens can be found in Cyrano de Bergerac's Comical History of the States and Empires of the Moon. Voltaire's 1752 short stories "Micromégas" and "Plato's Dream" are particularly prophetic of the future directions science fiction would take. However, modern French science fiction, and arguably science fiction as a whole, begins with Jules Verne, the author of many of the seminal classics of science fiction.
The first few decades of French science fiction produced a stable of renowned names in literature. Not only Verne, but also figures like the Rosny Brothers worked in the last years of the 19th century and early 20th. They were major influences on contemporary English science fiction authors like H. G. Wells.
World War I brought an end to this early period. Where the expolsion of science and technology of the late 19th century motivated the optimistic works of these early science fiction authors, the horrors of industrialised warfare and specifically the application of advanced technologies in such a destructive manner soured the French literary community on the potential of technological development. Until the late 1950s, very little French science fiction was published, and what was published was often very pessimistic about the future of humanity, and frequently was not labelled "science fiction" at all. Pierre Boulle's Planet of the Apes is one widely published example.
This period of decline in French science fiction (abbreviated SF) was the golden age of English-language and particularly American science fiction. When French science fiction began reappearing after World War II, it was the themes and styles of anglophone science fiction which served as an inspiration for new works. The Anticipation series - a series of short novels by French authors sold in paperback - originally constituted little more than a line of pulp novels. However, many major names in French science fiction first saw print under this label. In this era, there was very little critical interest in French SF.
French cinema, however, proved a bit more fertile a ground for science fiction. Jean-Luc Godard's 1965 film Alphaville—a thriller and satire on French politics—was the flagship example of French New Wave science fiction.
In the late 1960s and 1970s, French SF regained some of its lost momentum. Unlike American science fiction, space travel was not the major theme for these post-1968 French authors. A new generation of French writers, who had few memories of the horrors of the past two generations, were inspired by the transformation in France in the post-war era. Especially after May 1968, French SF authors took on political and social themes in their works. Authors like Michel Jeury and Phillipe Curval began to attract acclaim for their reinvention of a genre which, at the time, was still primarily considered a juvenile entertainment.
In the 1970s, comics began to play an important role in French SF. Métal Hurlant—the French magazine that spun off Heavy Metal—began pursuing the possibilities of science fiction as a source for comics. Graphic novels are now a major—if not the major—outlet for French science fiction production today.
In the 1980s, French authors began to view science fiction as a field for experimental literature. The influence of postmodernism on literature and the arrival of cyberpunk themes from anglophone science fiction catalysed a new body of French SF.
At present, French SF is particularly well represented in graphic novels, and a number of titles reach print annually. As in most of the developed world, magazine culture has declined dramatically, but a number of French SF magazines remain in print, including Galaxies and Solaris. There is still a very strong influence from English language science fiction—increasingly easily available in translation—as well from film, animation, video games and other international science fiction traditions. The role of Japanese manga and anime has also been particularly noticeable in recent years.
Literary awards
The Prix Rosny-Aîné is an annual prize for French language science fiction.
French science fiction authors after Verne
- J.-H. Rosny aîné
- Jean-Pierre Andrevon
- Ange (a.k.a. G.E. Ranne)
- G.-J. Arnaud
- Ayerdhal
- René Barjavel
- Pierre Bordage
- Pierre Boulle
- Serge Brussolo
- Richard Canal
- Maurice Dantec
- Thomas Day
- Dominique Douay
- Yves Fremion
- Laurent Genefort
- Philippe Goy
- Jimmy Guieu
- Johan Héliot
- Michel Jeury
- Gérard Klein
- Jean-Marc Ligny
- Pierre Pelot (a.k.a. Pierre Suragne)
- Wildy Petoud
- André-François Ruaud
- Gilles Thomas
- Élisabeth Vonarburg
- Roland C. Wagner
- Bernard Werber
- Joëlle Wintrebert
- Stefan Wul