LASSWITZ, Kurd

LASSWITZ, Kurd
(1848-1910)
   German Kantean philosopher, historian of science, novelist and short-story writer. As the first major sf writer in German, he holds the same place in GERMANY as do H.G. WELLS in the UK and Jules VERNE in France. He taught philosophy for many years at the Gymnasium Ernestinum inGotha, and it is symptomatic of 19th-century German intellectual culture that he irradiated his fiction with theoretical speculation; there is no KL fiction without a lesson. In "German Theories of Science Fiction" (1976Science-Fiction Studies) William B. Fischer claims on KL's behalf that many of his ideas directly prefigure later critics' use of terms like "extrapolation" and "analogue", and translates as follows from KL'sintroduction to the short-story collection Bilder aus der Zukunft ("Images of the Future") (coll 1878): "Many inferences about the future can be drawn from the historical course of civilization and the present state of science; and analogy offers itself to fantasy as an ally." The seriousness of KL's didactic impulse can be seen in the strong emphasis he places in his fiction on establishing a plausible imaginary world whose hypothetical nature will be governed, and given verisimilitude, by the resemblance to scientific method evident in its realization.Unsurprisingly, the stories that embody these overriding concerns tend to be more effective as broad technological and scientific canvases than as studies in character. The tales collected in Bilder aus der Zukunft read consequently almost like illustrated tours of various "superior terrestrial cultures located in the future". (A short story from this volume was published in Overland Monthly in 1890 as "Pictures of the Future".) Further short stories are collected in Seifenblasen ("Soap Bubbles") (coll 1890), 2 stories from this volume appearing (trans Willy LEY 1953 and 1955) in FSF, and Nie und Nimmer("Never, Ever") (coll 1902); 2 sf novels, Aspira (1906) and Sternentau("Star Dew") (1909), have not been translated into English.KL's major work is his long sf novel, Auf zwei Planeten (1897; cut 1948; cut again 1969; trans Hans J. Rudnick, much cut, as Two Planets 1971 US), in which mankind confronts a superior Martian culture when a Martian SPACE HABITAT is discovered above the North Pole along with an enclave at the pole itself. After useless defiance of the Martians, Earth is put under a benignprotectorate, and humans gradually begin a process of self-improvement at the same time that the Martians on Earth become decadent. Ultimately mankind rebels, equality between the two planets is established, and Earth seems destined to a UTOPIAN future. The book incorporates much technological speculation, including details about life on MARS - based on the theories of Percival Lowell (1855-1916) - possible alien forms of biology (XENOBIOLOGY), and the nature of mankind, actual and potential. It was deeply influential upon at least two generations of German youth,as the epigraph to the 1971 translation by Wernher von Braun (1912-1977) attests; and E.F. BLEILER has speculated that it was important in shaping Hugo GERNSBACK's "technologically based liberalism".In 1981, the KurdLasswitz AWARDS were established to honour, in a fashion meant to reflect the HUGO, the best German sf published during the previous year.
   JC
   See also: HISTORY OF SF; INVASION.

Science Fiction and Fantasy Encyclopedia. . 2011.

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  • Kurd Laßwitz — (* 20. April 1848 in Breslau; † 17. Oktober 1910 in Gotha; eigentlich Carl Theodor Victor Kurd Laßwitz) war ein deutscher Schriftsteller. Er publizierte auch unter dem Pseudonym L. Velatus und gilt als Begründer der deutschsprachigen Science… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

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  • Kurd Lasswitz — Kurd Laßwitz, eigentlich Carl Theodor Victor Kurd Laßwitz, (* 20. April 1848 in Breslau; † 17. Oktober 1910 in Gotha) war ein deutscher Schriftsteller. Er publizierte auch unter dem Pseudonym L. Velatus und gilt als Begründer der… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Kurd Lasswitz — (de: Kurd Laßwitz ) (April 20, 1848 ndash; October 17, 1910) was a German author, scientist, and philosopher. He has been called the father of German science fictionFact|date=July 2007 He sometimes used the pseudonym Velatus .Lasswitz studied… …   Wikipedia

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  • Kurd Laßwitz — Carl Theodor Victor Kurd Laßwitz (1848 1910) est un écrivain, mathématicien, physicien et géographe allemand qui publia sous le pseudonyme Velatus. Il est considéré en Allemagne comme le fondateur de la littérature de science fiction germanophone …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Kurd-Laßwitz-Preis — El Premio Krud Lasswitz, en honor del escritor alemán Kurd Lasswitz, tiene por objetivo premiar las mejores obras literarias en el género de la ciencia ficción en lengua alemana. Fue creado en 1980. A semejanza del premio Nébula, el jurado que… …   Wikipedia Español

  • Kurt Lasswitz — Kurd Laßwitz, eigentlich Carl Theodor Victor Kurd Laßwitz, (* 20. April 1848 in Breslau; † 17. Oktober 1910 in Gotha) war ein deutscher Schriftsteller. Er publizierte auch unter dem Pseudonym L. Velatus und gilt als Begründer der… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Erich Lasswitz — (* 4. September 1880 in Gotha; † März 1959 in Tutzing) war ein deutscher Wissenschafts und Technikjournalist. Leben Erich Lasswitz wurde 1880 in Gotha als zweiter Sohn von Kurd Laßwitz und dessen Frau Jenny, einer Tochter des Breslauer Rabbiners… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Prix Kurd Lasswitz — Prix Kurd Laßwitz Logo du prix Le Prix Kurd Laßwitz (Kurd Laßwitz Preis) est un prix littéraire non doté qui récompense des auteurs de science fiction. Ce prix a pour objectif d honorer les meilleurs créations littéraires de la science fiction… …   Wikipédia en Français

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