Editing New Wave (science fiction) (section)

== Impact ==
In a 1979 essay, Professor [[Patrick Parrinder]], commenting on the nature of science fiction, noted that "any meaningful act of defamiliarization can only be relative, since it is not possible for man to imagine what is utterly alien to him; the utterly alien would also be meaningless."<ref name="parrinder">{{Cite journal|last=Parrinder|first=Patrick|year=1979|title=The Alien Encounter: Or, Ms Brown and Mrs Le Guin (la Rencontre de l'extraterrestre)|journal=Sciefictstud Science Fiction Studies|language=en|volume=6|issue=1|pages=46–58|issn=0091-7729|oclc=5544072660}}</ref>{{rp|48}} He also states, "Within SF, however, it is not necessary to break with the wider conventions of prose narrative in order to produce work that is validly experimental. The 'New Wave' writing of the 1960s, with its fragmented and surrealistic forms, has not made a lasting impact, because it cast its net too wide. To reform SF one must challenge the conventions of the genre on their own terms."<ref name="parrinder" />{{rp|55–56}}

Others ascribe a more important, though still limited, effect. Veteran science fiction writer [[Jack Williamson]] (1908–2006) when asked in 1991: "Did the [New] Wave's emphasis on experimentalism and its conscious efforts to make SF more 'literary' have any kind of permanent effects on the field?" replied:

<blockquote>After it subsided—it's old hat now—it probably left us with a sharpened awareness of language and a keener interest in literary experiment. It did wash up occasional bits of beauty and power. For example, it helped launch the careers of such writers as [Samuel R.] Chip Delany, Brian Aldiss, and Harlan Ellison, all of whom seem to have gone on their own highly individualistic directions. But the key point here is that New Wave SF failed to move people. I'm not sure if this failure was due to its pessimistic themes or to people feeling the stuff was too pretentious. But it never really [[Sense of wonder|grabbed hold of people's imaginations]].<ref>Larry McCaffery and Jack Williamson. 'An Interview with Jack Williamson' in ''Science Fiction Studies'', Vol. 18, No. 2 (Jul., 1991), pp. 230–252: page 234</ref></blockquote>

Hartwell observed that "there is something efficacious in sf's marginality and always tenuous self-identity—its ambiguous generic distinction from other literary categories—and, perhaps more importantly, in its distinction from what has variously been called realist, mainstream, or mundane fiction."<ref>Hewitt, Elizabeth. 'Generic Exhaustion and the "Heat Death" of Science Fiction' in ''Science Fiction Studies'', Vol. 21, No. 3 (Nov. 1994), pp. 289–301</ref>{{rp|289}} Hartwell maintained that after the New Wave, science fiction had still managed to retain this "marginality and tenuous self-identity":

The British and American New Wave in common would have denied the genre status of SF entirely and ended the continual development of new specialized words and phrases common to the body of SF, without which SF would be indistinguishable from mundane fiction in its entirety (rather than only out on the borders of experimental SF, which is properly indistinguishable from any other experimental literature). The denial of special or genre status is ultimately the cause of the failure of the New Wave to achieve popularity, which, if it had become truly dominant, would have destroyed SF as a separate field.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Hartwell|first=David G|title=Age of wonders: exploring the world of science fiction|date=1985|publisher=McGraw-Hill |isbn=978-0-07-026963-7|language=en|oclc=12216587}}</ref>{{rp|153}}

Scientific and technological themes were more important than literary trends to Campbell, and some major ''Astounding'' contributors [[Isaac Asimov]], [[Robert A. Heinlein]], and [[L. Sprague de Camp]] had scientific or engineering educations.<ref name="latham2009">{{Cite book|last=Latham|first=Rob|title=The Routledge Companion to Science Fiction|publisher=Routledge|year=2009|isbn=9781135228361|editor-last=Bould|editor-first=Mark|pages=80–89|chapter=Fiction, 1950-1963|editor-last2=Butler|editor-first2=Andrew M.|editor-last3=Roberts|editor-first3=Adam|editor-last4=Vint|editor-first4=Sherryl|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=y7CNAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA80}}</ref> Asimov said in 1967 "I hope that when the New Wave has deposited its froth and receded, the vast and solid shore of ''science'' fiction will appear once more".<ref name="asimov196708">{{Cite magazine|last=Asimov|first=Isaac|date=August 1967|title=S. F. as a Stepping Stone|department=Editorial|magazine=Galaxy Science Fiction|pages=4, 6}}</ref><ref>cited in Aldiss, Brian and Wingrove David. ''Trillion Year Spree. The History of Science Fiction'' (London: Paladin Grafton, 1988)</ref>{{rp|388}} Yet, Asimov himself was to illustrate just how that "SF shore" did indeed re-emerge—- but changed. A biographer noted that during the 1960s:

<blockquote>
...stories and novels that Asimov must not have liked and must have felt were not part of the science fiction he had helped to shape were winning acclaim and awards. He also must have felt that science fiction no longer needed him. His science fiction writing... became even more desultory and casual.

Asimov's return to serious writing in 1972 with ''[[The Gods Themselves]]'' (when much of the debate about the New Wave had dissipated) was an act of courage...<ref>Gunn, James. ''Isaac Asimov. The Foundation of Science Fiction'' (Oxford University Press, 1982></ref>{{rp|105}}
</blockquote>

Darren Harris-Fain observed on this resumption of writing SF by Asimov that

<blockquote>...the novel [''The Gods Themselves''] is noteworthy for how it both shows that Asimov was indeed the same writer in the 1970s that he had been in the 1950s and that he nonetheless had been affected by the New Wave even if he was never part of it. His depiction of an alien ménage a trois, complete with homoerotic scenes between the two males, marks an interesting departure from his earlier fiction, in which sex of any sort is conspicuously absent. Also there is some minor experimentation with structure.<ref name="Harris" />{{rp|43}}</blockquote>

Other themes dealt with in the novel are concerns for the environment and "human stupidity and the delusional belief in human superiority", both frequent topics in New Wave SF.<ref name="Harris" />{{rp|44}}

Still other commentators ascribe a much greater effect to the New Wave. Commenting in 2002 on the publication of the 35th Anniversary edition of Ellison's ''Dangerous Visions'' anthology, the critic Greg L. Johnson remarked that

<blockquote>...if the New Wave did not entirely revolutionize the way SF was written, (the exploration of an invented world through the use of an adventure plot remains the prototypical SF story outline), they did succeed in pushing the boundaries of what could be considered SF, and their use of stylistic innovations from outside SF helped raise standards. It became less easy for writers to get away with stock characters spouting wooden dialogue laced with technical jargon. Such stories still exist, and are still published, but are no longer typical of the field.<ref name="auto"/></blockquote>

Asimov agreed that "on the whole, the New Wave was a good thing".<ref name="Asimovon">{{Cite book|last=Asimov|first=Isaac|title=Asimov on science fiction|date=1983|publisher=Granada|isbn=978-0-246-12044-1|location=London u.a.|language=en|oclc=239974687}}</ref>{{rp|137}} He described several "interesting side effects" of the New Wave. Non-American SF became more prominent and the genre became an international phenomenon. Other changes noted were that "the New Wave encouraged more and more women to begin reading and writing science fiction... The broadening of science fiction meant that it was approaching the 'mainstream'... in style and content. It also meant that increasing numbers of mainstream novelists were recognizing the importance of changing technology and the popularity of science fiction, and were incorporating science fiction motifs into their own novels."<ref name="Asimovon" />{{rp|138–139}}

Critic [[Rob Latham]] identifies three trends that associated New Wave with the emergence of [[cyberpunk]] during the 1980s. He said that changes of technology as well as an economic [[Recession of 1958|recession]] constricted the market for science fiction, generating a "widespread" malaise among fans, while established writers were forced to reduce their output (or, like [[Isaac Asimov]], shifted their emphasis to other subjects); finally, editors encouraged new methods that earlier ones tended to discourage.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Title: Cyberpunk and the New Wave: Ruptures and Continuities|url=https://isfdb.org/cgi-bin/title.cgi?1721408|access-date=2022-12-29|website=isfdb.org}}</ref>