Editing New Wave (science fiction) (section)

== Description ==
The early proponents of New Wave considered it to be a major change from the genre's past, and that is the way that it was experienced by many readers during the late 1960s and early 1970s.<ref name=":12">{{Cite journal|last=Rob Latham|year=2012|title=From Outer to Inner Space: New Wave Science Fiction and the Singularity|journal=Science Fiction Studies|volume=39|issue=1|pages=28|doi=10.5621/sciefictstud.39.1.0028|issn=0091-7729}}</ref> New Wave writers often considered themselves as part of the [[Literary modernism|modernist]] and then [[Postmodernism|postmodernist]] traditions and sometimes mocked the traditions of older science fiction, which many of them regarded as stodgy, adolescent and badly written.<ref name="galacticjourney.org">Moorcock, Michael. "Play with Feeling." ''New Worlds'' 129 (April 1963), pp. 123–27, http://galacticjourney.org/stories/NW_1963_04.pdf</ref><ref name=":5" /> Many also rejected the content of the [[Golden Age of Science Fiction]]; rejecting an emphasis on physical science and adventures in outer space, they preferred to examine human psychology, subjectivity, dreams, and the unconscious.<ref name=":5" /> Nonetheless, during the New Wave period, traditional types of science fiction continued to appear, and in [[Rob Latham]]'s opinion, the broader genre had absorbed the New Wave's agenda and mostly neutralized it by the conclusion of the 1970s.<ref name=":12" />

=== Format ===
The New Wave coincided with a major change in the production and distribution of science fiction, as the pulp magazine era was replaced by the book market;<ref name=":12" /> it was in a sense also a reaction against typical pulp magazine styles.<ref name=":0" />

=== Topics ===
The New Wave interacted with a number of themes during the 1960s and 1970s, including [[Human sexuality|sexuality]];<ref>{{Citation|last=Latham|first=Rob|editor3-first=Joan|editor3-last=Gordon|editor2-first=Veronica|editor2-last=Hollinger|editor1-first=Wendy Gay|editor1-last=Pearson|title=Sextrapolation in New Wave Science Fiction|work=Queer Universes|year=2011|pages=52–71|place=Liverpool|publisher=Liverpool University Press|doi=10.5949/upo9781846313882.004|isbn=978-1-84631-388-2}}</ref> [[drug culture]], especially the work of [[William S. Burroughs]] and the use of [[psychedelic drug]]s;<ref name=":5" /> and the popularity of environmentalism.<ref name=":42">{{Cite journal|last=Latham|first=Rob|year=2007|title=Biotic Invasions: Ecological Imperialism in New Wave Science Fiction|journal=The Yearbook of English Studies|volume=37|issue=2|pages=103–119|doi=10.2307/20479304|jstor=20479304|issn=0306-2473|doi-access=free}}</ref> J. G. Ballard's themes included [[Social alienation|alienation]], [[social isolation]], [[class discrimination]], and [[Global catastrophic risk|the end of civilization]], in settings ranging from a single apartment block (''[[High-Rise (novel)|High Rise]]'') to entire worlds.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Tuna Ultav|first1=Zeynep|last2=Sever|first2=Müge|date=March 14, 2020|title=Interdisciplinary Nature of Architectural Discourse within the Triangle of Architecture, Sociology and Literary Fiction|journal=Space and Culture|volume=26 |pages=57–73|doi=10.1177/1206331220905260|s2cid=216192486|issn=1206-3312}}</ref><ref name=":32">{{Cite book|last=Roberts, Adam (Adam Charles)|title=The history of science fiction|date=2006|publisher=Palgrave Macmillan|isbn=978-0-333-97022-5|location=Basingstoke [England]|oclc=61756719}}</ref> [[Rob Latham]] noted that several of J. G. Ballard's works of the 1960s (e.g., the quartet begun by ''[[The Wind from Nowhere]]'' [1960]), engaged with the concept of eco-catastrophe, as did Disch's ''[[The Genocides]]'' and Ursula K. Le Guin's short novel ''[[The Word for World Is Forest]]''. The latter, with its description of the use of napalm on indigenous people, was also influenced by Le Guin's perceptions of the [[Vietnam War]], and both emphasized anti-technocratic fatalism instead of imperial hegemony via technology, with the New Wave later interacting with feminism, ecological activism and postcolonial rhetoric.<ref name=":42" />{{clarify|date=March 2022}} 

One characteristic of New Wave authors was a fascination with [[entropy]], i.e. with the idea that the world and the universe tend to disorder and must eventually end in "[[Heat death of the universe|heat death]]".<ref name=":5" /> The New Wave also engaged with [[utopia]], a common theme of science fiction, offering more nuanced interpretations.<ref name=":5" /><sup>:74–80</sup>

=== Style ===
Transformation of style was part of the basis of the New Wave fashion.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Aldiss|first=Brian W.|title=Trillion year spree : the history of science fiction|date=2004|publisher=Royal National Institute of the Blind|oclc=939659718}}</ref><sup>:286</sup> Combined with controversial topics, it introduced innovations of form, style, and aesthetics, involving more literary ambitions and experimental use of language, with significantly less emphasis on physical science or technological themes in its content.<ref>{{Citation|last=Roberts|first=Adam|title=The Impact of New Wave Science Fiction 1960s–1970s|year=2006|work=The History of Science Fiction|pages=230–263|place=London|publisher=Palgrave Macmillan UK|doi=10.1057/9780230554658_11|isbn=978-0-230-54691-2}}</ref> For example, in the story "[[A Rose for Ecclesiastes]]" (1963), [[Roger Zelazny]] introduces numerous literary [[allusion]]s, complex [[Onomastics|onomastic]] patterns, multiple meanings, and innovative themes, and other Zelazny works, such as "[[The Doors of His Face, the Lamps of His Mouth]]" (1965) and [[The Dream Master|''He Who Shapes'']] (1966) involve literary self-reflexivity, playful collocations, and neologisms. In stories like [["Repent, Harlequin!" Said the Ticktockman]], [[Harlan Ellison]] is considered as using [[Gonzo journalism|gonzo]]-style syntax. Many New Wave authors used obscenity and vulgarity intensely or frequently.<ref name="Taylor 1990 611–627">{{Cite journal|last=Taylor|first=John W.|year=1990|title=From Pulpstyle to Innerspace: The Stylistics of American New-Wave SF|journal=Style|volume=24|issue=4|pages=611–627|jstor=42946165|issn=0039-4238}}</ref> Concerning visual aspects, some scenes of J. G. Ballard's novels reference the surrealist paintings of [[Max Ernst]] and [[Salvador Dalí]].<ref name=":5" />

=== Differences between American and British New Waves ===
The British and American New Wave trends overlapped but were somewhat different. Judith Merril noted that New Wave SF was being called "the New Thing". In a 1967 article for ''The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction'' she contrasted the SF New Wave of England and the United States, writing:

<blockquote>They call it the New Thing. The people who call it that mostly don't like it, and the only general agreements they seem to have are that Ballard is its Demon and I am its prophetess—and that it is what is wrong with Tom Disch, and with British s-f in general... The American counterpart is less cohesive as a "school" or "movement": it has had no single publication in which to concentrate its development, and was, in fact, till recently, all but excluded from the regular s-f magazines. But for the same reasons, it is more diffuse and perhaps more widespread.<ref name=":6">{{Cite book|last=Wollheim|first=Donald A.|title=The universe makers: science fiction today|date=1972|publisher=Gollancz|isbn=0-575-01338-9|location=London|oclc=16202154}}</ref><sup>:105</sup></blockquote>

The science fiction academic [[Edward James (historian)|Edward James]] also discussed differences between the British and American SF New Wave. He believed that the former was, due to J. G. Ballard and Michael Moorcock, associated mainly with a specific magazine with a set programme that had little subsequent influence. James noted additionally that even the London-based American writers of the time, such as Samuel R. Delany, Thomas M. Disch, and John Sladek, had their own agendas. James asserted the American New Wave did not reach the status of a "movement" but was rather a concordance of talent that introduced new ideas and better standards to the authoring of science fiction, including through the first three seasons of ''[[Star Trek: The Original Series|Star Trek]]''. In his opinion, "...the American New Wave ushered in a great expansion of the field and of its readership... it is clear that the rise in literary and imaginative standards associated with the late 1960s contributed a great deal to some of the most original writers of the 1970s, including [[John Crowley (author)|John Crowley]], [[Joe Haldeman]], [[Ursula K. Le Guin]], [[James Tiptree, Jr.]], and [[John Varley (author)|John Varley]]."<ref name="James, Edward, 1947–1994">{{Cite book |last=James |first=Edward |date=1994 |title=Science fiction in the Twentieth Century |location=Oxford |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=0-19-219263-9 |oclc=29668769}}</ref>{{Rp|p=176}}