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Rob Latham's 'Fiction, 1950-1963'

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As an individual who has does not study the history of literature "Fiction, 1950-1963" by Rob Latham takes the reader through an interesting back story of the rise and fall of science fiction through the span of a little more than a decade. "Fiction, 1950-1963" by Rob Latham largely focuses on the history of science fiction in writing and the path science fiction took to become a mainstream form of literature. It is a path filled with ups and downs, successes and failures, and a multitude of writers that attempt to make their mark on the emerging genre.
Throughout the essay Latham agrees with the process of making science fiction more accepted in mainstream culture. Latham takes the position that through science fiction becoming a legitimately viewed genre the field has more freedom to expand and experiment artistically. The most notable …show more content…

Some of which include the rising production costs at the end of the fifties that threaten the collapse of the genre. The end of the fifties brought with it a challenging time for the United States magazine market, the market declined "from a total of 23 titles in the summer of 1957 to only six by the end of 1960." (80) However science fiction was able to prevail and eventually lead to the New Wave, a time period in science fiction characterized by a high degree of experimentation and a focus in soft science. Latham repeatedly explains, in great detail, that the science fiction genre was not lost because of the expanding book market. "The rise of the book market impacted the field in a number of important ways." (82) One of the important topics Latham discusses is the fact that science fiction books were published. For the first time ever, science fiction stories were now available in durable book formatting. Making the story itself, and its impact last longer than when published in pulp fiction

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