Introduction

Summary

CAN LITERATURE TELL US anything meaningful about the future? Can it shape our expectations of things to come and help us decide which of the many possible futures to choose? Science Fiction (SF) has a long tradition of engaging with social change as well as scientific and technological progress, and it is an ideal medium through which to address such questions. My book argues that this popular art form that grew out of the industrial revolution not only holds valuable messages that can help us come to terms with the digital revolution but can make us more resilient in the face of the unknown, and can provide us with a toolkit that allows us to make informed choices in an increasingly complex world. SF can also tell us much about cultural differences and give us fascinating insights into alternative ways of approaching problems. Such a “transcultural” approach can open our eyes to alternatives to the status quo.

German SF has a long tradition and a distinct cultural identity. Yet not enough is known about it in the anglophone world. Apart from the film Metropolis (1927), few works of German SF have crossed the language barrier—to the detriment of a richer, transcultural conversation about the kind of world we want to live in. The aim of this book, therefore, is twofold: to provide an anglophone reader with an overview of the history and trajectory of German SF and utopian thought, and to explore how its distinctive voice can contribute to the global discourse on the future.

In an arc that spans 125 years, German utopians have moved from the cultural fringes to the center of German public discourse while maintaining their critical edge. The writer Kurd Laßwitz challenged the authoritarian Wilhelmine order while film director Fritz Lang provided a searing commentary on Weimar society. Utopian thinkers like Ernst Bloch and Herbert Marcuse insisted on the possibility of hope, even in the face of totalitarianism. During the Cold War, German utopian/dystopian writing and filmmaking became increasingly important both as an “early warning system” and as a creative imagining of possible futures.