Fiction of Early 20th Century in Genre Coverage

Abstract

The issue of heterogeneity of the fantastic literature of the early 20^th century which is called science fiction is considered. It is argued that this term traditionally denotes three different kinds of fiction, which appeared almost simultaneously in the early 20^th century: science fiction itself (existed briefly), adventurous and philosophical fiction, and adventure fiction. It is noted that varieties differ from each other not only in structure and content, but also in terms of genre composition. The novelty of the research lies in the fact that the genre approach is applied for the first time in the study of every variety of fantastic literature. The results of genre studies and genre forms for each variety of the fantastic literature of the early 20^th century are presented. For science fiction it is science fiction essay and scientema (the term is introduced for the first time). Adventurous and philosophical fiction transform adventurous genres of literature, primarily - geographical novel of adventure, adventure historical novel, crime genres. Adventurous fiction also uses the genres of the adventure literature, but does not transform them. It is also argued that a significant impact on all the varieties of fiction as well the works of “classical” canon was influenced by “literature of the supernatural” (G. Lovecraft).