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Home pages: The Greatest Literature of All Time
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What Counts as SF? Defining science fiction and the criteria for choosing The Greatest Science Fiction of All Time |
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How the selections were made Fuzzy definitions What does not count as science fiction |
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The Greatest Science Fiction of All Time consists of much more than the science fiction titles that appear on the list of The Greatest Literature of All Time. That is, the science fiction list is not a subset of the literature list—which includes about forty science fiction titles. But rather it comprises the nearly two hundred works that stand as the greatest in that genre known as science fiction, SF, sf, or (often derogatorily) sci-fi. Like that larger literary list though, The Greatest Science Fiction of All Time is an amalgam of the consensus of many other readers and my own evaluations. I've read many, if not most, of the works on the list, but I've consulted dozens of other references to judge how other writers and readers have assessed the field. For my overall approach to selecting works, however, you can consult the article on "Editor Eric's Criteria" for choosing the Greatest Literature of All Time. The bias toward inclusiveness and the varying meanings of "great" discussed in that article, for example, also apply to this science fiction list and need not be repeated here. Instead I'm going to take this space to discuss the specific questions and challenges that concern putting together a science fiction list. First of all, trying to figure out what is science fiction. |
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