The Perversity of Things: Hugo Gernsback on Media, Tinkering, and Scientifiction

(Paperback)

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Grant Wythoff presents a wide array of texts by famed writer, publisher, and inventor Hugo Gernsback that were foundational both for science fiction and emerging media studies. Through painstaking research and extensive annotations and commentary, Wythoff aims to reverse the widespread misunderstanding of Gernsback within the history of science fiction criticism, reintroducing us to Gernsback and the origins of science fiction.

Reviews

"Grant Wythoff's splendid work of scholarship dispels the dank, historic mists of a literary subculture with starkly factual archival research. An amazing vista of electronic media struggle is revealed here, every bit as colorful and cranky as Hugo Gernsback's pulp magazineseven the illustrations and footnotes are fascinating. I'm truly grateful for this work and will never think of American science fiction in the same way again."Bruce Sterling, author, journalist, and critic

"Hugo Gernsback was one of the strangest and most weirdly influential minds of the twentieth century, and his story has never before been fully told. Grant Wythoffs The Perversity of Things is brilliant and beautifulindispensible for anyone who wants to understand the collision of technology and culture in which science fiction was born."James Gleick, author of Time Travel

"Each page is a small feast for the intellect."Paul Levinsons Infinite Regress

"The quality of Wythoff's editorial work is outstanding, and it is well served by the clever typographical presentation of the book, pleasant to read, well indexed, and nicely illustrated. Thanks to this work, it should be possible to reframe the figure of Gernsback."Leonardo Reviews

"Wythoff's indispensable account of Gernsback's understanding of the power of media is remarkable in many ways and is expected to reset people's understanding of SF. Wythoff uses examples of Gernsback's writing fiction stories, essays, articles, editorialseven the inventor's own blueprints to show how a tinkerer launched a new era in written science fiction."Kirkus Reviews

"If I have one complaint about The Perversity of Things, it is that I did not want it to endor, at least, I wanted more. Wythoff invites his audience members to become engaged critical readers who contribute to the development of science fiction and media history through our own intellectual tinkering and innovation. I cannot help but think that Gernsback would be proud. Highly recommended."Science Fiction Studies

Author Bio

Hugo Gernsback (18841967) was a Luxembourgish American inventor, writer, editor, and magazine publisher who founded the first science fiction magazine, Amazing Stories, in 1926. The annual Hugo Awards for the best works of science fiction and fantasy are named in his honor.

Grant Wythoff is a postdoctoral fellow in the Society of Fellows in the Humanities and a lecturer in the department of English and comparative literature at Columbia University.