Thesis (M.A.)--University of Wisconsin--Madison, 1972. / eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references.

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Around the end of the 1930's, when American science fiction was just beginning to emerge, the literature of scientific imagination had already several traditions in France stemming from Jules Verne, J.-H. Rosny the Elder, Maurice Renard and many popular novelists. This literature, however, never succeeded in establishing itself as a literary genre in its own right. It was only with the discovery of American science fiction in the fifties that science fiction was recognized as such in France. / The problematic situation of French science fiction before and after 1950 can only be explained by means of sound hypotheses concerning the genological specificity of science fiction, on the one hand, and a thorough textual analysis of works reflecting the various strains of imagination in our period, on the other hand. / The introduction reviews the current state of research in science fiction, focussing on the main essays on the history and theory of the genre. We then expose our own hypotheses on science fiction as a "poetics of otherness". / An examination of French science fiction from 1918 to 1968 reveals that the genre is made up of heterogeneous strains, despite a real community of themes. There are five such strains, which we analyze through five authors exemplifying their specific characteristics: (1) A strain whose particular characteristic is the appeal of "otherness": J.-H. Rosny the Elder; (2) A strain that could be called "middle-of-the-road science fiction", which is a blend of science fiction proper, the fantastic and the popular novel: Maurice Renard; (3) The "catastrophic imagination" strain: Jacques Spitz; (4) The mass-produced science fiction strain: B. R. Bruss; (5) A strain characterized by an "imaginative drift": Stefan Wul. / In conclusion, the chronic state of crisis of French science fiction is interpreted as a symptom of the difficulty in achieving this literary genre's potential as a "poetics of otherness".

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