Preview

Isaac Asimov: The Father of Science Fiction

Better Essays
Open Document
Open Document
2467 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Isaac Asimov: The Father of Science Fiction
English 11 R
Mr. Ferrare
9 February 2010
Isaac Asimov: The Father of Science-Fiction Isaac Asimov is well known for his Foundation series but wrote a total of over 500 books. These books were commonly science-fiction, but he also wrote mysteries and other genres of literature, including a memoir. Although these works differ in genre, they each contain Isaac Asimov’s desire to help the world and educate people in any way he could. Isaac Asimov used his work to reflect upon the world and address its problems by helping the reader identify the problems so that he or she can overcome them. Isaac Asimov’s experiences in his earlier life helped form his perception of the world. Isaac Asimov was born in Petrovichi, Russia in 1920. Asimov moved with his parents to Brooklyn, New York before he turned three (Goldman). His father set up a candy shop, and Isaac taught himself how to read, enjoying the magazines his father sold in the shop. He worked there most of his adolescent years, helping his family make money during the difficult years of the Great Depression. Having Jewish Parents in a primarily Christian country gave Asimov an outsider’s view of religion, which shaped his religious beliefs and his writing about religion (“Isaac Asimov Biography”). As Asimov grew into adulthood, he encountered new experiences, continuing to change his outlook on the world. He served in the military during World War II although he never saw combat (“Asimov, Isaac.”). He grew to dislike war and the concept of violence solving problems, which he demonstrated in his writing. He also spent time on a naval base, which gave him ideas for his Foundation series (Badertscher). He married Gertrude Blugerman in 1942. Once out of the military Asimov pursued his writing career, writing 32 short stories between 1941 and 1949 (“Isaac Asimov Biography”). These stories, originally separate, came to be a part of the Foundation series. He also strove to educate himself, receiving his



Cited: “Asimov, Isaac.” Searchasaurus. World Almanac Education Group Incorporated, 2002. Web. 14 Jan. 2010. “Asimov, Isaac (1920-1992).” The Infidels. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Jan. 2010. Badertscher, Eric. Primary Search. N.p., 2005. Web. 18 Jan. 2010. Ed. Joyce Moss and George Wilson. “Foundation.” Literature and Its Times. Vol. 5. 1997. Print. Goldman, Stephen H. “Isaac Asimov.” Twentieth-Century American Science-Fiction Writers. 1981. Print. “Isaac Asimov Biography.” Isaac Asimov Fansite. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Jan. 2010. . Schwartz, Richard A. "Red Scare, 1950s." Cold War Culture: Media and the Arts, 1945–1990. New York: Facts On File, Inc., 2000. American History Online. Facts On File, Inc. Wagner, Thomas M. “Foundation.” SfReviews. N.p., 1999. Web. 25 Jan. 2010.

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    Cited: Coontz, Stephanie. "What We Really Miss About the 1950s." Columbo, Gary, Robert Cullen and Bonnie Lisle. Rereading America. Boston: Bedford/St. Martins, 2010. 32-48.…

    • 1136 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Cited: Meyer, Michael. Ellen Thibault. The Compact Bedford Introduction to Literature. 9th Ed. Boston, Massachusetts: St. Martin 's, 2012.…

    • 2209 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Diary of Miss Jane Pitman

    • 1862 Words
    • 8 Pages

    Ernest James Gaines was born in Oscar, Louisiana on a plantation in 1933. Of African American heritage, he was a good sport with his family and understood that hard work was a necessity in life. At the young age of only nine he aided his parents in the field working for fifty cents a day. He looked up to his handicap aunt, Augustine Jefferson, as she was his role model in his early youth. She inspired him and opened his eyes to setting a strong path for the generations to come. His mother and step father uprooted and moved to California when Gaines was fifteen. This was a great opportunity for his passion to read and write since the public library was for all races. The lack of African American study or authors pushed him even more to fill the shelves with the history of his race. At seventeen he sent his first novel to a publisher, but this was soon rejected and sent back. Later in his life he rewrote this and sent it again. While attending San Francisco State College he wrote a short story that was published in 1956. Two years later after graduating he studied creative writing at Stanford University until 1959. Gaines has written many short stories, novels, and has won many of awards as well, including the National Books Critic Circle Award. He was given most of his attention from the public after he published Of Love and Dust in 1967. Four years later The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman declared him as a literary icon for American fiction.…

    • 1862 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Better Essays

    In the late 1940’s and early 1950’s American’s were very scared that communism would influence our country. This period of time was referred to as ‘the second red scare’. Americans had seen the way that Russia had been transformed by communism, and did not want their country to undergo the same changes. Communism was a scary concept at the time, and it was something that we as a country definitely did not want any part of.…

    • 1171 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    When the Cold war began producers were not allowed to film certain items, however, by the 1950s it was safer to produce films without any political or economic implications at all. “Although Broken Arrow (1950) had presented Cochise sympathetically as a peace-loving Apache, Monogram Studios abandoned its plans for a movie on Hiawatha, whose efforts to achieve peace among the Iroquois nations might be interpreted as a boost to Communist peace propaganda (Document 1, pg. 229).” During the time of the Cold War, the media’s communication evolved from broadcasting over the radio to print in newspapers and then into…

    • 570 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The 1950s, inspired by the Soviet nuclear spying and aggression, starts off with the 2nd Red scare during Truman’s second term. During the second Red Scare, the entire nation holds itself in a great panic attack in search for Soviet infiltration in the American Government. Famous organization, HUAC (House of Un-American Activities Committee), was known for looking for communist influence in diverse organization, “blacklisting” the careers of those who are suspected or accused, making it a controversial violation of the 1st amendment. Another famous case of the Red scare would be the ventures of Joseph McCarthy. The supposed name holder of over 200 communist spies in the US government, McCarthy rode a wave of anti-Communist fear, tirelessly trying to discredit Truman administration and the Democrats. Numerous accused spy cases across America fed the panic that was driving the American public out of control. Court cases such as the Alger Hiss Case, and the Rosenberg Case fed into the public hysteria of anti-communism feelings.…

    • 944 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The fifties are sometimes considered a “golden age” within the history of the United States. The economy was booming, Elvis was rocking, and things were looking positive. The Korean War was ending, leading to a time of temporary Cold War “peace.” Jackie Robinson led the Brooklyn Dodgers to six National League pennants and one World Series title as the color barrier was slowly breaking throughout the a Civil Rights movement. The fifties were also a new era for Hollywood. Many movies around the time were about the Cold War and the spread of communism. Others, however, were more so about the teenage years of the baby boomers. One movie that highlighted this time period’s “beta” theme was Rebel Without a Cause.…

    • 1030 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    After World War II, the United States faced a malevolent philosophical dispute that had spread from within itself. Chapter nine in Thinking Through the Past is titled “Pop Culture as History: The War Comes Home” because it identifies America’s disposition over the subject of communism during the Cold War era. Historian Stephen J. Whitfield writes his secondary source entitled, “The Culture of the Cold War” which presents a detailed analysis pertaining to the lives of Americans on both sides of the political spectrum of anti-communism during the 1950s in United States. Questions arise that carry significance to cultural and social growth during the period: How was communism threatening the US and why? What did the threat of communism do to the culture of the US during the 1950s? Finally, does the secondary source written by Stephen Whitfield align with what is mentioned in primary sources or do they conflict with one another. Communism held a powerful grip on the United States’ cultural development during the 1950s. America was either too ferocious in its’ approach of defeating communism on the home-front as Whitfield suggests, or it’s necessity is overlooked and was prudent to end the political and social agenda of communism in the United States. In either case, communism held an astounding affect on the social aspects of the United States during the 1950s regarding motion pictures, novels, advertisement, music, and much more. Although, the majority of the population in the US sealed communism’s fate as they would not allow it to become apart of the popular culture during the 1950s.…

    • 1506 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Hawthorne, N. (2009). Young Goodman Brown. In M. Myers, The Compact Bedford Introdution to Literature (pp. 325-333). Boston: Bedford/St.Martin 's.…

    • 1670 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    After the end of the Second World War in 1945 another war emerged, this war was the cold war. The cold war was a power struggle between Communism and Capitalism. Capitalist Americans were terrified of communists and the chance of being hurled into a nuclear war. The American fear of communism, “the red scare”, caused many citizens to become paranoid. This paranoia lead many Americans into…

    • 742 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The 1950’s dealt with threats from the USSR and Communism which scared many people in the United States and soon became a full-fledged paranoia. There was fear of falling behind the advances of the Communist countries, especially among the Soviet Union, creating the Red Scare. As the Cold War with the USSR escalated, Americans increased their suspicions of Communist influences. Due to this, a special committee was formed in order to investigate Communists in America known as HUAC (The House Un-American Activities Committee). In 1947, HUAC accused ten people in Hollywood of supporting communist propaganda becoming blacklisted. As time went on, more individuals were being suspected of being Communists which eventually led to the act of McCarthyism…

    • 302 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The late 1940′s were a time when much change happened to the American society. As a result to the expanding threat of the Soviet Union, or its Communistic ideals, America took a stand that lead it to the Cold War. Although the war didn’t involve fighting directly with Russia, it still affected the American society and domestic policy. The war affected America so much that it lead to a fear of livelihood; precisely when Joseph McCarthy began his “witch hunt”. The Cold war lead to an enlarged fear of nuclear war; as well, it affected many of the domestic policies.…

    • 624 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    I 100% agree that Asimov’s argument is true. In our first unit, we learned and researched the events of my generation and analyzed how those events shaped our generation. It is very likely that the next generation will be the way they are due to Gen Z events such as the legalization of same-sex marriage and the legalization of medical marijuana. Our influence on the next generation will reflect on them. This has been proven easily from Generation X. The divorce rates in the 60s-70s have greatly influenced my generation’s social. Many children (about 25%) are raised by one parent. That large portion of single parents did not come from nowhere. Before the 60s and 70s, divorce was seen as a taboo, or something that rarely happened.Girls and Women…

    • 356 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Better Essays

    HUM3321 Capstone Essay

    • 1631 Words
    • 7 Pages

    Belton, John. "The 1960 's: The Counterculture Strikes Back." American Cinema/American Culture. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1994. 339-61. Print.…

    • 1631 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Better Essays

    “Cold War.” UXL Encyclopedia of U.S. History. Sonia Benson, Daniel E. Brannen, Jr., and Rebecca Valentine. Vol. 2. Detroit: UXI., 2009. 344-349. Student Resources in Context. Web. 16 Jan. 2014.…

    • 918 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Better Essays

Related Topics