German science fiction has, until recently, been severely overshadowed by its more famous counterparts in other countries, most notably the United States and Great Britain. Although German science fiction has only become a part of the global science fiction culture within the past few decades, it can easily trace its roots back to Renaissance influences in the 17th century. Johannes Kepler’s Somnium (1634), which contains musings about life on the moon, is considered to be the foremost predecessor to modern German science fiction. The new discoveries during the age of “scientific revolution” also left their mark on German literature and poetry. This is evident in the incorporation of scientific themes into the literature of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, arguably Germany’s most famous literary figure, beginning in the late 18th Century.

Throughout the 1700 and 1800’s, German authors occasionally turned their hand to utopic adventure stories. The most notable of these is Insel Felsenburg (Felsenburg Island, 1743 ) by Johann Gottfried Schnabel, which Peter Nicholls and John Clute’s Encyclopedia of Science Fiction terms as the “earliest German forerunner of adventure science fiction” (485). Modern German science fiction is officially considered to begin with the 1897 novel Auf zwei Planeten (Two Planets) by Kurd Lasswitz, who is deemed the father of German science fiction.

Somewhat surprisingly, German science fiction has rarely been popular within the global science fiction community, with the notable exception of Fritz Lang’s films. Theories as to why this may be include William Fischer’s hypothesis that the German literary community, like Germany itself, lagged behind the other nations in terms of industrial development. This possibly led to imaginative constraint with regard to scientific problems and futures. German literature was also severely hampered by the rise of Nationalist Socialism in the early 20th century, especially in the following communist German Democratic Republic, where science fiction was closely monitored for signs of political and ideological dissent.

However, since this time period, there have been several authors of German science fiction who have gained popularity within the German literary community and a few who have become known in the international community. In addition, there has been a recent explosion of critical and theoretical works, focusing particularly on the history of German science fiction.