Eugen Stancu

Politics and Science Fiction: Science Fiction in Communist Romania 1955-1974 Eugen Stancu

Reading science fiction was a favourite pastime for many young people in communist Romania, a taste that was not significantly developed before that. While the SF imported from the Soviet Union talked about the best of the possible futures, the communist one, the youth was dreaming about it. However, few were aware that what they passionately read about the scientific and technological progresses of the next years was, at least at the beginning of this literature in Romania, nothing but an active pedagogical and propagandistic instrument meant to shape the new communist citizen. This book analyzes the relationship between politics, society and SF in communist Romania for the period 1955-1974. The main historical source used is the magazine Colectia Povestiri Stiintifico Fantastice, (Science Fiction Stories Collection) the only SF magazine published in Romania at that time. Approaching the history of communism through the analysis of SF represents an uninvestigated area, one with considerable research potential. For a historian, an analysis of SF and its related fandom could offer important insights into the intellectual, political and social history of this period.