While reading through Thirty-Five Years of the Jack Williamson Lectureship (Haffner Press, 2011) recently, this quote by the late author/professor himself jumped out at me. It’s from Williamson’s opening remarks for a panel discussion in 1997 on “Images of the Future in Science Fiction Film and Television.” I thought it captured the pulps (not just space opera) quite well.
Both “horse opera” and “space opera” were born in the pulp magazines, which were, I like to think, printed successors of the chanting Homeric poems. They still have epic qualities and characteristics. The main characters are larger than life, usually seen in historic black and white. They have extraordinary skills and powers or weapons. The stage is wide — often the new frontier. The stakes are high — perhaps the preservation of freedom of the new nation. Though tales of travel in space have been around for centuries, I think the space opera is an American invention. Edgar Rice Burroughs is one pioneer. I think Tarzan of the Apes is a sort of typical mythic hero, with powers and skills and so forth living in the jungle; and certainly the Mars he created called Barsoom opened the frontier that was rife with challenges enough. — Jack Williamson
