originally published 11/19/2018

Ever heard of the Hugo Awards? In this interview, literary and media scholar Grant Wythoff talks about the “father of science fiction,” Hugo Gernsback. Gernsback’s utopian views about technology helped to influence American optimism about science and technology through his publishing of columns, stories, and catalogs such as Modern Electrics. Wythoff is the author of The Perversity of Things: Hugo Gernsback on Media, Tinkering, and Scientification (University of Minnesota Press, 2016). This interview was originally published on Volume 141 of the Journal.

26 minutes

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