Difference between revisions of "Fantasy Classification System"

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The idea was to create a hierarchy of concepts using something like the Dewey Decimal System, so 64. was "Weapons" and 64.2 was "Disintegrators".  33 was "religious practices" and 33.4 was "Strange and secret cults".  Etc.  A story would be classified by the numbers of whatever motifs it presented.  So, a [[Conan]] story where [[Conan]] got a hold of a disintegrator and blasted away at an evil nest of soul-devouring cultists would be classed as both 33.4 and 64.2 (and others besides.)
 
The idea was to create a hierarchy of concepts using something like the Dewey Decimal System, so 64. was "Weapons" and 64.2 was "Disintegrators".  33 was "religious practices" and 33.4 was "Strange and secret cults".  Etc.  A story would be classified by the numbers of whatever motifs it presented.  So, a [[Conan]] story where [[Conan]] got a hold of a disintegrator and blasted away at an evil nest of soul-devouring cultists would be classed as both 33.4 and 64.2 (and others besides.)
  
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Latest revision as of 15:29, 21 February 2020

An 8 1/2" x 11" 52-page booklet written by Alastair Cameron and published in 500 numbered copies by the Canadian Science Fiction Association in 1952 which does a credible job of providing a classification scheme for all of sf ("fantasy" at that time still having a more encompassing meaning than "science fiction").

This sort of work was the culmination of many previous attempts -- the booklet acknowledges Jack Speer, A. Langley Searles, E. F. Bleiler, Robert J. Smith and Chester D. Cuthbert. {Need list of other classification systems.}

The idea was to create a hierarchy of concepts using something like the Dewey Decimal System, so 64. was "Weapons" and 64.2 was "Disintegrators". 33 was "religious practices" and 33.4 was "Strange and secret cults". Etc. A story would be classified by the numbers of whatever motifs it presented. So, a Conan story where Conan got a hold of a disintegrator and blasted away at an evil nest of soul-devouring cultists would be classed as both 33.4 and 64.2 (and others besides.)


Publication 1952
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