411 REFERENCE · Wiktionary
Campbellian
Reference material by Wiktionary contributors. This retains its source identity and is not 411 news reporting.
English
Etymology
From en Campbell -ian.
Adjective
Relating to or reminiscent of American mythologist Joseph Campbell or his ideas, particularly the Hero's Journey.
en Christianity Of or relating to the ministers Thomas Campbell (minister) Thomas Campbell and Alexander Campbell (minister) Alexander Campbell, or the associated Campbellite movement.
en science fiction In the fictive style promoted by American writer and editor John W. Campbell, wherein humanity triumphs over alien intelligences through innate superiority, often with superhuman abilities such as telekinesis, ESP, etc.
en 2003 Edward James; Farah Mendlesohn The Cambridge Companion to Science Fiction 99 In fact, among some readers the term "Campbellian science fiction" is virtually synonymous with "Golden Age", so manifestly more rigorous were the authors Campbell developed than the majority of pulp writers before them.
en 2005 Michael Ashley Transformations: The History of the Science Fiction Magazine 1950 to 1970 Liverpool University Press Liverpool 133 It traces the growth of homo gestalt with the uniting of six lovely outcasts of society who have psi powers and come together as a hive mind, thus creating a gestalt super-being. This concept was pure Campbellian, yet Campbell was critical of the story - possibly out of petulance for not having published it.
en eponyms