What's the 'earliest future' mentioned in a work of science fiction?

Question

Many pieces of science fiction are set in the future. E.g. Back to the Future has a future set in 2015, Bladerunner has one set in 2019, Alien seems to be set around 2087, and so forth.

Q: I am interested in finding the earliest future as used in science fiction.

Explained: Taking the three movies mentioned, Back to the Future would have the earliest future of those three movies.

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What qualifies as future?

The year used in the work of science fiction must be in the future relative to the year the work of science fiction was created and published.

The work should explicitly or implicitly make it clear that it is set in the future. One possible way of achieving this is by mentioning a year that is clearly set into the future regarding to the area in time the work has been published, e.g. when Heinlein starts his 1966 published book The Moon is a harsh mistress by mentioning the 13 May 2075 in the very second paragraph.

What does not qualify?

Works such as Wells' War of the Worlds do not count as they are not set in any future but in the contemporary world when the work was created & published.

What is science-fiction?

A work that is tagged as some sort of science-fiction on any reputable site.
Reputable sites would contain the likes of Wikipedia (as long as referenced properly), IMDB, ISFDB, Goodreads, etc.

Answer 1

The Partisan Leader: A Tale of the Future by "Edward William Sidney", pseudonym of Nathaniel Beverley Tucker; available at the Internet Archive. Published in 1836, set in 1849. A work of alternate history, it is listed in the Internet Speculative Fiction Database and in Everett F. Bleiler's Science-Fiction: The Early Years. Summary from Wikipedia:

The Partisan Leader; A Tale of The Future is a political novel by the antebellum Virginia author and jurist Nathaniel Beverley Tucker. A two-volume work published in 1836 in New York City and in 1837 in Washington, D.C. under the pen-name “Edward William Sydney,” the novel is set thirteen years into the future, in 1849, and imagines a world where the American states south of Virginia have seceded from the Union. The story traces the formation of a band of Virginia insurgents who seek to free their state from federal control and adjoin it to the independent Southern Confederacy.

Ever since the Southern states actually withdrew from the Union in 1861, the work has been viewed as a window into the development of secessionist thought, and, in some ways, a preview of the American Civil War. In 1861, it was reprinted in New York City with the title A Key to the Disunion Conspiracy. A confederate edition was published in Richmond in 1862.

Answer 2

"Solution Unsatisfactory" by Robert A Heinlein was published in 1941 and set between 1944 and 1951, as the US tries to develop a nuclear weapon to end WWII.

Answer 3

My first thought was also Nineteen Eighty-Four, but a cursory browse of TV Tropes' I Want My Jetpack article (obligatory warning) led me to the Jules Verne novel Paris in the Twentieth Century, which was set in August 1960. This is the earliest specified "future" I can find.

Fun fact: Paris in the Twentieth Century was written in 1863 but wasn't actually published until 1994, because publishers in the 1860s thought the predictions were too far-fetched. In fact, as noted in the article:

The book's description of the technology of 1960 was in some ways remarkably close to actual 1960s technology.

Answer 4

There's already plenty of good answers, but I'd like to throw in The King in Yellow by Robert W. Chambers published in 1895. The first of these stories is set in 1920:

The story is set in New York City in the year 1920, 25 years after the story's publication. It is told from the view of Hildred Castaigne, a young man whose personality changes drastically following a head injury sustained by falling from his horse. He is subsequently committed to an asylum for treatment of insanity by Dr. Archer. Due to his accident, Hildred is a prime example of an unreliable narrator.

As related by Hildred, the United States has apparently prospered in the meantime, significantly improving its infrastructure. The rise of a new aristocratic elite in the United States has reduced the influence and immigration of foreigners, and this is particularly evident in the case of Jews. Suicide has been legalized, and has been made generally and readily accessible in the newly established "Government Lethal Chambers" being rapidly rolled out across other towns and cities.

Answer 5

A number of writers from the 1950s and 1960s expected to have Lunar colonies by 1970. Larry Niven, explicitly gave that date as a "past future" in some of his earlier stories ("Becalmed in Hell", "The Coldest Place", etc.), which were published in the mid-1960s.

Robert A. Heinlein also gave 1970 as a date, if only in his "future history" timeline (as published after 1970 in The Past Through Tomorrow and later versions with different titles). Several of his stories in that setting were written before 1960, when 1970 was a real future.

Murray Leinster wrote a short story titled "Politics" in the 1930s, in which a radar-equipped, (analog) computer-controlled battleship outfights a whole enemy fleet to turn around and win "the War" -- pretty clearly pointing to the Second World War, which could be seen brewing even as early as 1934 by anyone who looked with open eyes. I don't, however, recall whether he gave any actual date(s) in that story; if so, it would have been set in the late 1940s.

In H. G. Wells's The Time Machine, in an early test, the traveler goes forward a single day, starting from the 1880s -- but I don't know that that counts...

Answer 6

So far the earliest future seems to be in The Partisan Leader: a Tale of the Future By Edward William Sidney. Published in 1836, set in 1847 eleven years later. That is 73 years earlier than the next future date suggested, 1920 in The King in Yellow. That is a great find by User 14111.

I want to add two notes:

1. Encouragement to seek for even earlier future dates than 1847 in early works of proto science fiction.

2. Mention of fictional works that have earlier future dates than 1847, but might not count as science fiction. Your mileage may vary, as they say in TV Tropes.

Science fiction set before 1847

The Mummy!: Or a Tale of the Twenty-Second Century by Jane Loudon, was published in 1827, nine years before The Partisan Leader: a Tale of the Future, but does not displace it as the front runner since it is set later, in 2126.

The Last Man by Mary Shelley, was published in 1826, ten years before The Partisan Leader: a Tale of the Future, but does not displace it as the front runner since it is set at the end of the 21st century - the date of 2092 for some events is mentioned in the summary.

The Mummy! is set 300 years in the future, so a science fiction or proto science fiction work publish before 1547 and set 300 years in the future would have an earlier future date than The Partisan Leader: a Tale of the Future.

The Last Man is set 266 years in the future. So a proto science story written before 1581 and set 266 years in the future would have an earlier future than The Partisan Leader: a Tale of the Future.

And if someone in 1650 wrote a futuristic story set 150 years in the future in 1800, that would be an earlier fictional future. If someone in 1692 wrote a story set only 100 years in the future in 1792 that would be an earlier fictional future. And if someone in 1745 or 1790 wrote a story set only 50 years in the future, in 1795 or 1840, that would be an earlier future than The Partisan Leader: a Tale of the Future.

Thus it is possible that someone who researches early works of proto science fiction could find a story set in an earlier fictional future date than 1847.

Other predictive fiction set before 1847

The question "What was the first story to be set in the future?" has some great answers.

January First-of-May says:

The classic book series Gargantua and Pantagruel, written in the 16th century (first book c. 1532, last book c. 1564), occasionally gives mention of how much time had passed. There is about one specific date in the entire story - an early event is said to have happened in 1420. As it happens, the author did not seem to take much care of the dates, and when one adds it all up, by the time we get to book four the story is taking place in the early 20th century. To be fair, I would not have mentioned it at all if the entire thing did not look quite science-fiction-y already (especially in the last two books).

So book one was published about 1532, the fourth book was published in 1552. And the fictional dates seem to progress from 1420 to the 20th century (1901-2000). Thus at some point during the first four books there should have be a lot of events happening after 1552 and before 1847.

Thus Gargantua and Pantagruel is a work of fiction that includes fictional events in future periods of the 16th, 17th, 18th, 19th etc. centuries. But is it a work of SCIENCE fiction with earlier future dates than 1847, or is it a work of FANTASY fiction or of HUMOROUS fiction with earlier future dates than 1847?

And he mentions an earlier work, the play Medea by Seneca the Younger. Lines 375 to 379 have often been interpreted as predicting the Age of Discovery over 1,400 year later:

There will come an age in the far-off years
when Ocean shall unloose the bonds of things,
when the whole broad earth shall be revealed,
when Tethys shall disclose new worlds
and Thule not be the limit of the lands.

Thus January First-of-May may have found 2 future dates earlier than 1847 in his answer to another question.

It depends on how much like science fiction Gargantua and Pantagruel and Seneca's Medea seem to us, and especially to dot_Sp0T.

Answer 7

Of the top of my head Nineteen Eighty-Four stands out as having a specific date and being in the future relative to publishing.

There are undoubtedly other examples of futures written before 1948 (when Orwell wrote 1984) then but I can't see one that is specific to an earlier date. Looking at the chart ibid posted seems to bear this out.

This was however written long after the golden age so I would be surprised if nobody can find an earlier example.

Answer 8

How about:

Book of Revelation - John of Patmos, around 90 AD, a foretelling of the fall of the Roman Empire, a bit like Asimov did with Foundation

Urashima Tarō - Japanese legend dating from around the eighth century AD where the protagonist fisherman is transported 300 years into the future - at what point do stories of "divine intervention" not count as sci-fi?

Answer 9

Return to the Cave of Time: Published 1985, set 5 minutes into the future

Since you allow works involving time travel, then I think you would be hard pressed to find an "earlier future" than Edward Packard's Return to the Cave of Time, the 50th book in the Choose Your Own Adventure series. The book was published in 1985 and initially takes place in about that time period. One of the story lines involves the protagonist travelling about five minutes into the future. This sequence results in a number of thought-provoking paradoxes.

I think it's safe to classify the book as science fiction. It's tagged as such on Goodreads, and while it's not (yet) listed on the ISFDB, the previous instalment, The Cave of Time, is, and was reviewed in Science Fiction Review and Analog Science Fiction/Science Fact.

Answer 10

I have found another example, which is newer but more definitely science fiction than the accepted answer. The Next Generation by John Francis Maguire was published in 1871 and set in 1891. It projects many technological (e.g. steam-powered balloons) and social (e.g. votes for women) changes during that twenty-year interval.

Answer 11

Star Wars? "A long time ago..." Sure seems like a Science Fiction series, although IMDB has it listed as Fantasy, Action, Adventure, and Wiki has it as an Epic Space Opera.