Otto Witt

Otto Witt (1875–1923) was a Swedish writer. He was one of the prominent figures in early Swedish science fiction. He did, among other things, publish Hugin, a science magazine "which was also filled with speculative articles and fiction". Hugin was one of the first magazines to regularly carry science fiction in the world, although it appears to have had little influence outside Sweden.

Hugin

Hugin was published between 7 April 1916 and 15 January 1920. The schedule was in theory fortnightly, though it was in practice plagued by delays and published irregularly. It ran for 85 issues, though many were double- or triple-numbered, making for a total of 65 individual issues. The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction describes it as a "popular science magazine [...] which included some short sf". It has been described as an early science fiction magazine, for instance by Swedish science fiction critic Sam J. Lundwall; US science fiction scholar Sam Moskowitz rejects this characterization, writing that the proportion of science fiction to non-fiction content was so low (some issues containing no fiction at all) that it does not even count as a fiction magazine. Swedish science fiction critic John-Henri Holmberg, in The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction, similarly writes that describing Hugin as a science fiction magazine "is greatly overstating the truth" as the bulk of the magazine's content consisted of non-fiction.

References

  1. 1 2 Ashley, Mike (2005). "Science Fiction Magazines: The Crucibles of Change". In Seed, David (ed.). A Companion to Science Fiction. John Wiley & Sons. p. 62. ISBN 978-0-470-79701-3.
  2. 1 2 Tuck, Donald H. (1982). "Hugin". The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction and Fantasy through 1968: A Bibliographic Survey of the Fields of Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Weird Fiction through 1968. Vol. 3: Miscellaneous. Advent:Publishers. p. 569. ISBN 978-0-911682-20-5.
  3. 1 2 Holmberg, John-Henri (2024). "Sweden". In Clute, John; Langford, David; Sleight, Graham (eds.). The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction (4th ed.). Retrieved 8 June 2025.
  4. 1 2 3 Holmberg, John-Henri (2024). "Witt, Otto". In Clute, John; Langford, David; Sleight, Graham (eds.). The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction (4th ed.). Retrieved 8 June 2025.
  5. ↑ [unsigned] (2014). "Hugin". In Clute, John; Langford, David; Sleight, Graham (eds.). The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction (4th ed.). Retrieved 8 June 2025.
  6. ↑ Moskowitz, Sam (Summer 1986). "Setting the Record Straight: A Response to Lundwall's 'Adventures in the Pulp Jungle'" (PDF). Foundation. No. 36. Science Fiction Foundation. pp. 57–67. ISSN 0306-4964. Archived (PDF) from the original on 20 September 2024. Retrieved 8 June 2025.
  7. ↑ Moskowitz, Sam (1983). "Anatomy of a Collection: The Sam Moskowitz Collection". In Hall, Hal W. (ed.). Science/Fiction Collections: Fantasy, Supernatural and Weird Tales. Routledge. pp. 90–91. ISBN 978-1-134-75469-4.