Le Temple du passé

by Stefan Wul

English, French (translation)

Genres: Science Fiction

224 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1957

About the author

Stefan Wul was the nom de plume of French science fiction writer Pierre Pairault. He was a dental surgeon, but science fiction was his real passion. Most of his books reflect that, showing a deep knowledge of scientific data. Pairault retired from dental surgery in 1989, but remained active in the French science fiction scene.

He published eleven novels between 1956 and 1959 and a twelfth in 1977. Only one, Le Temple du Passé (1957), was translated into English, as The Temple of the Past in 1973. His fame outside of French-speaking countries is instead due the animated adaptations of two of his novels by René Laloux.
His work also include short stories and poems of science fiction.

Reviews

[Lourenço]

Inicialmente, ao comprar o livro achava que iria ser uma ficção científica anos 50 estilo Asimov talvez porque fosse o único autor que eu alguma vez tivesse lido que se inseria nessa categoria.
Estava enganado. O Asimov escreve sempre de alguma forma com os pés bem assentes no mundo do lógico, o Wul não se restringe com tais preocupações. A mente é tão criativa ao ponto do livro roçar o mundo do onírico (uma pessoa compreende totalmente o ambiente no qual La Planète Sauvage é inspirado).
Como qualquer livro francês da primeira metade do século XX tem de ter uma vontade louca de meter algo racista ou estupidamente colonial e neste arranja um subtexto que vem em forma de pensamento sobre escravos Maia serem os pilares da sociedade e o propósito deles ser servir.
Bom livro qualquer das formas.

[Pumbie Boulotte · Rating 3 out of 5]

J’hésite avec 4 parce que la fin (dernières 50 pages sur 150pages) était prenante
Donc on va dire 3,8
Très bon souvenir, j’ai trouvé le récit intelligent

[Ed Erwin · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoy reading contemporary French SF, and like to occasionally dip into earlier works to see what they were like. Stefan Wul is best known to me as the author of books that were made into the animated films "Fantastic Planet" and "Time Masters". There is good material in this book that could have served as the basis for a film just as weird and wonderful as those. But as a book, it is not as engaging.

Some spacemen from earth find themselves in a badly crashed rocket and gradually figure out where they are and try to save themselves. To accept the way they try to take control of the situation, it is necessary to suspend disbelief a bit too much. It is almost as if they say: "If we reverse the polarity on this toaster oven we can create a nuclear reactor that we can attach to this goldfish and it can swim us through space." (That is parody. I don't want to give away what they really do.) Even though the book sets you up for a twist ending, the actual twist ending is even weirder than you'd expect, and causes you to re-contextualize everything that came before.

I liked it well enough that I think I may try some of his other books later.