Proto-Science Fiction Background and Examples

[Chris]

This is intended to be a quick list to get us started on discussion, obviously we can use the group's to-read shelf for comprehensive listings.

In addition to notables such as Jules Verne, H.G. Wells and others, there are earlier examples as well:

Lucian of Samosata (120-185)
Background - GR: Lucian of Samosata, Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lucian
Relevant work(s) - Trips to the Moon (link to an English translation provided in my GR review)

Cyrano de Bergerac (1619-1655)
Background - GR: Cyrano de Bergerac, Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyrano_de_Bergerac
Relevant work(s):
Voyage dans la lune: (link to English translation in my GR review)

Gabriel De Foigny (1630-1692)
Background - GR: Gabriel De Foigny, Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gabriel_...
Relevant work(s): La terre australe connue (a.k.a "The Southern Land", link to English translation in my GR review)
Foigny is discussed in greater detail in The Extraordinary Voyage in French Literature Before 1700, chapter 4 (direct Google Books link to the chapter)

Louis-Sébastien Mercier (1740-1814)
Background - GR: Louis-Sébastien Mercier, Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis-S%C3%A9bastien_Mercier
Relevant work(s): L'an 2440: Reve s'il en fut jamais (a.k.a "Memoirs Of The Year Two Thousand Five Hundred", link to an English translation in my GR review)

[Steve]

Hello Chris. Thanks for pointing me in this direction. I'm keen to read these early origins of science fiction. However are there English translations readily available for all the above titles?

You know how we English are with languages!

[Chris]

I'm right there with you -- although from the American perspective. I know the slightest bit of German but that's about it.

I agree, availability of English translations seems to be an issue. As I find them I'll post a "review" to each book above with a link to an English translation, as that will benefit all on GR as they come across these books. I know I've found at least two of them, but unfortunately unless an expert joins our ranks I believe we won't be able to know anything of the quality until we read through them, and even then we won't know anything of the accuracy unless we're blessed to acquire a linguist!

To be clear, I've found an unexpected passion and spent a few hours researching, but otherwise am very new to all of these as well. I honestly hadn't heard of these until yesterday!

[Steve]

Thanks Chris. I feel better now. For a moment I thought I was embarassingly out of my language depth.

I've always been attracted to early sci-fi, perhaps being in awe of authors' exceptional imagination or as a kind of sympathy for their naivety (which makes the stories all the more fascinating).

I also love pre-space race radio sci-fi drama for the same reason.

[Chris]

Although I have to give another gratuitous disclaimer as to the quality and accuracy of the translations since I have not read them, I have found an English translation for each work and posted it to my GR review. My GR reviews for each are linked above for convenience.

[Chris]

Anna wrote: "...This is my way of saying if you come across an e-version of a text in in a language you don;'t read, don't trust the translation software :)"

Agreed! I've only found the feature useful for news stories or work, but never for anything leisure-related. However, even when I've linked to a Google Books English translation, the translation was fortunately done by a human and just scanned by Google. Now, how much better was that human than Google Translate? That is a question that we'll have to research or experience for ourselves. :)

[Chris]

Just FYI, I've added many more examples to the group's "to-read" bookshelf.

[Chris]

I found a nice little article today discussing proto-science fiction: The Roots of Today's Science Fiction Go Back Centuries.

I've already added most of these books to our group bookshelf, although I was unable to find one or two.

[Steve]

The engravings in that article are fascinating too. It is also interesting to see Kepler, the astronomer in that list.

[Joshua]

An interesting book to look into would be Edward George Bulwer-Lytton's novel The Coming Race.

[Chris]

Steve wrote: "The engravings in that article are fascinating too. It is also interesting to see Kepler, the astronomer in that list."

Thanks for pointing out the engravings! I'm so drawn to text that I actually didn't pay them much attention when I went through the article. What I shame if I had never taken notice, they are very interesting.

[Chris]

Joshua wrote: "An interesting book to look into would be Edward George Bulwer-Lytton's novel The Coming Race."

Thanks! I've added this to the group bookshelf.

[Chris]

Here's an interesting io9 article that includes the terms "scientifiction" and "scientific romance". Plus, we should look to ensure we have all of these books on our group shelves!

http://io9.com/5870883/science-fictio...

[Steve]

Fascinating. I must read The Last Man. I'd never heard of that.
Another good engraving at the top of the page. I think that these engravings add to the atmosphere of the novel, in the same way as a black-and-white film had an advantage over a modern one.

[Steve]

I've just ordered myself a copy of "The Last Man". I can't believe that I've not learned about it before.

[Niall]

Fantastic group , to be honest you wont hear much comments from me cause im not that educated but isnt the british writer Francis Bacon (1561-1626)a good contender, didnt see him mentioned , anyway never knew Swift had computer like imagery(As mentioned in the Timeline section) , live down the road from the church he was dean of , will definatly pick up one of his books

[Chris]

Hi Niall, glad to have you. We haven't been active lately, but especially with a small group that can change quickly if there's interest in doing a group read.

You are correct that Francis Bacon qualifies as a proto-science fiction writer and indeed his book The New Atlantis is on our group bookshelf. Keep the suggestions coming!

[Chris]

I just found that the The Cambridge Companion to Science Fiction starts with a chronology of science fiction works, and the first page (most significant for us) is available in the Google books preview.

Interesting books to add to our group bookshelf!

[Stefan]

I know that I've mentioned Amazon.com's free Kindle books on here before, but you can't have free too much if you ask me. The following books from the first page of the list are all available (and they have a free Kindle for PC download if you don't have a Kindle!)

Utopia by Thomas More
New Atlantis by Francis Bacon
Romans- Volume 3: Micromegas by Voltaire and Peter Phalen
Frankenstein by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley
The Last Man by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley
Eureka: A Prose Poem by Edgar Allan Poe
From the Earth to the Moon; and, Round the Moon by Jules Verne
Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne
The Coming Race by Edward Bulwer-Lytton and Baron Lytton
A Crystal Age by W.H. Hudson
Looking Backward, 2000-1887 by Edward Bellamy
A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court by Mark Twain
News from Nowhere, or, and Epoch of Rest: being some chapters from a utopian romance by William Morris
The Time Machine by H.G. Wells
The Island of Doctor Moreau by H.G. Wells
War of the Worlds by H.G. Wells
The First Men in the Moon by H.G. Wells
The Purple Cloud by M.P. Shiel

If we picked from these, everyone could easily obtain a free copy for the group read.

[Steve]

Good to meet you Niall! Welcome.

Thanks, Stefan for that list. I've now downloaded a couple of them for Kindle for PC, although (call me old-fashioned) but I prefer a paperback any day. The beauty of Kindle is that you don't have to wait for copies to arrive in the post!

Chris, well done for discovering that on-line copy of that chronology. 1516, wow!

[Stefan]

I'm the same way. I greatly prefer an actual copy of a book to an e-book, however, having a lot of these available for free on Amazon does make it easy for everybody to get a copy for a group read.