Camille
Flammarion, Lumen (1872). Trans. & ed. Brian Stableford. Middletown,
CT: Wesleyan Univ. Press, 2002.
5½
x 8½", 177 pp.
$45.00 cloth ISBN 0-8195-6567-9
$17.95 paper ISBN 0-8195-6568-7
Bolstered
by Stableford's able introduction, voluminous notes and a comprehensive
bibliography, this short novel survives the first two didactic and repetitive
conversations to burst pyrotechnically into the sheerest poetry when
Lumen describes the indescribable: sentient entities on unheard-of worlds
linked by psychic bonds that draw souls into successive reincarnations
across the abyss of intergalactic space and time. ---Publishers
Weekly
Stablefords
nicely introduced and annotated translation of Lumen recalls attention
to Flammarions important role in the history of science fiction.
This is a key text that should be read by all who want to understand
how intersections of science and fiction came to prominence in literature
from the 19th century onwards. ---Paul Alkon, Leo S. Bing Professor
of English, University of Southern California
|