Difference between revisions of "2007-08 MM 18th- and 19th-Century Futures"

Revision as of 17:06, 15 November 2007

• Time: Thu 12-14
• Place: S2 203
• Contact: Olaf Simons

The twentieth century brought forth a wave of books and movies dealing with the future. "Science fiction" reads the label that detects the sciences as the primary source of inspiration shaping this production.

The seminar will go back to early fictions of times to come. The sciences, this will be an immediate result, did not motivate the early authors. Samuel Madden, writing in 1733, could hardly imagine a future marked by entirely different technologies. New mental states are of interest to Sebastien Mercier, the author of the 1770s. A gloomy catastrophe becomes the scenario of Mary Shelley's Last Man in 1828. Late 19th century authors - like Edward Bellamy and H. G. Wells - offer the futures we have become used to.

We will read the 18th- and 19th-century titles mentioned with an interest in the cultures they reflect. The future - this will be one of the premises of this seminar - is no natural thing to consider. It is rather a ground of debate developing its own logic with the histories we came to write.

Seminar work will focus on the texts listed bellow. How do these titles compare with 20th-century science fiction? How far are they influenced by ideas of (technological) progress? To what extend did they need comparable histories of the past to become plausible? How do other considerations of the future from astrology to religion compare to the new fictional production developing with these texts?

Oct 25 2007: Brainstorming

How did the future - how did the past develop - a broad survey. Encouragement: Use the seminar to develop research projects of your own interest - research projects to be dealt with with the help of EEBO, ECCO, and MOME. The letter databases allow word searches.

Nov 1, 2007: Samuel Madden, Memoirs of the 20th Century (1733)

• William Salmon, The London almanack for the year of our Lord 1694 (1694). EEBO

Read chapter XIII, the "Explanation of the Hieroglyphs". How is the interest in the future structured? What is more and what is less interesting?

• Samuel Madden, Memoirs of the Twentieth Century (1733). ECCO

Take a look through title page and dedication, read the preface and the first letter. You may either read the ECCO online edition or download the pdf I'll put on our server. I shall try to provide a text edition in cooperation with the Druckzentrum.

Nov 8, 2007: Samuel Madden, Memoirs of the 20th Century (1733)

We split the book into portions of 70 pages:

• 1-70 Jens
• 71-140 Jenna
• 141-210 Lindsay
• 211-280 Anastasia
• 281-350 Johanna
• 351-420 Olaf Simons
• I'll read the rest if necessary on my journey, am, however, happy if participants who did not turn up, take their own portions. You may use the following page as a site on which we can gather information. It would be interesting to get a notion of what happens in this book (not much I feel), it will be especially interesting to get a list of interesting pages - where does he speak about "arts and sciences" of the future - this is what he promised. What does he tell about the political situation? best, --Olaf Simons 15:27, 1 November 2007 (CET)

Nov 15, 2007: Samuel Madden, Memoirs of the 20th Century (1733)

We spoke about different topics and discussed the genre question. Delarivier Manley's New Atalantis (1709) and her Memoirs of Europe (1710) can be considered as closely related. The idea of a collection of letters was not new - political journals used similar ploys. We were not quite sure how far Madden managed to write an epistolary novel - a novel with a distinct plot line and with correspondents developing distinct character features - Aphra Behn's Love Letters (1684-1687) [1] could have presented a model, yet they did not.

We finally decided to take a look at the individual protagonists - do they have individual character features? do they develop? do they tell developing stories. The Candidates are:

• Stanhope from Constantinople
• Hertford from Rome
• Clare from Moscow Lindsay
• Herbert from Paris Johanna Stielow
• N—m from Chelsea, London Olaf Simons

I moved all the information we have gathered to Samuel Madden, Memoirs of the Twentieth Century (1733)

Nov 22, 2007: Louis-Sébastien Mercier, Memoirs of the year two thousand five hundred (1771)

• Louis-Sébastien Mercier, Memoirs of the year two thousand five hundred. [1771] translated from the French by W. Hooper (London: G. Robinson, 1772). ECCO

We decided to read up to p.115. Gute Hintergrundlektüre zum letzten Kapitel: Cesare Beccaria, Von Verbrechen und Strafen [orig. Dei delitti e delle pene] (1764) sowie Michel Foucault Überwachen und Strafen: Die Geburt des Gefängnisses [orig. Surveiller et punir] (1975)

Nov 29, 2007: Louis-Sébastien Mercier, Memoirs of the year two thousand five hundred (1771)

Dec 6, 2007: Louis-Sébastien Mercier, Memoirs of the year two thousand five hundred (1771)

Dec 13, 2007: Mary Shelley, The Last Man (1828)

Dec 20, 2007: Mary Shelley, The Last Man (1828)

Jan 10, 2007: Mary Shelley, The Last Man (1828)

Jan 17, 2008: Edward Bellamy, Looking Backward from 2000 to 1887 (1888)

Jan 24, 2008: Edward Bellamy, Looking Backward from 2000 to 1887 (1888)

Jan 31, 2008: H. G. Wells, Time Machine (1895)

Feb 6, 2008: H. G. Wells, Time Machine (1895)

Bibliography

We will take a closer look at Madden (1731), Mercier (1771), Shelley (1828), Bellamy (1888) and Wells (1895) - here a full list of which I do not know, how far it can be extended. Everyone can do.

• 1644: [Cheynell, Francis, 1608-1665,] Aulicus his dream, of the Kings sudden comming to London (London : [s.n.], Printed, Ann. Dom. 1644. EEBO
• 1733: Samuel Madden, Memoirs of the 20th cenury. London, 1731. ECCO
• 1765: The reign of George VI. (London: printed for W. Nicholl, 1763), xxi,[1],192p.; 12° ECCO: "An imaginary history of England at the beginning of the 20th century. With a half-title." ECCO
• 1769: Private letters from an American in England to his friends in America (London: printed for J. Almon, 1769), [6],163,[5]p.; 8°. ECCO: "A satire on the social and political life of England. Half-title: 'Letters from an American in England to his friends in America.' - With five final pages of advertisements." ECCO
  • 1781: Anticipation, or the voyage of an American to England, in the year 1899, in a series of letters, humorously describing the supposed situation of this kingdom at that period (London: printed for W. Lane, 1781), [4],163,[1]p.; 8°. [Britain in decline: its harbours are empty, religion degenerate, great buildings in ruins. This has been caused by Scottish immigrants, idle bishops, fanatical Methodists.) ECCO
• 1771: Louis-Sébastien Mercier, Memoirs of the year two thousand five hundred. [1771] translated from the French by W. Hooper (London: G. Robinson, 1772). ECCO
• 1775: Edward Wigglesworth (1732-1794), Calculations on American population, with a table for estimating the annual increase of inhabitants in the British colonies (Boston: Printed and sold by John Boyle in Marlboro'-Street, MDCCLXXV), 24p.; 8°. ECCO
• 1780: [Sir Herbert Croft (1751-1816),] The abbey of Kilkhampton; or, monumental records for the year 1980. faithfully transcribed from the original inscriptions (London: printed for G. Kearsly, 1780), [4],75,[1]p.; 4° ECCO: "Anonymous. By Sir Herbert Croft. A satirical collection of epitaphs on prominent persons of the period." ECCO
• 1788: [Sir Herbert Croft (1751-1816),] The wreck of Westminster Abbey, alias the year two thousand, alias the ordeal of sepulchral candour; being a selection from the monumental records of the most conspicuous personages (London: printed for Charles Stalker, MMI [i.e. 1788?]), [4],40p.; 4° In the same vein as Croft's 1780 publication. ECCO
• 1794: [Samuel Osgood (1748-1813)?] Remarks on the Book of Daniel, and on the Revelations (New-York: Printed at Greenleaf’s press, April 19, A.D. 1794), [2],503,[1]p.; 8° ECCO
• 1795: Alexander Fraser (1749-1802), A key to the prophecies of the Old & New Testament, which are not yet accomplished (Edinburgh: printed for Bell & Bradfute; and G. G. & J. Robinson, London, 1795), xii,474,[2]p.; 8° Biblical prophecies leading into the 20th century. ECCO
• 1828: Mary Shelley. The Last Man [1828]. Edited with an Introduction and Notes by Morton D. Paley. Oxford: OUP, 1998.
• 1837: Anonymous (Williams, R.F.) Eureka: a prophecy of the future. 3 vols. (London: Longman, Rees, Orme, 1873), 960p. [A German empire stretches from the Vistula to the Adriatic; Africa is a series of republics; and Britain is a forgotten land.]
• 1888: Edward Bellamy. Looking Backward from 2000 to 1887. 1888.
• 1895: H. G. Wells. Time Machine. 1895.

Literature

On Samuel Madden

• Samuel Madden, Memoirs of the Twentieth Century (1733)

Links

• http://books.guardian.co.uk/authors/author/0,,-139,00.html zur Guardian H.G. Wells Site
• http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/w/h-g-wells/ - zur Fantastic Fiction Wells Seite mit Bibliographie:
• http://unmuseum.mus.pa.us/wow.htm zu einem Artikel über Orson Welles und das Mercury Theatre
• http://www.hgwellsusa.50megs.com/ zur H.G. Wells Society