Conversations on the Plurality of Worlds
Conversations on the Plurality of Worlds (French: Entretiens sur la pluralité des mondes) is a popular science book by French author Bernard le Bovier de Fontenelle, published in 1686. The book expresses support for cosmic pluralism and discusses the topic of astrobiology. Fontenelle speculated on the existence of Venusians as a distinct species of extraterrestrial life.
 Front page of 1701 edition | |
| Author | Bernard le Bovier de Fontenelle |
|---|---|
| Original title | Entretiens sur la pluralité des mondes |
| Language | French |
| Published | 1686 |
| Publication place | France |
Content
editThe work consists of six lessons popularizing the knowledge of René Descartes and Nicolas Copernicus, given to a Marquise, spread over six evenings and preceded of a preface and a dispatch To Monsieur L*** .
- First evening. That the Earth is a Planet which turns on itself, & around the Sun.
- Second evening. That the Moon is an inhabited Earth.
- Third night. Peculiarities of the Moon World. That the other Planets are also inhabited.
- Fourth evening. Peculiarities of the Worlds of Venus, Mercury, Mars, Jupiter, & Saturn .
- Fifth night. That the Fixed Stars are so many Suns, each of which illuminates a World.
- Sixth evening. New thoughts that confirm those of previous Interviews. Latest discoveries that have been made in Heaven.
Analysis
editUnlike many scientific works of its time, Conversations on the Plurality of Worlds was not written in Latin but in French, making it one of the first books to attempt an explanation of scientific theories in a popular language. A precursor to it could be seen in Giordano Bruno's 1584 book On the Infinite Universe and Worlds.[citation needed]
It is an early exposition of cosmic pluralism, the idea that the stars are distant suns which might have their own planetary systems, including the possibility of extraterrestrial life.[citation needed]
In the preface, Fontenelle suggests that the offered explanation should be easily understood even by those without scientific knowledge, and he specifically addresses female readers. The book itself is presented as a series of dialogues between a gallant philosopher and a marquise, who walk in the latter's garden at night and gaze at stars. The philosopher explains the heliocentric model and also muses on the possibility of extraterrestrial life.[citation needed]
It is the first work introducing the trope that sentient Venusians are gentle, ethereal, and beautiful.[1][2][3]: 547
Reception
editThe book was very well received both in France and elsewhere, and was regularly published. In 1691, Fontenelle was elected to the Académie française.[4] Fontenelle's work was not cast polemically against the world view of the Catholic Church or the Protestant churches, nor did it attract the attention, positive or negative, of theologians or prelates.
The book is Fontenelle's most famous work and is considered to be one of the first major works of the Age of Enlightenment.[citation needed]
Translations
editThe first English translation was published in Dublin by Sir William Donville or Domville in 1687, followed by another translation by Aphra Behn in 1688, under the title A Discovery of New Worlds and a third by John Glanvill later in 1688.[5] Antiokh Kantemir translated it into Russian in 1730, although the translation was only published in a censored edition in 1740, due to objections from the Russian Orthodox Church. Elizabeth Gunning translated it into English in 1803. [citation needed]
See also
editReferences
edit- ^ "SFE: Venus". sf-encyclopedia.com. Retrieved 2021-12-17.
- ^ Sagan, Carl (1978-05-28). "Growing up with Science Fiction". The New York Times. p. SM7. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2018-12-12.
- ^ Stableford, Brian M. (2006). Science Fact and Science Fiction: An Encyclopedia. Taylor & Francis. ISBN 978-0-415-97460-8.
- ^ "Fontenelle, Bernard Le Bovier, sieur de." Encyclopædia Britannica. 2007. Encyclopædia Britannica Online. 3 March 2007 [1].
- ^ Cottegnies, Line (2003). "The Translator as Critic: Aphra Behn's Translation of Fontenelle's "Discovery of New Worlds" (1688)". Restoration: Studies in English Literary Culture, 1660-1700. 27 (1): 23–38. ISSN 0162-9905. JSTOR 43293732.
Further reading
edit- Basalla, George (2006). "The Plurality of the Worlds: Fontenelle". Civilized Life in the Universe: Scientists on Intelligent Extraterrestrials. Oxford University Press. pp. 36–40. ISBN 978-0-19-029140-2.
- Crossley, Robert (2011). "Dreamworlds of the Telescope". Imagining Mars: A Literary History. Wesleyan University Press. pp. 24–26. ISBN 978-0-8195-6927-1.
- Green, Roger Lancelyn (1975) [1958]. "Cyrano in the Moon and Sun". Into Other Worlds: Space-Flight in Fiction, from Lucian to Lewis. Arno Press. p. 53. ISBN 978-0-405-06329-9.
- Guthke, Karl Siegfried (1990). "Authorities in Conflict: Fontenelle and Huygens". The Last Frontier: Imagining Other Worlds, from the Copernican Revolution to Modern Science Fiction. Ithaca, New York: Cornell University Press. pp. 226–244. ISBN 978-0-8014-1680-4.
- Nicolson, Marjorie Hope (1948). "Supernatural Voyages". Voyages to the Moon. The Macmillan Company. pp. 58–60.
- Roberts, Adam (2016). "Seventeenth-Century SF". The History of Science Fiction. Palgrave Histories of Literature (2nd ed.). Palgrave Macmillan. p. 65. doi:10.1057/978-1-137-56957-8_4. ISBN 978-1-137-56957-8. OCLC 956382503.
External links
edit- Full text of 1800 edition at Google Books (in French)
- Full text of 1803 edition at Google Books (in English)
- Full text of 1803 edition Digitized by Google, Free Download at OpenLibrary (in English)
Conversations on the Plurality of Worlds public domain audiobook at LibriVox
