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The Conquest of the Air
Within the history of the French popular fiction, The Conquest of the Air (1875) with its trip around the world in forty days in a steam-powered flying machine, is significant in terms of its prediction of the development of future aviation; as well as its contribution to the development of Vernian fiction. Alphonse Brown was one of the first French writers to follow in the footsteps of Jules Verne, penning a series of "extraordinary voyages" relying on air power and futuristic inventions. He was one of the main contributors to the leading scientific anticipation magazine of the times, La Science illustree, and the author of City of Glass published by Black Coat Press.
332 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1875
About the author
Brian M. Stableford
882 books138 followersBrian Michael Stableford was a British science fiction writer who published more than 70 novels. His earlier books were published under the name Brian M. Stableford, but more recent ones have dropped the middle initial and appeared under the name Brian Stableford. He also used the pseudonym Brian Craig for a couple of very early works, and again for a few more recent works. The pseudonym derives from the first names of himself and of a school friend from the 1960s, Craig A. Mackintosh, with whom he jointly published some very early work.
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August 14, 2017
Some Quotes and Notes:
Alphonse Brown was not nearly as elegant or compelling a writer as Jules Verne, and he never had any change [sic] of emulating Verne's commercial and critical success ~ Introduction by Brian Stableford.
These words may be true to most. Still, after all is said and done, I've read many a translation of early French science fiction (mainly as translated by Stableford for Black Coat) and, as I think about it, I could probably count on the fingers of one hand those authors from that particular time and place that'd I'd be more inclined to read more of than Monsieur Brown. Verne himself, Robida, Renard, and many one or two more. Brown is adept at writing simple adventures with a fair abundance of charm.
The conquest of the air! What a dream and what glory! Since the most remote times, humans have sought to dominate the atmosphere and render it the docile agent of their omnipotence; thus, no discovery was more loudly hailed with such enthusiastic acclamation as that of aerostats. Diderot had dared to say, so great was his confidence in progress, that people would got to the moon one day, but his hyperbolic expression was surpassed by the confident words of the old Marechal de Villeroi, who had witnessed the first ascent in a hydrogen balloon.
In my mind, this puts The Conquest of the Air in the trunk-line of the evolutionary tree of science fiction. My imagination can only begin to grasp what a sense of wonder words like this must have evoked back in 1875.
Misc.: I can't help but wonder if possibly 1906's 'À la Conquête de l'Air' directed by Ferdinand Zecca was at least partially inspired by this novel.
Alphonse Brown was not nearly as elegant or compelling a writer as Jules Verne, and he never had any change [sic] of emulating Verne's commercial and critical success ~ Introduction by Brian Stableford.
These words may be true to most. Still, after all is said and done, I've read many a translation of early French science fiction (mainly as translated by Stableford for Black Coat) and, as I think about it, I could probably count on the fingers of one hand those authors from that particular time and place that'd I'd be more inclined to read more of than Monsieur Brown. Verne himself, Robida, Renard, and many one or two more. Brown is adept at writing simple adventures with a fair abundance of charm.
The conquest of the air! What a dream and what glory! Since the most remote times, humans have sought to dominate the atmosphere and render it the docile agent of their omnipotence; thus, no discovery was more loudly hailed with such enthusiastic acclamation as that of aerostats. Diderot had dared to say, so great was his confidence in progress, that people would got to the moon one day, but his hyperbolic expression was surpassed by the confident words of the old Marechal de Villeroi, who had witnessed the first ascent in a hydrogen balloon.
In my mind, this puts The Conquest of the Air in the trunk-line of the evolutionary tree of science fiction. My imagination can only begin to grasp what a sense of wonder words like this must have evoked back in 1875.
Misc.: I can't help but wonder if possibly 1906's 'À la Conquête de l'Air' directed by Ferdinand Zecca was at least partially inspired by this novel.
Displaying 1 of 1 review