Auf zwei Planeten

by Kurd Lasswitz

Kurd Lasswitz’s 1897 utopian novel describes man’s first encounter with beings of higher intelligence from another planet, the inhabitants of Mars. Physically differing little from man, but intellectually, ethically, scientifically, and socially far advanced, the Martians seek to educate man, whom they encounter at the North Pole, where they seek air and energy to supplement the diminished supplies in their own, older world. The encounter is seen through the eyes of several characters, both Martian and human, and the action is drawn together by the love affair between a beautiful Martian girl and a man from the earth exploring party.

Genres: Science Fiction, Fiction, Classics, German Literature, Science Fiction Fantasy, Audiobook, Novels

562 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1897

About the author

German author, scientist, and philosopher and considered to be the father of German science fiction.

Lasswitz studied mathematics and physics at the Universities of Breslau and Berlin, and earned his doctorate in 1873.

He wrote his first science fiction story in 1871 and wrote his first novel "Two Planets" in 1879. "Two Planets" was about an encounter between humans and Martians.

There is an book award for German language Science-Fiction named after him.

Reviews

[Matt · Rating 4 out of 5]

At the end of the 19th century three German explorers start on an expedition in a hydrogen-balloon. Their aim: reach and fly over the North Pole for the very first time. On site they discover a strange looking little island, apparently created by intelligent beings. After the balloon accidentally crashed at sea, two of the explorers got rescued by what appears to be non-humans. It turns out that those people have come from Mars and have maintained a space station right above the pole. The contact with the Martians, who outwardly differ only slightly from humans, runs peacefully and harmoniously. At first!

At the beginning I had some trouble finding my way into the novel. Basically, I like reading books from the 19th or even 18th century. In this case, however, the prose left something to be desired. The narrative is a little stiff, the dialog at times awkward, and the ending quite theatrical. But, and this is a Big But, the story is just wonderful! You can tell the author, in all the shortcomings of the prose, fully supports his work. The book downright breathes Kurd Lasswitz's enthusiasm. He also created a coherent plot, which is easy to follow. From his point of view at that time the book was written he describes reasonable physics, especially when you consider that, for instance, Einstein's theory of relativity was still a decade in the future. The technological achievements of the Martians are fantastic. They have, for example, something like E-books, books that turn their pages automatically and even have a text-to-speech interface. They have wardrobes that automatically wash clothes, dry and fold them. We find light dispatches, the possibility to communicate with Mars at the speed of light; something like fiber optic cables but without the cables. My favorite gadget was the so-called Restrospective which unfortunately must remain a pipe dream [and I won't tell you what it is doing].

The technological aspects are all but only a minor part of the story. The Martians are not only technologically far more advanced than humans, but also socially and morally superior. Their moral ideas are beyond reproach (according to them), and they want to make people on Earth happy with their own lookout on what's right and what's wrong. But pasting your morals to other people is a tricky business. You better not even start. Usually this can only fail, even in cases of the best intentions. So it comes as no wonder that the Earthlings are not very eager to change their way of life from scratch. A conflict is inevitable and this one is built up in the book, I think, very skillfully and carefully. A strong part is also the change of perspective between the global view (two global views actually, Earth and Mars on which part of the story is set), and the personal fates of the individual protagonists. Of the seven main characters there a four Humans and three Martians, and four male and three female characters – an interesting mix. Add to this a love story between an Earthman and a Marswoman plus another love triangle. And it's not only black and white. There are good and bad people on either planet, and sometimes, as a reader, you'll have a hard time choosing the one you root for. The ending, as I said, is a bit theatrical and also idealistic. But a little idealism now and then doesn't really hurt.

So the content is pretty much flawless while the writing is rather poor; at least for today's readers. I should give this book only three stars. The fourth star it gets because I wish the book to become unburied and get more readers; there are only 45 ratings here on GR.

Unfortunately the English translation of this book is abridged. It was first published in German in 1897 in two volumes with a total of nearly 1,000 pages. After that several abridged versions have appeared. From two of these, the English translation has been made, according to Wikipedia. I can't say how much of the story got cut. It's a shame, actually.


This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.

[Gerd · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm surprised by how modern some of the concepts are Laßwitz explores in his novel. A lot of his ideas a reminiscent of what Arthur C. Clarke would write later about. We've got space stations, an elevator to the stars and above all the notion that all intelligent species must evolve to a higher ethic eventually.

Due to Laßwitz origin and the date at which he wrote his novel one can't help but wonder while reading, if "Auf zwei Planeten" was meant as a commentary on colonial politics - and can't help but shudder at how some of the Martian's actions seem to anticipate the oppression during the infamous Third Reich.

A dated novel, and not always an easy read, with it's long descriptive passages and its jumping between tenses, past to present and back, but also a timeless one in its philosophic reflections on the nature and value of free will.

[Julia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Science Fiction aus dem 19. Jahrhundert. Sehr interessant und teilweise recht visionär (Sichwort Sonnenenergie).
Außerdem ist der Gedanke spannend, was wäre, wenn wir Menschen "die Wilden" sind und eine höhere Zivilisation mit uns genau das macht, was wir Jahrhunderte lang getan haben: Versuchen andere Völker zu kolonisieren und zu missionieren. Da kann eine Boston Tea-Party nicht lange auf sich warten lassen. Es ist ein recht langes Buch, das es wohl sogar in einer noch längeren Fassung gibt?! - Teils ist es spannend und mitreißend, dann wieder etwas ausschweifend. Ich konnte mich nicht immer und zu jeder Zeit angemessen darauf konzentrieren, bin aber trotzdem wirklich positiv überrascht und halte es für empfehlenswert. (3/5)

[Michael · Rating 4 out of 5]

German science fiction from 1897.
I stumbled upon it by accident.
It's astonishing how well his book has aged.
Besides well thought out ideas about technical innovations, the author does a very good job developing political, sociological and character issues.
Maybe some themes are a bit too obvious. It's basically a book about colonisation that starts out with good intentions and how this endeavour obviously has to go wrong.

One of my pet peeves in science fiction, especially space opera and military scifi, is future societies with backwards political structures, monarchy, aristocrats, ... . This over 120 year old book, written in a age when democracy was far from dominant, does a great job avoiding these pitfalls.
There is even a brief discussion of vaccinations and how to do the best for humanity without incurring assumptions of ulterior motives.

[Janne Wass · Rating 5 out of 5]

If there ever was cause to use the phrase "forgotten masterpiece" then it would apply to German author, philosopher and scientist Kurd Lasswitz's 1897 novel "Auf zwei Planeten". A riveting adventure and future war novel depicting first contact between humans and Martians, it was serialised at the same time as H.G. Wells' "The War of the Worlds". It is at least as good a book as, in some cases even superior to, its much more famous British counterpart.

The novel follows a team of German explorers discovering a Martian colony at the North Pole. The Martians are much like humans, only much more advanced both technologically and philosophically. They are, however, hindered from further exploring because of Earth's greater gravity. The story's protagonist falls in love with the Martian La, and together humans and Martians start preparing the first official contact between the species. However, rash aggression from the British navy lead to a confrontation and eventually war between the two people, with the Martians eventually colonising Earth.

Lasswitz describes in greater detail and with better accuracy minutiae about space travel, automation and future technology than any author before him, and as opposed to most utopians/dystopians of the era, he writes a story that isn't swamped by philosophy and/or contemporary political observations. It is also refreshingly free of nationalism and cynicism. All in all, an absolutely superb, pioneering work of early SF. While immensely popular in Europe upon its publication, the book has fallen into neglect since it wasn't translated to English until 1971.

Unfortunately my 1971 paperback copy started falling apart while I read it, and I had to do some emergency surgery. The result wasn't pretty, but at least it's in one piece.

[Steve Joyce · Rating 3 out of 5]

This one is very oddly constructed as a novel and is not the kind of book that forces you to keep turning pages. It is instead read better in small doses as kind of a journal.

None of the Numedom (the Martians) or the Bati (Earthlings) are particularly interesting individually but the story does put forward some decent ideas that not only contrast the 2 civilizations but were also fairly advanced for the time.

[Renard Dinnigan · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was an amazing 3 dollar find at the local bookstore. Sadly, it was already in tatters as ancient softcovers often are. It has now completely naked and coverless, a sad state for such a glorious read.

I will describe my emotional affair with the book as quickly and efficiently as possible.

It is, at its core, a utopian type of novel. It commits to the idea of mankind as a united force against the things that ail everyone. Poor work conditions, hunger, absolute control, and the influence of how casually accepting "superior" into your vocabulary when referring to other beings can lead you to Othering other beings. Go figure.

I have yet to see a story so directly tackle the concept of power corrupting someone. Or the degree to which the actions of a single individual refusing to follow the orders of their "superior" can change the outcome of so many things. There are, at least three, occurrences when so much goes wrong because of the off-kilt believes of a particular mass or the individual actions of a person too afraid to refuse orders, for the good of all.

I believe Lasswitz wanted others to have faith in humanity and the use of science for good.

Two Worlds is also a romance. As it is so old and the science far behind, it is science-fantasy (of the hopeful, imaginative type that I enjoy). There are two love stories being told. One is tragic, one is not. Both reach a satisfactory conclusion. While a little dated in terms of gender roles, I think it is still well advanced for its time in this area. Women being scientists, pilots, and in the military at all

- (though there is a line referring to it distinctly not being a military BECAUSE of this presence of women? So it functions like a military, looks like a military, tastes like one- etc etc, but because there are women in it its a...what? Womilitary?) is probably being way ahead of its time. -

I give this book a 5/5 because I ate it up like candy and I wish I could re-discover it and read it all over again.

Joseph Saltner was a fantastic protagonist. I enjoyed reading about his exploits, and his love story with the enchanting Martian woman, La. I only wish there was more to consume... though, I appreciated the rare but wholesome story conclusion.

[Warwick Stubbs · Rating 3 out of 5]

The writing is extremely workman-like and methodical; yet in the first half I was intensely interested without being glued to the reading (handy, considering my paperback copy was falling to pieces on me). What saves most of this novel about benevolent Martians wanting to bring peace and prosperity to earthlings, is the characters and their relationships. But on the other hand, a lot of tension is completely deflated just by agreeable outcomes. At times these relationships feel drawn directly from romanticism, while the Martian technology described is very interesting and shows a great deal of imagination considering the book was written in the late 1800s. For much of the early developmental pages, the workman-like prose suits these advanced technological descriptions, but by the end the action and politics both become tedious and boring as every major character is ejected from events.

Published at around the same time as H.G. Wells' War of the Worlds, this is the alternative version where the English stubbornly fight on despite having no advantage, and as a result the Martians take a hard hand and force them into complying. Suddenly humans don't like this, and when programs are implemented for humans to be more rational and reasonable like the Martians, there's even more uprisings, including those from the anti-humans back on Mars who think they should all be enslaved.

Gee, and all the psychologically and technologically superior aliens wanted was to use our air and sunlight to renew their resources back home.

Good thing they look almost just like us, otherwise we'd never be able to get along!

[Samantha L'Esperance · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this book at a snails pace. Not because it was uninteresting, but because I have it in physical form and the middle of this book feels so so so long.

One star for being an incredibly influential sci-fi classic.
One star for the care of deep passion Lasswitz had for both the creation of the science fiction AND the morals reflected in this story.
And one final star for the underlying plot which was somewhat interesting.

Minus two stars only because it was sort of hard to understand sometimes (might be translation issues or generational differences) and because I felt it was just too long.

Overall - if you want a classic sci-fi - you're gonna get it here.

[Jennifer · Rating 3 out of 5]

A cross between an adventure story and a story of colonization with a bit of religion thrown in when referring to numedom. Since this is a translation it is missing 40% or more of the original to the story, makes me think I should have studied German in school. The missing parts do add to the story I've been told but over all this is an interesting take on martians and other planets from the 19th century.

[Hruotland · Rating 2 out of 5]

Teilweise gute SF. Das Techno-Babble ist vom feinsten.
Allerdings ist der 2. Teil ein einziges Lob auf den Imperialismus.
Man muss ihn nur etwas anders lesen. Im Buch ist es – größtenteils – so, dass die Martier völlig im Recht sind, die Erde zu kolonialisieren. Sie sind ja höher entwickelt. Sie dürfen es nur nicht übertreiben.
Daraus schließt man, das die Europäer berechtigt wären, den Rest der Welt zu kolonialisieren.
Standard-Sexismus des 19. Jahrhunderts gibt es natürlich auch.

[Martin Hackenberg · Rating 4 out of 5]

I listened to the book in librivox. Most of the readers were good. A good scifi from 1890 with harsh critique to environmental political issues. Lasswitz invents even that martians can enjoy an unconditional income. Unfortunately the translation to English is uncompleted.

[Sam · Rating 3 out of 5]

Puuuh. Das war lang. Manchmal spannend, aber mit vielen gesellschaftsphilosophischen Exkursen, die dann doch etwas langweilig wurden. Eine bessere Verknüpfung von Handlung und Philosophie wäre echt hilfreich gewesen.

[Daniel · Rating 4 out of 5]

It is surprising how the author way back in 1897 imagined science fiction with highly advanced alien cultures. Some of the technological ideas are hilarious while others are astonishingly close to today's reality.

[Susanne · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good ideas, but dry prose. Nevertheless, still worth reading after all this time, and historically interresting.

[Uli Vogel · Rating 4 out of 5]

A classic. Comparable to Jules Verne. Surely a child of its time but really worth reading.

[Frank Lang · Rating 4 out of 5]

Das erste, was jeder über diesen Science-Fiction-Roman wissen muss, ist der Zeitpunkt der Veröffentlichung. Er wurde nämlich 1897(!) vom deutschen(!) Autor Kurd Laßwitz im Verlag von Emil Felber veröffentlicht. Vor diesem Hintergrund ist es höchst erstaunlich, welche Ideen der Autor in sein Buch gepackt hat.

Damit meine ich natürlich nicht den Umstand, dass es Marsianer gibt, sondern mit welcher Technik diese den Erdlingen begegnen. Es wird mit der Schwerkraft gespielt, Raumschiffe und Raumstation gebaut und sogar ein Blick in die Vergangenheit ist möglich. Nicht umsonst gilt dieser Roman als das Urgestein deutscher Science-Fiction-Romane.

Allerdings steht nicht die Technik im Vordergrund dieses Romans, sondern die Entwicklung der Beziehungen zwischen den Menschen und den Marsianern bzw. Martier, wie sie im Roman genannt werden. Dass der Roman im Zeichen seiner Zeit betrachtet werden muss, zeigt sich gleich zu Beginn, als die Martier zum ersten Mal auf „zivilisierte“ Menschen treffen. Es passiert am Nordpol, dass ein Forschungsballon aus Versehen von den Martier zum Absturz gebracht wird und diese ganz froh darüber sind, endlich mit Menschen in Kontakt treten zu können, die sich nicht wie die „wilden“ Inuit aufführen (eine Einstellung, die so manche Nordpol-Expedition hat scheitern lassen).

Zuerst sind die Beziehungen auf Neugierde beider Seiten begründet und verlaufen weitestgehend friedlich. Natürlich sind die Martier technisch den Menschen überlegen und sind entsprechend arrogant. Gleichzeitig sehen sie ihre Gesellschaft als die einzig wahre Form an, wie ein Miteinander überhaupt möglich sein kann. Zuerst beginnt alles sehr zögerlich und Kurd Laßwitz lässt sich viel Zeit mit Erklärungen und der Ausarbeitung seiner Figuren.

Im weiteren Verlauf nimmt zwar die Dramatik zu, aber auch die Ereignisse werden etwas straffer erzählt bis er am Ende recht schnell die Ereignisse folgen lässt. Dies fand ich etwas unglücklich gewählt, dass die Erzählstruktur von gemächlich nach überstürzend gewechselt ist. Ebenfalls gewöhnungsbedürftig sind die Liebesbeziehungen, die einen sehr großen Anteil in diesem Roman haben. Den ein oder anderen Science-Fiction-Leser, der die heutigen Romane kennt, wird diesen Umstand vielleicht mit gerümpfter Nase wahrnehmen. Dabei zeigen die Liebesbeziehungen wesentliche Aspekte in der Beziehung beider Planeten und schlussendlich auch, wie die Konflikte gelöst werden (was im Übrigen nicht deshalb passiert, weil die Martier keinen Krieg mehr kennen, was hier und da zu lesen ist).

Fazit
In diesen Roman wurden etliche Dinge hineininterpretiert. Bis hin zu irgendwelchen philosophischen Aspekten. Das kann man machen, muss man aber nicht. Man kann diesen Roman auch einfach nur als Science-Fiction-Roman lesen und muss lediglich einzig und allein berücksichtigen, dass diese anno 1897 veröffentlicht wurde, um die diversen Unzulänglichkeiten innerhalb der Geschichte passend einordnen zu können und die so oder so nicht im Vordergrund dieses Romans stehen. Für Genre-Freunde ist dieser Urvater deutscher Science-Fiction-Literatur mit Sicherheit einen Blick wert.

[Steffen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Zunächst: Ich schreibe hier über die revidierte, ungekürzte Ausgabe von 1998 und nicht die verstümmelte Fassung von 1972. Die letztere sollte man wirklich nicht lesen, weil viele wichtige und interessante Aspekte brutal gestrichen wurden. Ich habe die erste Hälfte gelesen und dann die ungekürzte Fassung angefangen und beendet - und die kurze Fassung nicht mehr in die Hand genommen. In der langen Ausgabe gibt es einige große Anhänge, die teils sehr abgehoben sind, aber auch viel Hintergrund zum Autor liefern. Muss man sich nicht alles antun, aber mal schräg lesen kann sich lohnen.
Ich habe sehr großen Respekt für das Buch (und den Autor) entwickelt, was ich vorher nicht erwartet hatte: 4,5 Punkte.

Klar, die ungekürzte Fassung ist teilweise etwas weitschweifig Aber es gibt so viele Details und Gedankengänge in dem Buch, die in späteren Science Fiction aufgenommen werden, dass es sehr unterhaltsam ist, diese zu entdecken.
Einige Klassiker: die ringförmige Raumstation, die sich dreht, um Gravitation zu simulieren; humanoide Marsianer mit großen Augen; kugelförmige Raumschiffe; ein Weltraumfahrstuhl (technisch etwas anders als spätere Autoren und die aktuelle Wissenschaft ihn konzipieren); Raumschiffe über den Hauptstädten der Erde.
Aber auch: Sonnenenergie/Photovoltaik als Hauptenergiequelle (inkl. großen Platzbedarfs für die notwendigen Flächenmodule - Wüsten als ideale Standorte); die Problematik von geschlechtlichen Beziehungen zwischen verschiedenen Rassen (hier: Menschenmann und Marsianerfrau); moralisch-ethische Herausforderungen einer technisch überlegenen Rasse gegenüber einer entsprechend unterlegenen; verwaltungstechnische Probleme nach einer Machtübernahme; Berücksichtigung limitierter Ressourcen bei der Raumfahrt bzw. der Planung interplanetarer Reisen.
Irgendwie überraschend (bei einem deutschen Autor dieser Zeit): Am Ende sind es eigentlich die Amerikaner, die die Welt retten (Independence Day lässt grüßen).

Last but not least verpackt der Autor ganz schön viel Kritik an Kolonialismus, Nationalismus und Autoritätshörigkeit in seinen Roman - konsequenterweise wurde der Roman im Nationalsozialismus verboten.

Übrigens erschien H.G. Wells "Krieg der Welten" im gleichen Jahr. Der Anhang geht auch darauf ein, sehr interessant.

[Johanna · Rating 3 out of 5]

Worldbuilding war gut
Hat sich zum Teil deutlich länger gezogen als nötig
Ende war irgendwie enttäuschend? Hat sich zum Ende hin nicht nach einer richtigen Lösung angefühlt und eher nach "die Amis regeln das schon"
Isma hatte so viel Potential ein starker Charakter zu werden aber war permanent nur damsel in distress...

[Rex Libris · Rating 3 out of 5]

German sci-fi novel from the late 1800's. Humans meet technologically advanced Martians. Martians want to help humans advance, but get caught up in their own of their superiority to humans, and things turn bad.

The first part of the book was good, then it kind of turned into a soap opera with Human-Martian relationships.

[Alexander Günther · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ein gemächlicher, sich Zeit lassender SF-Roman aus einer anderen Zeit. Ich nahm mir die Zeit und war streckenweise richtiggehend angetan von der naturwissenschaftlichen Finesse und der Detailversessenheit mancher Szenen.

[Sol]

Only English translation is "much cut" per SFE

[Sugarpop · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hm, also, ich weiß ja nicht. Es gibt paar interessante Aspekte, aber ansonsten könnte ich nicht wirklich etwas hierzu sagen.
Es gibt andere Sci-Fi Bücher, die sollte man eher lesen.

[Koray Karatay · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have only read until 21. chapter
This book proves that in late 19th century, Jules Verne wasn't unique with his style. In terms of books of this era, only Jules Verne is known for his prove-based Science Fiction but turns out Laßwitz was also doing same kind of work, but with some differences.
Characters: Main expedition team(esp. Gunther and Saltner) looks like curious scientist, which is similar to Verne's books.
Content: This part is where Jules Verne and Kurd Laßwitz is separated. Verne's content is more conservative(hence more accurate) but Laßwitz takes bolder decision here and makes his own theory(gravity for this book) and gives up from accuracy. Overall, Laßwitz has more fiction; whereas Verne has more realism.
Writing: My German isn't very good but I found it really well written. Detalied and explained, has good story.

[Paige · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sci-Fi de heint gschriebm worn san kennat