By the Light of the Moon: Science Fiction's 17th-Century Roots
is to complete his education. Again this is a common theme in science fiction, and I am particularly reminded of the ending of Arthur C. Clarke and Gentry Lee's Rama Revealed. This final book in the new Rama trilogy comes to a close with the aliens, who have been so mysterious throughout the tale, revealing amazing facts about the galaxy that leave our heroes in awe.
Itinerarium Exstaticum isn't Kircher's only contribution to the early roots of SF. His Mundus Subterraneus takes readers on a journey into an underground world, just as does Robert Patlock's The Life and Adventures of Peter Wilkins, which missed out target century by just 50 years. In Patlock's story the protagonist finds himself in an underground cave that is inhabited by flying people. These forays into the world beneath the surface play on a theme that would later surface in a piece of more recognizable SF—Jules Verne's A Journey to the Center of the Earth.
THE ROOT OF THE MATTER
As we near the end of our journey, let's step back into the moonlight, which
is where the seventeenth-century fascination with stories of adventure seems
to want us.What have we found contained in that softly diffused white glow?
We've found a literary genre that is surprisingly steeped in centuries of tradition.
While two of modern SF's integral ingredients—technology and an advanced
scientific understanding of the universe—have only come about in the last
century, there's a lot more to SF than flying saucers and wormholes. The social
and philosophical elements that play such an important role have been around
since the beginning of the human race, and are contained in the stories we've
looked at. Science, too, plays an important part in these 17th-century tales;
even if many of the theories have since proved to be far off the mark. When
looked at in this way, it's really amazing where SF has been.
Oops! Look at the time. I've got a hot-air balloon to catch. My wife and I are going for a picnic on the Sea of Tranquility. I Hope you enjoyed this tour of SF's seventeenth-century roots, and I encourage to pick up a copy of some of these works and enjoy a trip back in time.
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