An imaginary voyage is a kind of narrative in which utopian or satirical representation (or some popular science content) is put into a fictional frame of travel account.
It is a very archaic narrative technique preceding romance and novelistic forms. Two known examples from Greek literature are Euhemerus' Sacred History and Iambulus’ Islands of the Sun. Their utopian islands are apparently modeled from mythological Fortunate Isles.
Lucian's True History parodizes the whole genre of imaginary voyage, and in his foreword Lucian cites Iambulus as one of objects of parody. Photius states though in his Bibliotheca that its main object was Antonius Diogenes' The incredible wonders beyond Thule, a genre blending of fantastic voyage and Greek romance which popularized Pythagorean teachings.
The spread of exotic travel writing in the medieval West in the 13th century, created a niche for fantastic tales of imaginary voyages presented as real autobiographical accounts. The Travels of Sir John Mandeville (c. 1357) and the Itinerarius of Johannes Witte de Hese (c. 1400) are representative of this late medieval tendency.
Imaginary voyage has become a natural medium for promoting new astronomic ideas. First literary space flights after Lucian were: Juan Maldonado's Somnium (1541), Johann Kepler's Somnium (1634), Francis Godwin's The Man in the Moone (1638), John Wilkins' The Discovery of a World in the Moone (1638), Athanasius Kircher's Itinerarium extaticum (1656), David Russen's Iter lunare (1703), Diego de Torres Villarroel's Viaje fantástico (1723), Eberhard Kindermann's Die geschwinde Reise auf dem Luftschiff nach der obern Welt (1744) - the first flight to planets, Robert Paltock's The life and adventures of Peter Wilkins (1751), Voltaire's Micromégas (1752).
Literatureedit
Fantastic voyage, in: Encyclopedia of Science Fiction, ed. by John Clute, 1993
David Winston. Iambulus’ Islands of the Sun and Hellenistic Literary Utopias, in: Science Fiction Studies #10 = Volume 3, Part 3 = November 1976
imaginary, voyage, imaginary, voyage, kind, narrative, which, utopian, satirical, representation, some, popular, science, content, into, fictional, frame, travel, account, very, archaic, narrative, technique, preceding, romance, novelistic, forms, known, examp. An imaginary voyage is a kind of narrative in which utopian or satirical representation or some popular science content is put into a fictional frame of travel account It is a very archaic narrative technique preceding romance and novelistic forms Two known examples from Greek literature are Euhemerus Sacred History and Iambulus Islands of the Sun Their utopian islands are apparently modeled from mythological Fortunate Isles Lucian s True History parodizes the whole genre of imaginary voyage and in his foreword Lucian cites Iambulus as one of objects of parody Photius states though in his Bibliotheca that its main object was Antonius Diogenes The incredible wonders beyond Thule a genre blending of fantastic voyage and Greek romance which popularized Pythagorean teachings The spread of exotic travel writing in the medieval West in the 13th century created a niche for fantastic tales of imaginary voyages presented as real autobiographical accounts The Travels of Sir John Mandeville c 1357 and the Itinerarius of Johannes Witte de Hese c 1400 are representative of this late medieval tendency The first to revive this form in the Modern era was Thomas More in his Utopia 1515 to be followed a century later by proliferation of utopian islands Johannes Valentinus Andreae s Reipublicae Christianopolitanae descriptio 1619 Tommaso Campanella s The City of the Sun 1623 Francis Bacon s New Atlantis 1627 Jacob Bidermann s Utopia 1640 Denis Vairasse The history of the Sevarambi 1675 Gabriel de Foigny s La Terre australe connue 1676 Gabriel Daniel s Voyage du monde de Descartes 1690 Francois Lefebvre s Relation du voyage de l isle d Eutopie 1711 as well as many others Lucian s satirical line was exploited by Francois Rabelais Gargantua and Pantagruel 1532 and developed later on in Joseph Hall s Mundus Alter et Idem 1607 Francois Hedelin s Histoire du temps 1654 Cyrano de Bergerac s Histoire comique contenant les Etats et Empires de la Lune 1657 and Fragments d histoire comique contenant les Etats et Empires du Soleil 1662 Charles Sorel s Nouvelle Decouverte du Royaume de Frisquemore 1662 Margaret Cavendish s The Blazing World 1666 Joshua Barnes Gerania 1675 Bernard de Fontenelle s Relation de l ile de Borneo 1686 Daniel Defoe s The Consolidator 1705 and most notably in Jonathan Swift s Gulliver s Travels 1726 Imaginary voyage has become a natural medium for promoting new astronomic ideas First literary space flights after Lucian were Juan Maldonado s Somnium 1541 Johann Kepler s Somnium 1634 Francis Godwin s The Man in the Moone 1638 John Wilkins The Discovery of a World in the Moone 1638 Athanasius Kircher s Itinerarium extaticum 1656 David Russen s Iter lunare 1703 Diego de Torres Villarroel s Viaje fantastico 1723 Eberhard Kindermann s Die geschwinde Reise auf dem Luftschiff nach der obern Welt 1744 the first flight to planets Robert Paltock s The life and adventures of Peter Wilkins 1751 Voltaire s Micromegas 1752 Literature editFantastic voyage in Encyclopedia of Science Fiction ed by John Clute 1993 David Winston Iambulus Islands of the Sun and Hellenistic Literary Utopias in Science Fiction Studies 10 Volume 3 Part 3 November 1976External links editDerrick Moors Imaginary VoyagesSee Also editBaron Munchausen Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Imaginary voyage amp oldid 1211253757, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
