TIMELINE 18th CENTURY

TIMELINE 18th CENTURY
Copyright 1996,1997,1998 by Magic Dragon Multimedia.

All rights reserved Worldwide.  May not be reproduced without permission.  

May be posted electronically provided that it is transmitted unaltered, in its
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Why was the 18th Century the time of Literary Expansion of Science Fiction?
There are 4 hotlinks here to authors, magazines, films, 
or television items elsewhere in the Ultimate Science Fiction Web Guide or 
beyond.

Most recently updated: 10 Oct 1998

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One paradigmatic author of the 18th century was Baron Munchausen 
(1720-1797) whose tall tales had numerous science fictional elements.

1700-1710

1704: Jonathan Swift's "The Battle of the Books" (written 1697 but not 
published until 1704).  Allegorical battle between Ancient and Modern books.

1705: Daniel Defoe, later to become famous for "Robinson Crusoe" in 1719, is 
especially interesting to us for having published, in 1705, "Memoirs of 
Sundry Translations from the World of the Moon Translated from the Lunar 
languages by the Author of the True-Born English Man."  This was a satire 
on English culture and politics, and featured (from my point of view) a 
spaceship "powered by an ambient flame, which fed on a certain spirit."  He 
also dealt with the mental hazards of the trip by taking a tranquilizer.

1706: Daniel Defoe "A True Relation of the Relation of the 
Apparition of One Mrs. Veal, the Next Day After Her Death, to One Mrs. Bargrave, 
at Canterbury, the 8th of September 1705"
(early ghost story, based on actually reported incident)

1706: Tom d'Urfey ripped off Cyrano de Bergerac, but this led to the 
fascinating opera "Wonders in the Sun or the Kingdom of the Birds."

1707: Alain Rene Le Sage's "Asmodeus" in which a young student of Alcola 
(Don Cleofas Leandro Perez Zambullo) is visited one night by the cheerful 
demon Asmodeus who claims "It is I that have introduced into the world 
luxury, debauchery, games of chance, and chemistry."  Tobias Smoillet 
translated this into the popular "The Devil on Two Sticks."  Is Chemistry 
really devilish?  Well, this fantasy has many shrewd social insights into 
the real life of Madrid.

1710-1720

1714: Thomas Parnell becomes the first of the "Graveyard 
Poets" with the publication of "A Night Piece on Death."  This movement, 
obsessed with mortality, influenced Horror poetry and Horror literature in 
general, even up to the 1990's "Goth" scene.  See Robert Blair (1743), 
Thomas Wharton (1747), Thomas Gray (1752).

1720: Daniel Defoe "Life and Adventures of Mr. Duncan Campbell: 
Fantasy about a mute magician

1720s

     This decade was a highpoint of social satire with science fictional 
elements, of which the greatest work is Jonathan Swift's "Gulliver's 
Travels" (1726).  Swift started working on this book apparently around 
1720, when the idea was advanced in the Scriblerus Club, of which he was a 
member.  It was to have been incorporated in the "Memoirs of Scriblerus."  
It has the advantage of being a book of interest to adults because of its 
satire on man and his institutions, and to children because of its 
Fantasy.  It is divided into 4 parts, told in the first person.
     Part I: On 4 May 1699, Lemuel Gulliver, a ship's surgeon, sails from 
Bristol.  After a shipwreck, he swims ashore to find himself on an island, 
Lilliput, whose inhabitants are no more than 6 inches high.  Here Swift 
satirizes the meanness of human beings by showing how ridiculous are wars 
waged by these little people, who take part in them with all seriousness.  
Political parties are attacked, too.  In Lilliput the parties are known by 
the height of their heels; their greatest controversy involves a vigorous 
argument about on which end an egg should be broken.
     Part II: Gulliver finds himself in Brobdingnag, the natives of which 
are as tall in proportion to him as the Lilliputians were short.  Here, in 
discussions with the King, England in particular and humanity in general 
are again attacked.  The huge King cannot understand the enormous 
pretensions and vanities of the little people about whom Gulliver tells 
him.  He denounces them as "the most pernicious race of little odious 
vermin that nature ever suffered to crawl upon the surface of the Earth."
     Part III: In this, the most Science Fictional, Gulliver makes sport of 
the vain endeavors of scientists and philosphers by telling about Laputa, 
where men forget all common sense and concern themselves with speculative 
philosophy.  In Lagado, the flying sialnd, he sees scientists engaged in 
all sorts of foolish pursuits, one being the extraction of sunbeams from 
cucumbers.
     Part IV: This contains the most vicious satire of all, and tells of 
Gulliver's visit to the land of the Houyhnhnms, a race of intelligent 
horses who are served by a despised, filty, and degenerate human race 
known as Yahoos.  In the end, Gulliver returns to his wife and family, but 
finds them unbearable after associating with the Houyhnhnms.
     "Gulliver's Travels" is the pre-eminent novel to make humanity appear 
alien, and the alien appear more human, a technique that has been used as a 
basis for science fiction for the succeeding three centuries.

1726: Daniel Defoe "The Friendly Daemon, or The Generous Apparition"

1726-1727: Daniel Defoe "The Political History of the Devil"
in 2 volumes

1727: Daniel Defoe "A System of Magick, or A History of the 
Black Art"

1727: Daniel Defoe "An Essay on the History and Reality of Apparitions"

1730s

1731:  Founding of "Gentleman's Magazine", probably the world's first 
magazine.  Magazines, for over 200 years, became the main venue for 
science fiction stories.

1731: Ludvig Holberg, comic playwright in Denmark (26 plays total), publishes "Erasmus Montanus",
science fictional in its attention to the conflict between the technically 
educated (prone to pedantry and the "vapid formalism of logic") and the 
ignorant common man.  Rasmus Berg, educated at the University in 
Copenhagen, knows (for example) that the world is round, but is ridiculed 
when he returns to his home town, where even his wealthy father-in-law to be
knows that the Earth is "flat as a pancake."  In the end, Rasmus pretends 
to believe the Earth is flat, and so wins the daughter's hand in marriage.

1731: The government of Austria commissions a study on the customs and 
legends of the peasants, after an episode of mass hysteria in the village 
of Medvegia.  Johannes Fluckinger writes extensively 
about the legends of the Vampire, and his report is a great topic of 
conversation for decades to come, and influences Horror literature forever 
after.

1732:  The most popular and translated treatise on Chemistry of its day, 
"Elementa Chemiae" is published by Hermann Boerhaave.  
Although neither Science Fiction nor Fantasy, it tips the balance towards 
the former by discrediting the lingering pretensions of the Alcemists in 
its proof that Mercury cannot be obtained from Lead by transmutation.  He 
similarly studied the conservation of mass under chemical reactions, 
studied thermal capacity (following a suggestion by Farenheit) and 
generally led the way to a quantitative view of the natural world.

1736:  Carolus Linnaeus' "Fundamentica Botanica" organizes the vegetable 
world, and thus advances the structured modern view of nature.

1740s

1741: Norwegian/Danish Baron Ludvig Holberg publishes in Germany the Latin novel 
under the title "Nicolai Klimii Iter Subterreanaeum" about visiting stange 
nations at the center of the Earth.

Some have claimed that German astronomer Eberhard Christian Kindermann wrote the 
first credible space travel novel, "Die geshwinde Reise auf dem 
Luft-schiff nach der obern Welt, welche jungsthin funf Personen 
angestellet (1744).  It deals with a trip to Mars.

1743: Robert Blair publishes "The Grave", and becomes a 
notable member of "The Graveyard Poets."  See Thomas Parnell (1714), 
Thomas Wharton (1747), Thomas Gray (1752).

1747: Thomas Wharton joins the ranks of "The Graveyard 
Poets" with "The Pleasures of Melancholy."  See Thomas Parnell (1714), 
Robert Blair (1743), Thomas Gray (1752).

1750s

1751: Ralph Morris, a designer or inventor by trade, published the 
fiction-pretending-to-be-fact book "The Life and Astonishing Transactions 
of John Daniel"  with the eponymous John Daniel having purportedly invented 
a flying machine.

By a remarkable coincidence, this same year 1751 also saw into print the 
novel "Peter Wilkins" by Robert Paltrock, whose hero was shipwrecked in a 
land of people with wings.

1752: Thomas Gray publishes the best-known poem of "The 
Graveyard Poets" with the immortal "Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard."
See Thomas Parnell (1714), Robert Blair (1743), Thomas Wharton (1747).

1752: Voltaire publishes "Micromegas", with Earth being visited by aliens 
from Saturn and Sirius.  This is perhaps the first book about 
Aliens On Earth.

1756: Emanuel Swedenborg completes "Heavenly Arcana."  Neither science 
fiction nor Fantasy, this is unique theological revelation by a formerly 
talented scientist, with images of Hell, Angels, and the spirits 
inhabiting other worlds which influenced later works of imagination.

1757-1765: Albrecht von Haller publisheds "Elementa 
Physiologiae Corporis Humani."  This infant prodigy, who learned Greek and 
Latin by the age of 10, was attracted to Leyden by Hermann Boerhaave (who 
invented the term "Physiology") and published his seminal work of synthesis 
in 8 volumes to establish Physiology as a science on its own, beyond the 
practice of Medicine.  His influence reached the literay world because he 
published in that regime as well, was said to have "discovered the beauty 
of the Alps" in his poetry, and his "Gedichte" (1732) went into over 12 
editions.

In 1759, Voltaire published "Candide" whose notion that "this is the best 
of all possible worlds" was the inspiration for today's genre of "alternate 
history" or "parahistory" stories, also known as 
Alternate Worlds or "allohistory."

In this same year of 1759, Samuel Johnson published the fantastic 
"Rasselas, Prince of Abyssinia."

1760s

One line of ancestry for modern Science Fiction was the Gothic novel, 
starting with "The Castle of Otronto" (1764 or 1765) by Horace Walpole 
(see Walpole in the Authors' segment of this web site).  In this 
melodramatic romantic novel, the villain/tyrant Manfred, prince of Otranto, 
is grandson of the usurper who poisoned the rightful ruler Alfonso. His 
son is crushed by a giant plumed helmet, so Manfred decides to wed his 
son's fiancee Isabella, daughter of the Marquis of Vicenza. Manfred speaks 
with his grandfather's portrait come to life, and the ghost of Alfonso 
fulfills a prophecy by growing too big for the castle, and tearing it to 
rubble.

1763: the story "Reign of King George VI 1900-1925" was published, but 
didn't make any really interesting science fictional predictions.

1764: Horace Walpole publishes in London the first Gothic novel:
"The Castle of Otronto."  Horace Walpole (24 Sep 1717-2 Mar 1797) was a British Earl
as well as novelist, and son of a Prime Minister.  As Member of Parliament, 
and publisher, he is still best remembered as author of (to be more precise)
the first Gothic novel in England (pretending to be a translation from Italian), 
with original introduction by Sir Walter Scott.  See William Beckford 
(1786), Mrs.Radcliffe (1794), Matthew Lewis (1795). 

1767: "History and Present State of Electricity, with Original Experiments" 
by Joseph Priestley, popular work of science which got 
many amateurs tinkering with electrical items, leading to, for instance, 
Mary Shelley's "Frankenstein."

1770s

An important futuristic utopian novel was "L'an 2440, reve s'il en 
fut jamais" by French author Louis-Sebastian Mercier (London & Amsterdam: chez Van 
Harrevelt, 1771).  There were many more novels of UTOPIA thereafter.

1772: "History and Present State of Discoveries Relating to Vision, Light 
and Colours" by Joseph Priestley, popular work of science.

1773: Gottfried August Burger writes the poem "Leonore", 
a popular treatment of the folk legend of the lover returning to life, 
greatly to influence Poe.  It was translated by William Rossetti
into English as "The Hunt" in 1844.

1776: The "Declaration of Independence" is a utopian tract associated with 
the formation of a new nation, later to dominate the Science Fiction 
kingdom and, not incidentally, to land men on the moon.

1776: In Japan, Uneda Akenari publishes "Tales of 
Moonlight and Rain."  This influential collection of romantic and 
supernatural stories included "Ugetsu" [The House], adapted to film in 
1953.

1779: Georges Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon, the Isaac Asimov of the 18th 
Century, publishes one of his most popular volumes of the 44-volume 
"Natural History" -- "Epoques de la Nature" -- in which he deduced that 
the Earth and other planets were created by the collision of a comet with 
the Sun, that the Earth began as a molten spheroid, and then relates the 
history of the earth in 7 epochs, with humans arrriving in the last.  
This sets the stage for the cosmic visions of Science Fiction, and the 
vast spans of history in (for instance) H. G. Wells and Olaf Stapledon.

1780s

1781:     French author De la Bretonne's "Decouverte Australe, par un 
Homme-Volant" includes, amazingly enough, aircraft, spacecraft, satellites, 
ICBMs, atomic energy, germ warefare, and communal versus authoritarian 
cultures.  Very futuristic, indeed!

1781: Henri Fuselli, British Royal Academy Professor of Painting,
paints the horrific "The Nightmare", which influenced later fantasy and 
horror art.

1784:  While ensconced in the Bastille, the Marquis de Sade 
pens "Les 120 Journees de Sodome" [120 Days of Sodom], although an 
authoritative edition was not in print until 1931.  This was the first of 
his books, considered later to have been a handgrenade of modernism, so far 
ahead of its time as to gurantee him a lifetime of persecution.  It was 
followed by "Justine" (1791) and "Juliette" (1797).

1786:  William Beckford publishes the Gothic novel 
"Vathek."  See Horace Walpole (1764), Mrs.Radcliffe (1794), Matthew Lewis (1795). 

1787-1788: "The Federalist" by Alexander Hamilton, John Jay, and 
James Madison.  This is the classic document in American 
political theory, originally appearing as a series of letters to New York 
nespapers in support of the Federal Constitution agreed upon by the 
Federal Convention on 17 September 1787.  Its background is the government 
set up in America after the Revolution, the government under the Articles 
of Confederation.  This Confederation of sovereign states was too loose 
and weak a union to work effectively.  After a few years, a constitutional 
convention was called in Philadelphia to write a new constitution.  
Hamilton, Jay, and Madison participated, and the resulting constitution is 
the one defended in this work.  The need for a stronger union is 
eloquently argued on the grounds of common defense and prosperity.  
     At the time of its presentation, there were many objections to the new 
constitution.  These came mainly from people who were concerned lest the 
new federal government encroach on the rights of the states.  The 
arrangement of the Constitution was defended in two ways: (1) the powers 
given the central government were essential to the performance of its 
function, and (2) these powers were clearly limited and all remaining 
powers were left to the states.  Various other objections are considered, 
both general and specific.  The various branches of the government are 
described in some detail, the method of selection of their officers, their 
powers and the limitations on their powers, and their relations to other 
branches is made clear.  
     This persuasive document not only did much to spread an understanding 
of the Constitution, but has served as a basic American political text ever 
since.  As such, its arguments form the basis for all informed political 
science fiction in the United States, often projected into speculative 
fiction on the political infrastructure of the Solar System or the galaxy 
as a whole.  Isaac Asimov combined concepts from The Federalist with the 
overarching design of "The Rise and Fall of the Roman Empire," for 
example, in the "Foundation" novels.

1790s

1794: Perhaps the greatest Gothic novel was Mrs. [Ann] Radcliffe's "Mysteries of 
     Udolpho" (1794).  See Horace Walpole (1764), William Beckford (1786).
     
1795: Matthew Lewis anonymously publishes "The Monk."  
When his identity was revealed (playwright/Member of Parliament) this book 
caused him no end of problems.  Yet today it is hailed as one of the 
highlights of the Gothic novel.     

1797: Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley born (30 Aug 1797)
     
1798: "The Essay on the Principle of Population" by Thomas Robert Malthus
     is one of the most important early studies of Dystopia really, really bad futures 
     (opposite of "Utopia").  Since population tends to multiply faster 
     than subsistence, many people will starve unless society adopts rigid 
     population controls, such as sexual abstinence and prohibition of 
     marriage among the poor.  He was specifically attacking the Utopian 
     writings of such as Godwin, father of Mary Shelley ("Frankenstein").

1798: Samuel Taylor Coleridge's "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner" tells in 
     625 strange melodic lines (that's 5x5x5x5) of a mariner with hypnotic 
     eyes who stops one of three wedding guests and forces him to listen 
     to the story of lost and returned grace on board a ships, driven by 
     storm toward the South Pole (of course an unexplored alien land in 
     the 18th century).  The mariner had killed an albatross -- bird of 
     good omen -- and thus began his troubles, including the becalmed 
     ship (spaceship isolated from planetfall), specter-woman and her 
     death-mate (ghost/aliens), crew's dropping dead one at a time (the 
     "last man" theme of SF), until he blesses the water-snakes and his 
     luck turns.  He's guided back to his own country by angelic spirits 
     (super-powerful aliens) and is now compelled to travel from land to 
     land, teaching by his example love and reverence to all God's 
     creatures (all beings in the cosmos).

|Introduction: Overview and Summary
|Prehistory: Ancient Precursors
|16th Century: Ariosto and Cyrano on the Moon
|17th Century: Literary Dawn
|18th Century: Literary Expansion (you are here)
|19th Century: Victorian Explosion
|1890-1910: Into Our Century
|1910-1920: The Silver Age
|1920-1930: The Golden Age
|1930-1940: The Aluminum Age
|1940-1950: The Plutonium Age
|1950-1960: The Threshold of Space
|1960-1970: The New Wave
|1970-1980: The Seventies
|1980-1990: The Eighties
|1990-2000: End of Millennium
|2000-2010: Future Prizewinners


Where to Go for More
 51 Useful Reference Books

Beyond the World Wide Web... there is the library of old-fashioned books 
printed on paper.  I strongly recommend that you start or follow-up your 
explorations of this web site by consulting any or all of these outstanding 
sources:
     
ALDISS: "Billion Year Spree: The True History of Science Fiction", Brian W. 
     Aldiss (New York: Doubleday, 1973; Schocken Paperback, 1974)

ALLEN: "Science Fiction Reader's Guide", L. David Allen 
     (Centennial Press, 1974)

AMIS: "New Maps of Hell", Kingsley Amis (London: Gollancz, 1960; 
     New York: Harcourt Brace, 1960)

ASH1: "Who's Who in Science Fiction", by Brian Ash (Taplinger, 1976)

ASH2: "The Visual Encyclopedia of Science Fiction", edited by Brian Ash 
     (Harmony Books, 1977)
   
ASHLEY: "The History of the Science Fiction Magazine" [3 volumes]
     (London: New English Library, 1974)

ASIMOV "Asimov on Science Fiction" (New York: Avon, 1981)

ATHELING: "The Issue at Hand", "William Atheling, Jr." [James Blish]
     (Chicago: Advent, 1964)

BARRON: "Anatomy of Wonder", edited by Neil Barron (Bowker, 1976)

BAXTER: "Science Fiction in the Cinema", John Baxter 
     (London: A. Zwemmer, 1970; New York: A. S. Barnes, 1970)
     
BERGONZI: "The Early H.G. Wells", Bernard Bergonzi 
     (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1961)

BLEILER: "The Checklist of Fantastic Literature" Everett F. Bleiler
     (Chicago: Shasta, 1948)

BRETNOR1: "Modern Science Fiction: Its Meaning and Future", edited by 
     Reginald Bretnor (New York: Coward-McCann, 1953)

BRETNOR2: "The Craft of Science Fiction", Reginald Bretnor 
     (New York: Harper & Row, 1977)

BRINEY: "SF Bibliographies", Robert E. Briney & Edward Wood
     (Chicago: Advent, 1972)

CLARESON1: "SF: The Other Side of Realism", edited by Thomas D. Clareson
     (Gregg Press, 1978)

CLARESON2: "Extrapolation, 1959-1969", edited by Thomas D. Clareson
     (Bowling Green, Ohio: University Popular Press, 1971)

CLARKE: "The Tale of the Future", I. F. Clarke 
     (London: The Library Association, 1961, 1972)

CONTENTO: "Index to the Science Fiction Anthologies and Collections", 
     William Contento G.K. Hall, 1978)

DAY: "Index to the Science Fiction Magazine: 1926-50", Donald B. Day
     (Portland, Oregon: Perri Press, 1952)

DeCAMP: "Science Fiction Handbook", L. Sprague DeCamp
     (New York: Hermitage House, 1953)

ELLIK: "The Universes of E. E. Smith", Ron Ellik & Bill Evans
     (Chicago: Advent, 1966)

EVANS: "The Index of Science Fiction Magazines", Bill Evans with Jack Speer
     (Denver: Robert Peterson, 1946?)

FRANKLIN: "Future Perfect: American Science Fiction of the Nineteenth Century",
     H. Bruce Franklin (New York: Oxford University Press, 1966)

FREWIN: "One Hundred Years of Science Fiction Illustration", Anthony Frewin
     (London: Jupiter Books, 1974)

GOODSTONE: "The Pulps", Tony Goodstone (New York: Chelsea House, 1970)

GUNN: "Alternate Worlds", James Gunn (Englewood Cliffs NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1975)

HARRISON: "John W. Campbell: Collected Editorials from Analog", Harry Harrison
     (Garden City NY: Doubleday, 1966)
     
HOLMBERG: "Science Fiction History", John-Henri Holmberg
     (Vanersborg, Sweden: Askild & Karnekull, 1974)

KNIGHT: "In Search of Wonder", Damon Knight (Chicago: Advent, 1956; enlarged 1967)

KYLE: "A Pictorial History of Science Fiction", David Kyle
     (London: Hamlyn House, 1976)

LOCKE: "Worlds Apart", edited by George Locke (London: Cornmarket Reprints, 1972)

LUNDWALL: "Science Fiction: What It's All About", Sam J. Lundwall 
     (New York: Ace Books, 1971)

METCALF: "The Index of Science Fiction Magazines, 1951-1965", Norm Metcalf 
     (J. Ben Stark, 1968)

MILLIES: "Science Fiction Primer for Teachers", Suzanne Millies
     (Dayton OH: Pflaum, 1975)

MOSKOWITZ#1: "The Immortal Storm", Sam Moskowitz 
     (AFSO Press, 1954; Hyperion Press, 19??)

MOSKOWITZ#2: "Explorers of the Infinite: Shapers of Science Fiction", 
     Sam Moskowitz (Cleveland & New York: World, 1963)

MOSKOWITZ#3: "Seekers of Tomorrow", Sam Moskowitz (Cleveland & New York: World, 1963)

NESFA: "Index to the Science Fiction Magazines", New England Science 
     Fiction Association (Cambridge MA: NESFA, 1971)

PERRY: "The Penguin Book of Comics", George Perry & Alan Aldridge
     (London: Penguin, 1971)
     
ROGERS: "A Requiem for Astounding", Alva Rogers (Chicago: Advent, 1964)

ROTTSTEINER: "The Science Fiction Book", Franz Rottsteiner 
     (London: Thames & Hudson, 1975)

SADOUL: "Hier, L'An 2000 [Illustrations from the Golden Age of Science Fiction]",
     Jaxques Sadoul (Paris: Editions Denoel, 1973)
     
STRAUSS: "The MIT Science Fiction Society's Index to the SF Magazines: 1951-64"
     Erwin S. Strauss (Cambridge MA: MIT Science Fiction Society, 1966)
     
TUCK: "The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction and Fantasy, 2nd Edition", 
     Donald H. Tuck (Hobart, Tasmania: Donald H. Tuck, 1959)

VERSINS: "Encyclopedie des l'utopie, des voyages extraordinaires et de la 
     science fiction", (Lausanne: L'Age d'Homme, 1972)

WAGGONER: "The Hills of Faraway", Diana Waggoner (Athenaeum, 1978)

WARNER: "All Our Yesterdays", Harry Warner, Jr. (Chicago: Advent, 1969)

WELLS: "Fictional Accounts of Trips to the Moon", Lester G. Wells
     (Syracuse NY: Syracuse University Library, 1962)

WILLIAMSON: "H.G. Wells: Critic of Progress", Jack Williamson
     (Baltimore: Mirage Press, 1973)

WOLLHEIM: "The Universe Makers", Donald A. Wollheim
     (New York: Harper & Row, 1971)




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Copyright 1996,1997,1998 by Magic Dragon Multimedia.

All rights reserved Worldwide.  May not be reproduced without permission.  

May be posted electronically provided that it is transmitted unaltered, in its
entirety, and without charge.