 | TIMELINE 19th CENTURY |
TIMELINE 19th CENTURY
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Why was the 19th Century the time of an unprecedented Explosion of Science Fiction? There are 7 hotlinks here to authors, magazines, films, or television items elsewhere in the Ultimate Science Fiction Web Guide or beyond.
Click here or scroll down... Executive Summary of the Century The Victorian Era Jules Verne Major Books of the Decade 1800-1810 Major Books of the Decade 1810-1820 Major Books of the Decade 1820-1830 Major Books of the Decade 1830-1840 Major Books of the Decade 1840-1850 Major Books of the Decade 1850-1860 Major Books of the Decade 1860-1870 Major Books of the Decade 1870-1880 Major Books of the Decade 1880-1890 Major Books of the Decade 1890-1900 Major Films of this Century Other Key Dates and Stories of this Century Major Writers Born this Century {to be done} Major Writers Died this Century Hotlinks to other Timeline pages of SF Chronology Where to Go for More: 51 Useful Reference Books Executive Summary of the Century The notion of Progress was central, as the fruits of the Industrial Revolution spread worldwide. This was epitomized in the expansive fiction of H.G. Wells and Jules Verne. Yet technology brought a dark side as well, as seen by writers as various as Mary Shelley ("Frankenstein"), Edgar Allan Poe, Sir George Chesney ("The Battle of Dorking"), Robert Louis Stevenson ("Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde"), and Karl Marx. A charismatic leader came out of nowhere and nearly conquered the world. Napoleon rises from First Consul of France in 1800 to Emperor in 1804, and essentially controlled the European continent before his defeat at Waterloo in 1815. This conquering hero/monster affected futuristic fiction forever, as did the European revolutions of 1848 and the American Civil War (1861-1865). The science-driven future also changed the way the past was viewed, with Sir Walter Scott's invention of the Historic Novel as the keystone. The invention of photography (Daguerre, 1840s) and cinema (Lumiere brothers, 1895) was immediately seen as changing the nature of Art, though the invention of the computer (Babbage, 1822) was only understood a century later. Konstantin Tsiolkovski publishes fiction and nonfiction for the first time detailing how rockets can be used to conquer outer space. Charles Darwin changed our view of human beings, as merely an evolved form of animal, and authors from Jules Verne, Konstantin Tsiolkovski, and Camille Flammarion changed our conception of the human place in the cosmos. Return to Top of 19th century Timeline Page The Victorian Era The amazing reign of Queen Victoria, starting in 1837, saw tremendous changes in the English-speaking world -- but we see Science Fiction as really getting underway across the English Channel... with Jules Verne. Return to Top of 19th century Timeline Page Jules Verne The case can be made that science fiction began in the 19th Century in France, with Jules Verne. Verne was born in Nantes, France, on 8 February 1828. He died in Amiens, France, on 24 March 1905. In between these dates, he was surely, as Isaac Asimov says, "the first writer to specialize in science fiction and to make a living at it, too." [Asimov on Science Fiction, p.158] Verne plumbed planetary depths -- "Journey to the Center of the Earth" (1864); fired people to the Moon from Florida -- "From the Earth to the Moon" (1865); and had a mad scientist conquer the oceans -- "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea" (1869). Verne had a mad scientist orbit the earth atmospherically in "Robur the Conqueror" and "Master of the World"; create a UTOPIA -- "The Mysterious Island"; explore conflicts between supercities -- "The Begum's Fortune"; and make cities fly -- "Propellor Island." Many science fiction movies have been made of Jules Verne tales, including:{film credits hotlinks to be done} Return to Top of 19th century Timeline Page Major Books of the Decade 1800-1810 1800: "Wake Not the Dead" by Johann Ludwig Tieck is translated from German into English, and becomes the first-known English fiction about Vampires. 1803: "The Temple of Nature" by Charles Darwin began to change how nature was perceived in fiction and nonfiction alike 1805: "The Last Man", novel by Jean-Baptiste Xavier de Grainville first published in France as the poem "Le dernier homme." It created a subgenre complete with destroyed metropolises, the end of civilization, and the final man and final woman, who in this case are convinced by Adam not to breed a new race of humanity. 1806: "The Armed Briton" by William Burke brought a libertarian pro-gun conservatism into the forefront of the book world, affecting much future science fiction 1808: "Faust" (Part I) by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (part II in 1831). This epic drama is truly the lifework of the versatile poet, dramatist, novelist, philosopher, statesman, scientist, art critic, and theatre manager Goethe. Notwithstanding the preoccupations of so diversidfied a career, the writing of "Faust" was begun in his youth and the finishing touches were put to the second part just before his death in 1832 at the age of 82. Part I begins like a mystery play with the celebrated prologue in Heaven, essentially a paraphrase of the first part of the Book of Job. The same bargain is struck, in both cases. The Lord, at Satan's challenge, gives him permission to make a test of the integrity of God's servent, Faust. Mephistopheles makes a bargain with the aged Faust. If Faust is granted one moment of complete contentment, he loses his soul. Faust regains his youth, and with Mephistopheles he travels about enjoying every form of earthly pleasure. He has a love affair with a simple girl, Margaret, whom he betrays and for whose downfall and death he is responsible. Mephistopheles thinks he will capture the soul of Margaret, but the purity of her betrayed love for faust and her refusal to be rescued from death by Mephistopheles cause her to be saved. As the first part of the play ends, Faust has not yet found, in the world of desire and passion, that wonderful moment of existence to which he could really wish to cling. For the second part of Faust, see 1831. Return to Top of 19th century Timeline Page Major Books of the Decade 1810-1820 1810: Julius von Voss "Ini. Ein Roman aus dem einundzwangsigsten Jahrhundert" ("A Novel from the Twenty-First Century"). 1812-1815: "Fairy Tales" is published by Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm. It took the Brothers Grimm 13 years to collect their imperishable "Kinder- un Hausmarchen" (Children and Household Tales). They went from village to village, from town to town, in the districts of Hesse and hanau which they knew best, and transcribed the folk and fairy tales directly from the lips of the common people. These tales, transmuted by the Grimms' poetic feeling and love of children, included such everlasting favorites as "Hansel and Gretel", "Cinderella", "Little Red Ridinghood", "Snow White", and "Rumpelstiltskin." The principle on which the Grimms worked in collecting their stories was truth and exactness. They added nothing of their own, embellished no incident, but faithfully presented the material as they received it. However, the mode of presentation, the poetic feeling, the details were conspicuously the two collaborators' contribution. The "Fairy Tales" of the Brothers Grimm, like those of Hans Christian Andersen, will remain everlasting literary masterpieces. 1814-1815: "Fantastic Pieces in Callot's Manner" by E. T. A. Hoffmann establishes his fame in supernatural literature Brian Aldiss receives considerable support in claiming that Mary Shelley's "Frankenstein: or The Modern Prometheus" [London: Lackington, Hughes, Harding, Mavor & Jones, 1818] was the first genuine science fiction novel. The very next year, Dr. Polidori published the short novel "The Vampyre: a Tale" as a result of the same 15-17 June 1816 conversation between Byron, Polidori, and the Shelleys that gave rise to "Frankenstein." In between, Byron published the related "A Fragment" (1817). That intense June period is portrayed in the 1986 Ken Russell film "Gothic" {film hotlink to be done}. 1817: founding of the popular "Blackwood's Magazine", probably the first periodical primarily filled with fiction 1817: George Gordon, Lord Byron's "Manfred" is somewhat derivative of the Faust legend. Manfred summons spirits in the Alps to help him forget some blot on his past. They cannot help him to forget or change his past (avoiding a time-travel paradox) and he tries to jump from a cliff, restrained from suicide by a chamois hunter. The Witch of the Alps hears his incoherent confession, whereupon in the hall of Arimanes some evil spirits (bad aliens) bring him the phantom of Astarte, whom he has wronged, and she prophecies the end of his earthly ills within 24 hours. As predeicted, spirits come for him, but he dismisses them, and dies anyway. 1817: ETA [Ernst Theodor Willhelm] Hoffman publishes "Night Pieces" as a collection of his bizarre short stories, which greatly influences the German Expressionist of about 1900-1910. 1817: "Armata: A Fragment" by Thomas Erskine 1818: "Endymion" by John Keats (composed between April and November 1817) opens with the familiar "A thing of beauty is a joy forever," and although loose in style and weak in narrative content, is so replete with color and music, with such enchanted atmosphere and scenery, that it often amazes by its lack of reticence. Yet there are strokes of pure beauty no cautious artistry could achieve. There is sheer magic in the story of Endymion and the Moon, and the former's wandering over the earth and under it, and in the sea and through the air, with no sharp line between what happens and what is dreamt. More than any other poem, perhaps, it shows Keats, whatever his drab surroundings, as the sensuous lover of all loveliness. Whether he digresses to legends of Cybele, Glaucus and Scylla, or Alpheus and Arethusa, in no way related, does not seem to matter. The "Hymn to Pan" (book I) and the roundelay to Bacchus "O sorrow" (book IV) mark the heights of the poem, and are familiar by inclusion in anthologies. Keats himself told his critics that he recognized in "Endymion": "a feverish attempt rather than a deed accomplished." It followed in the footsteps of "Endymion, the Man in the Moon" by John Lyly (performed 1587, printed 1591), a play in prose presented before Queen Elizabeth, over two centuries earlier. More than a century later, this poem inspired the amazing literary Space Opera in four volumes by Dan Simmons. 1818: Thomas Love Peacock publishes "Nightmare Abbey" as a parody of Percy and Mary Shelly, Byron, and Coleridge. 1819: Dr. Polidari publishes "The Vampyre" in the "New Monthly Magazine." This is perhaps the first major vampire fiction in English. 1819: Francesco Goya creates, in Spain, 18 frescos known as "The Black Paintings" as an emotional response to the invasion by France. The most famous of these today is "Saturn Devouring His Children." These influence much later horror and fantasy art. 1820: "Symzonia", novel by Captain Adam Seaborn popularizes John Symmes' Theory of Concentric Spheres, and the "Hollow Earth" 1820: "Melmoth the Wanderer" by Charles Maturin Return to Top of 19th century Timeline Page Major Books of the Decade 1820-1830 1820: Hector Berlioz creates and premieres his masterpiece "Symphony Fantastique." It is, explicitly, related to fantasy literature. 1820: Franz Grillparzer publishes "Golden Fleece" -- a verse trilogy consisting of "The Guest Friend", "The Argonauts", and "Medea." "The Guest Friend", a short prologue, relates how King Aetus treacherously gains possession of the Golden Fleece, which carries a curse for him and his daughter, Medea. In "The Argonauts", Medea the Amazon, touched by love for the stranger jason, aids him in making off with the Fleece. He, in turn, takes her with him as his wife. "Medea," written in somber classical style, reveals the plight and humiliation of Jason in his native Greece, since his wife is a sorceress and a barbarian. To no avail is her willingness to renounce her magical powers and to adapt herself to the ways of the new land. Jason finds it impossible to be true to Medea, and turns to Creusa, a childhood friend. With all this confronting Medea, her barbaric passions break forth once more. She kills her two children, and in a trail of destruction, leaves Jason, taking the Fleece with her. 1822: Thomas De Quincey's "Confessions of an English Opium Eater" gives unrivalled descriptions of hallucinatory and otherworldly dreams. 1825: "The Rebellion of the Beast" is anonymously published Mary Shelley continued her science fictional career with "The Last Man" (1826), a 21st century biological warfare story, as we would intepret it now. It is also possible to read the plague as merely a natural plague. critics differ. 1827: "A Voyage to the Moon", novel by Joseph Atterley [pseudonym of George Tucker] 1827: "The Mummy!" by Jane Loudon 1828: "Salathiel" by George Croly Return to Top of 19th century Timeline Page Major Books of the Decade 1830-1840 1831: Victor Hugo: "The Hunchback of Notre Dame" 1831: "Faust" (Part II) by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (part I in 1808). This epic drama is truly the lifework of the versatile poet, dramatist, novelist, philosopher, statesman, scientist, art critic, and theatre manager Goethe. Notwithstanding the preoccupations of so diversified a career, the writing of "Faust" was begun in his youth and the finishing touches were put to the second part just before his death in 1832 at the age of 82. For the first part of "Faust", see 1808. The second part of "Faust", that of the world of public life and aesthetic beauty, is a profound philosophical poem, less of a familiar drama than the first. In it Faust tastes every form of intellectual and worldly power, but still fails to find the moment for which he so eagerly seeks, even in the love of Helen of Troy. Mephistopheles has almost despaired of his bargain. At last, once again and old man, the weary, sated faust takes an interest in a project to reclaim land from the sea, a project that will mean little to him personally, but which will bring untold good to countless numbers of people. Here, to his astonishment, Faust finds truly profound happiness. So noble is this impulse that Mephistopheles at the end is deprived of the soul of faust, who, like the unfortunate Margaret of the first part, is redeemed. "Faust" is a monument that will stand as long as literature endures. It is not of great importance on the actual stage, for its difficulties of production are enormous. Primarily it is a literary-poetic work. However, on rare occasions, both parts have been performed in careful adaptations. The first part, by itself, has received fairly frequent performances, and is the basis of Gounoud's popular opera "Faust," also of the opera "Mefistofele" by Boito, and the "Damnation of faust" by Berlioz. The semi-legendary figure of the magician and charlatan Faustus has not only attracted many poets (Marlowe, Lessng), but the adjective "Faustian" has become synonymous (since Oswald Spengler's use of it) for the striving qualities of modern Western civilization. For this reason, too, the poetic play bridges the gap between Fantasy (God and the Devil) and Science Fiction (reclaiming land from sea, the lure of cosmic knowledge, and the other aspects of Enlightenment goals for humanity and technology). Modern prose adaptations include Thomas Mann's novel "Doctor Faustus" [1947], and "Jack Faust" by Michael Swanwick [New York: Avon, 1997]. 1832: William Gilmore Simms: "Atalantis" 1832: The Brothers Grimm (Jakob and Wilhelm Grimm) publish their epochal volume of German folklore. 1833: Honore de Balzac: "Louis Lambert" 1833: Edgar Allan Poe publishes "MS Found in a Bottle" in "The Baltimore Saturday Visitor", the first of his major short stories. 1833: "Ahasverus" by Edgar Quinet 1835: James Fenimore Cooper: "The Monikins" (monkey society near the North Pole) other fictions about intelligent animals 1835: Hans Christian Anderson publishes his first anthology "Tales Told for Children", including such stories as "The Red Shoes", "The Snow Queen", and "The Little Mermaid" (latter Disney-ized). 1837: "Twice Told Tales" by Nathaniel Hawthorne presents legends of New England. 1837: "The Narrative of A. Gordon Pym", science fiction novel by Edgar Allan Poe popularizes the "Hollow Earth" as a science fictional setting. 1839: Edgar Allan Poe publishes his short story "The Fall of the House of Usher" Return to Top of 19th century Timeline Page Major Books of the Decade 1840-1850 1840s: the Horror genre is captured in the "Penny Bloods" or "Penny Dreadfuls", with publishers such as Edward Lloyd providing cheap fiction publications for the masses, including those by Thomas Prest ("Sweeny Todd"), James Malcolm Rymer, and George Reynolds. 1842: Edgar Allan Poe publishes his short story "The Masque of the Red Death" 1842: "A Voyage from Utopia" written by John Francis Bray, although not published until 1957 1842: "Zanoni" is arguably the first major work by Bulwer-Lytton March 1843: Nathaniel Hawthorne: "The Birthmark", a science fiction story, in the magazine "The Pioneer" 1843: Edgar Allan Poe publishes his horror short story "The Pit and the Pendulum" 1843: "The Flying Dutchman" by Richard Wagner 1844: Eugene Sue's "Mysteries of Paris" portrays a vast future city/world, in a dark vision later elaborated by Bulwer Lytton and others. Apr 1844: Edgar Allan Poe's "A Tale of the Ragged Mountains" in the magazine "Godey's Lady's Book." This is more science fiction than any other genre. June 1844: Nathaniel Hawthorne: "The Artist of the Beautiful" in the magazine "Democratic Review", a science fiction story. Dec 1844: Nathaniel Hawthorne: "Rappaccini's Daughter" in the magazine "Democratic Review" Science Fiction is how we sould classify this today. 1845: Benjamin Disraeli's book "The Two Nations" (1845) examined the split between rich and poor, with upper and lower classes as essentially two nations on the same land, and this vision was further ramified by H. G. Wells' Eloi and Morlocks in "The Time Machine" (1895). 1845: "The Wandering Jew" by Eugene Sue Dec 1845: Edgar Allan Poe's "The Facts of the Case of M. Valdemar" in the magazine "American Whig Review", a science fictional story. 1846: Edgar Allan Poe publishes his horror short story "The Cask of Amontillado." 1846: "Mosses from an Old Manse" by Nathaniel Hawthorne includes Science Fiction stories such as "Rappacini's Daughter" and "The Celestial Railroad." 1848: James Fenimore Cooper: "The Crater" (utopian culture on newly-risen islands) other fictions about Utopia 1848: Edgar Allan Poe publishes "Eureka" with its prophetically modern astrophysics and cosmology 1848: "The Triumph of Woman: A Christmas Story" by Charles Rowcroft Feb 1849: Edgar Allan Poe's "Mellonta Tauta" in the magazine "Godey's Lady's Book", surely Science Fiction. Return to Top of 19th century Timeline Page Major Books of the Decade 1850-1860 1854: French author Gerard de Nerval {to be done} 1855: "Gyges and His Ring" by Christian Friedrich Hebbel. In this verse drama, based on a story by Herodotus (which also influenced J.R.R. Tolkien), King Kandanles of Lydia is proud of the attractiveness of his wife, Queen Rhodope, as he is of his other possessions. The King invites young Gyges to view her unclothed beauty, since Gyges possesses a magic ring which renders him invisible in the bedchamber. he Queen, however, learns of the affront, demands of Gyges that King Kandanles die by his hand, after which he is to become her husband. He carries out the plot, but the Queen takes her own life after the marriage. The entire action is permeated by an overhwlming sense of conflict, and exhbits Hebbel's preoccupation with the complications of psychological motivations. 1857: "The Flowers of Evil" by Charles Baudelaire, who was deeply influenced by Edgar Allan Poe (whom he translated into French, with great popularity), and who in turn influenced much of modern poetry and Dark Fantasy. In their time, these poems had few admirers, created scandal, and on publication landed their author in court for corrupting public morals. Immensely sensitive, inclined towards mysticism, and endowed with an unparalleled musical ear, Baudelaire was also sickly, chronically on the outs with his family, eternally in debt, and generally unhappy -- a Philip K. Dick of the 19th Century. His central theme was the evil inherent in the human heart. The first poem of the "Flowers" makes it clear that he means the human heart in general, including the heart of the reader. Subsequent poems explore the various possibilities of vice, depravity, and sin with a thoroughness that makes a comparison with DANTE of the "Inferno" inevitable. Yet occasionally, particularly in some of his love poems, baudelaire achieves a kind of somber beauty which was, and still is, something new in poetry. Yechnical experts regard him as a great creator of metaphor. 1858: "Phantasies" by George MacDonald 1858: Fitz-James O'Brien's "The Diamond Lens", with a beautiful girl living on a molecular-scale world within a drop of water. First use of the Microcosm in science fiction, inspiring many later stories such as Ray Cummings' (1919) "The Girl in the Golden Atom" 1859: "The Origin of Species" by Charles Darwin Return to Top of 19th century Timeline Page Major Books of the Decade 1860-1870 1863: "Five Weeks in a Balloon", novel by Jules Verne 1863: Charles Kingsley's novel "Water Babies" [Fantasy] 1863: Sheridan le Fanu's story "Carmilla", a fine vampire tale 1863: Sir Charles Lyell's "Antiquity of Man" -- almost any work in fiction about "stone age man" derives in part from this speculative non-fiction. 1864: Sheridan le Fanu's creepy novel "Uncle Silas" [Fantasy] 1864: "Journey to the Centre of the Earth", novel by Jules Verne 1864: "A Voyage to the Moon" by Chrysostum Trueman 1865: Lewis Carroll's "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland" 1865: "From the Earth to the Moon", novel by Jules Verne [as "De La Terre A La Lune", Hetzel] 1865: "The Cloud King" by William Hayward 1867: Modest Moussorgsky composes "A Night on Bald Mountain", an orchestral work with an underlying Horror narrative. 1868: Wilkie Collin's masterpiece "The Moonstone" 1868: Edward F. Ellis' "The Steam Man of the Praries" was the first "dime novel." Harry Enton was encouraged to write a series of very similar books, starting with "Frank Reade and the The Steam Man of the Praries" (1876), who eventually turned the series over to the incredibly prolific Luis P. Senarens (under his "Noname" pseudonym). 1868-1869: Robert Browning writes the extraordinarily long narrative fantasy/horror poem "The Ring and the Book", putting under the psyhcological microscope a man slipping from obsession into madness and the murder of his wife. 1869: Edward Everett Hale's story "The Brick Moon", the first fiction ever to have an artificial satellite orbit the Earth, let alone one with people on board. Published in 4 parts, starting in October 1869 "Atlantic Monthly." Earlier that year, he'd published the utopian novel "My Visit to Sybaris." 1870: Edward Everett Hale's sequel "Life in the Brick Moon" 1870: "Round the Moon", novel by Jules Verne 1870: "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea", novel by Jules Verne 1870: "Faust" by Estanislao del Campo. This witty poem, written in the gaucho vernacular, is a little gem, and for decades has retained its popularity throughout Latin America. An Argentine Cowboy goes to Buenos Aires, and on seeing a queue near the box office of the Teatro Colon, goes in and sees a performance of Gounoud's "Faust." He believes that everything that takes place on stage is literally happening. On his way home, he meets a friend and retells, in his superbly picaresque way, the story of "Faust." Return to Top of 19th century Timeline Page Major Books of the Decade 1870-1880 1871: Colonel George Tamkyns Chesney's future-war pamphlet "The Battle of Dorking" is the first significant fiction about horrible future wars 1871: Bulwer-Lytton: "The Coming Age" (we'll all become supermen) SUPERMEN:other fictions about supermen 1872: Samuel Butler's important novel "Erewhon", a still-famous utopian novel Utopia:other fictions about utopia. 1872: Sheridan le Fanu's weird story "Through a Glass Darkly" [Fantasy] which has been filmed several times under different titles. 1872: Lewis Carroll's "Through the Looking Glass" 1872: "Lumen" by Camille Flammarion has a spirit (making this book Fantasy) travel through scientifically accurate outer space (making it Science Fiction) 1872 Sir Henry Morton Stanley's "How I Found Livingstone" is not Fantasy, but stimulated endless fictional treatments of darkest Africa. 1873: Thomas Hardy: "A Pair of Blue Eyes" [fantasy] 1874: Edward Page Mitchell's story "The Tachypomp", early tale of computerized boost to human intelligence 1875: "The Mysterious Island", novel by Jules Verne Return to Top of 19th century Timeline Page Major Books of the Decade 1880-1890 1880: Percy Gregg: "Across the Zodiac" (a spaceship powered by "apergy" travels through the solar system, including an inhabited Mars. 1882: "Eminent Authors of the Nineteenth Century" by George Brandes helped to establish the aesthetic of modern literature with his bestselling portrait of Paul Heyse, Hans Christian Andersen, John Stuart Mill, Ernest Renan, Esias Tegner, Gustave Flaubert, Frederik Paludan-Muller, Bjornsterne Bjornson, and Henrik Ibsen. He also kept Fantasy linked to high literarture and drama, writing (for example) of Hans Christian Andersen's "The Ugly Duckling": "one of his most exquisite stories, there is the quintessence of Andersen's entire life--melancholy, humor, martyrdom, triumph--and of his whole nature; the gift of observation and the sparkling intellect which he used to avenge himself upon folly and wickedness, the varied faculties which constituted his genius." 1882-1891: "The Happy Prince and Other Fairy Tales" by Oscar Wilde. First told orally for his children, then (when published) immediately acclaimed as the most beautifully written stories for children ever penned. Yet they are also for adults, and for literary adults at that. Who else would be able to grasp the bitter irony, the cloying beauty, the undertone of wistfulness and regret over life's cruelties and inexplicabilities. An artful artlessness lingers in their superb musical cadences and faultless imagery. A hothouse quality of unreality, of a vapory combination of Fragonard, Rossetti, and Wordsworth, of studied ingenuousness, pervades all these stories. There is also the unmistakable influence of Pre-Raphaelite painting in them, and of Walter Pater's escapist erudition. One's attention is fascinated by the glitter of precious stones the sheen of metal, the scents of exotic flowers, the pungency of rare spices, and the ravishment of beautiful brocades and silks. And to heighten the antique effect, Wilde evokes the pastoral simplicity of Biblical language. All words are treated musically. A striking device, taken from poetry, the repetition of particular phrases, conjures up soft harmonies and a sensuous languor. 1884: "Flatland", novel by E. A. Abbott. Of Edwin Abbott Abbott (20 Dec 1838-12 Oct 1926), author of "Flatland": Brian W. Aldiss [Billion Year Spree, New York: Shocken, 1974, p.106] says: "Beside the major figure of [Lewis] Carroll we may set a minor one, another scholar with an interest in mathematics, Edwin A. Abbott. Abbott was a Shakespearean scholar and theologian, now best remembered for that slender sport 'Flatland', first published in 1884 and still surviving by reason of its wit and originality.... This slender work is hardly science fiction..... but it has always attracted sf readers, not least because its lucid account of dimensions reminds us that we may be relatively as imperceptive of the reality of our universe as were the inhabitants of Flatland. Perhaps for this reason, the book was a favorite of C. S. Lewis." Edwin A. Abbot @ AlphaRalpha 1885: "After London", novel by Richard Jeffries [London: Cassell] about the vast satanic future London being wiped away by a flood, with England returning to old-fashioned forests. 1886: Robert Louis Stephenson: "The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde" This psychological allegory, which Edinburgh author Robert Louis Stephenson claims appeared to him a series of dreams, one chapter per night, is the good/evil duality of human nature. A classic in film and stage adaptations. Dr. Jekyll is a respected London physician, who has suppressed his youthful evil impulses to become a kind man. He stumbles on a drug which changes his outer form to that of a repulsive dwarf, and his internal nature to that of malignant evil, whom he calls Mr. Hyde. A similar dose of drug switches him back. Each time he embodies evil, that half of his being becomes more powerful. he finds it harder and harder to return to his benevolant self, and even begins to switch to Mr. Hyde without the drug. In psychedelic terms, this is the problem of "flashback." When in the evil form, he murders Sir Danvers Carew, and when he cannot change back, he writes a will leaving all Jekyll's possessions to Hyde. His attorney Utterson investigates, and finds that there was a confession to a Dr. lanyon, and so the truth comes out. Hyde commits suicide. Not clear how the courts adjudicate the will. 1886: "Robur the Conquerer", novel by Jules Verne 1886: Guy de Maupassant publishes the science fiction/horror story "La Horla" 1887: H. Rider Haggard "She" (splendid reincarnation fantasy novel) 1887: Villiers de l'Isle-Adam's novel "The Future Eve" 1887: "A Crystal Age", novel by W. H. Hudson 1887: French writer/artist Albert Robida "The Twentieth Century War", which Arthur C. Clarke called "the first vision of [realistic future war technology] ever presented." The same year, Albert Robida published the illustrated novel "La Vie Electrique." 1888: Edward Bellamy "Looking Backwards", a very influential utopian novel set in Boston in 2000 A.D. Utopia:other fictions about utopia. 1888: "A Strange MS Found in a Copper Cylinder", novel by James de Mille 1888: the "Jack the Ripper" series of murders occur in London, unsolved to this day, though not for want of fictional treatments. Possibly in response, based on a series of dreams, Robert Louis Stevenson publishes "Dr. Jeckyll and Mr. Hyde" 1889: Andre Laurie, "Les Exiles de la Terre" pulls the moon magnetically to Earth 1889: "Urania", novel by Camille Flammarion 1889: Mark Twain: "A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court" [Chatto and Windus]] establishes a tradition of Time Travel fiction well before H. G. Wells (see 1895). 1890: "News from Nowhere", novel by William Morris Utopia:other fictions about utopia. Return to Top of 19th century Timeline Page Major Books of the Decade 1890-1900 1890 William Morris: "News from Nowhere" (backwards-looking utopia) 1890 German author Theodor Hertzka's "Freeland: A Social Anticipation" set a super-capitalist utopia in Africa Utopia:other fictions about utopia. 1890 "The Golden Bough" by James G. Frazer is unique in Anthropology. It attempts to give anextended description of magic, religion, cults, and folk-lore. An indefatigable collector of information on ancient and "primitive" beliefs, practices, and social institutions, Frazer attempted to weave all this data into a series of integrated pictures of various cultures. By laying out the logical axioms of Magic, he set the standard for rigorous works of Fantasy forever after. 1891 Founding of "The Strand Magazine", perhaps the first cheaply-produced Linotype-set wood-pulp paper magazine. Aimed at a large middle class audience for both fiction and nonfiction, its success was assured when it contracted with Arthur Conan Doyle for a series of Sherlock Holmes stories. 1891 "The Idler" copies the formula of "The Strand Magazine" 1892 Konstantin Tsiolkovsky (1857-1935), the Father of Space Rocketry, publishes his first science fiction story "On the Moon" in a Moscow magazine 1893 "McClure's Magazine" launched, mostly with reprints from "The Idler" 1893: "La Fin du Monde", novel by Camille Flammarion WORLD COMES TO AN END: no more civilization, or people, or worse... 1893: Ambrose Bierce horror collection "Can Such Things Be?" 1895: H. G. Wells' "The Time Machine" [Heinemann] TIME TRAVEL: time machines, travel to the past or the future 1895: "Propellor Island", novel by Jules Verne 1895: "The Black Cat" magazine launched, the first all-fiction periodical, but not the first science fiction magazine as such (although it did publish many science fiction stories). 1895: Konstantin Tsiolkovsky (1857-1935), the Father of Space Rocketry, publishes his second science fiction story "Dreams of the Earth and the Sky and the Effects of Universal Gravitation" and describes in fiction an artificial satellite -- the predecessor of Sputnik, as it were 1895: A. N. Goncharov also publishes a satellite story "Fantasies of earth and Sky" in Moscow 1895: Professor Percival Lowell publishes the influential non-fiction book "Mars" filled with his theories of Martian civilization that built the "canals" 1895: Robert W. Chambers pastes together two related sets of stories as the supremely frightening book "The King in Yellow", about a play of the same name which dooms whomsoever reads it. 1895: "The Far Away Princess" by Edmond Rostand 1895: William Morris' "The Wood Beyond the World" [Fantasy] 1896: William Morris' "The Well at the World's End" [Fantasy] 1896: Pierre Louys' minor classic of erotic fantasy, set in 58 B.C., involving Queen Bereniuke of Egypt falling in love with the Greek sculptor Demetrios of Alexandria, who in turn is in love with his own statue of Aphrodite. He is also pursued by the courtesan Chrysis of Galilee, who sets him three tasks, is later thought by the people of the city to be an incarnation of Aphrodite, but she does of poison before relaizing that Demetrios has fallen for her after all. 1896: H. G. Wells "The Island of Dr. Moreau" 1896: H. G. Wells "The Invisible Man" 1896: "Pearson's Magazine" launched 1896: Frank A. Munsey changes a children's weekly into the grown-up magazine "The Argosy" at 192 pages (135,000 words).By now his flagship "Munsey's" had a circulation of 700,000 -- or almost 1% of the entire population of the United States of America! 1896: Louis Tracy's novel "The Final War" 1897 : William Le Queux "The Great War in England in 1897" 1897: "Two Planets", novel by Kurd Lasswitz [Elischer Nachfolger] with highly civilized Martians at the North Pole. 1897: Abraham "Bram" Stoker's timeless novel "Dracula, or the Undead" 1898: H. G. Wells "The War of the Worlds" ALIENS ON EARTH: they came from outer space 1898: Luis P. Senarens retires the popular Frank Reade dime-novel character, and starts what end up as hundreds of "Frank Reade Jr." publications with "Frank Reade Jr. and his Steam Wonder", itself an inspiration for the "Tom Swift" (1910) and later "Tom Swift, Jr." [see author page under "Victor Appleton"] 1898 : M. P. Shiel writes "The Yellow Danger", which is first serialized in "Short Stories Magazine" in England under the title "The Empress of the Earth", launching the popular (and racist) "Yellow Peril" subgenre 1898: Henry James novella "The Turn of the Screw" 1898: Garrett P. Serviss' "Edison's Conquest of Mars" 1898: Maurice Hewlett's "The Forest Lover." This medieval romance, in the mysterious setting of the Forest of Morgraunt, describes the numerous exciting, dangerous, and romantic experiences of Proper le Gai. Prosper, seeking adventure but not romance, marries a poor little girl to save her from being hung for witchcraft. He feels only pity for her, but she loves him and almost sacrifices her life for him. Gradually Prosper's feeling changes from pity to interest, and then to genuine love at last. His wife is discovered to be Isoult la Desiree, long before given up as lost or dead. She is the daughter of Isabel, Countess of Hauterive and Lady of Morgraunt. 1899 : J. Cutcliffe Hyne's "The Lost Continent" in "Pearson's Magazine", one of the better Atlantis stories 1899: Knut Hamsun publishes "Hunger" (and it is translated into English in 1900). Dealing with the psychopathology of starvation, this relentlessly downbeat novel has fantastic episodes of delirium and hallucination. 1899: H. G. Wells "When the Sleeper Wakes" 1900: George Griffith's "A Honeymoon in Space" 1900: Theodor Herzl's novel "Altneuland" [Old Newland] Utopia:other fictions about utopia. Return to Top of 19th century Timeline Page Major Films of this Century This was the century in which the motion picture was invented, with the date 1896 most frequently given, although several people are claimed as the very first filmmakers, including the Lumiere Brothers. The Lumiere Brothers are sometimes championed as the fathers of science fiction cinema, due to: 1895 The Mechanical Butcher (60-second short, live pig wrestled into box emerges at other end converted into ham, bacon, spare ribs, pork chops, and sausages -- IF we consider the box to be taken as a marvellous future-technology machine and not just a sight-gag) Noted science fiction critic/author/professor James Gunn, in a list of science fiction film milestones (first published in the Feb 1980 Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine) lists: 1898 An Astronomer's Dream 1899 She But we can extend this list as follows: 1897 The Laboratory of Mephistopheles (Georges Melies plays the loony inventor in a laboratory filled with trickery) 1897 The Clown and the Automaton (Georges Melies, first robot in movie history) 1898 An Astronomer's Dream (Georges Melies, the Moon comes down to Earth) 1898 Les Rayons Roentgen [A Novice at X-Rays] (Georges Melies) a skeleton leaves its body, which slumps to the floor, when a doctor [Melies himself] x-rays that patient. Note that X-rays were discovered by Roentgen only a year earlier. 1899 She 1899 Cleopatra (Georges Melies, inspired by "She", the female star passes through a magic flame and transforms from youth to old age rapidly) 1900 Coppelia (Georges Melies, film of the ballet, with a mechanical dancer filmed from a miniature model and set) Return to Top of 19th century Timeline Page Other Key Dates and Stories of this Century 1822: the invention of the computer by Charles Babbage 1835: "Hans Pfaal" is arguably Edgar Allan Poe's first true science fiction story 1840: the invention of photography by Louis Jacques Daguerre 1851: Jules Verne's first science fictioon story "Un voyage en ballon" ["A Voyage in a Balloon"] 1854-1862: various poems and stories by Fitz-James O'Brien 1882: Frank Reade, Jr., taks the helm of the Frank Reade Library from his father, and this early "bookazine" (a term popularized a century later by Samuel H. Post) is a great science fiction success, with the hero (also named Frank Reade) travelling through adventures everywhere with high-tech gizmos. Return to Top of 19th century Timeline Page Major Writers Born this Century {to be done} 1803 Edward George Earle Lytton Bulwer-Lytton 1809 Edgar Allan Poe 1828 Jules Verne 1859 Sir Arthur Conan Doyle 1866 H. G. Wells (21 Sep 1866) 1875 Edgar Rice Burroughs (1 Sep 1875) 1875 Maurice Renard 1883 Franz Kafka 1883 Austin Wright (20 Aug 1883) 1884 Hugo Gernsback (16 Aug 1884) 1884 Yevgeny Zamyatin 1886 Olaf Stapledon 1887 Ray Cummings (30 Aug 1887) 1888 Miriam Allen de Ford (21 Aug 1888) 1890 Karel Capek 1890 H. P. Lovecraft (20 Aug 1890) 1890 E. E. Smith 1894 Aldous Huxley 1894 J. B. Priestley (13 Sep 1894) 1896 Stanton A. Coblentz (24 Aug 1896) 1896 William Fitzgerald Jenkins (Murray Leinster) 1897 Walter B. Gibson (12 Sep 1897) 1898 Arthur J. Banks (13 Sep 1898) 1900 James Hilton (9 Sep 1900) Return to Top of 19th century Timeline Page Major Writers Died this Century 1817 Jane Austin 1849 Edgar Allan Poe 1851 Mary Shelley 1873 Edward George Earle Lytton Bulwer-Lytton Hotlinks to other Timeline pages of SF Chronology |Introduction: Overview and Summary |Prehistory: Ancient Precursors |16th Century: Ariosto and Cyrano on the Moon |17th Century: Literary Dawn |18th Century: Literary Expansion |19th Century: Victorian Explosion (you are HERE) |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 Return to Top of 19th century Timeline Page 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) Return to Top of 19th century Timeline Page
- "A Trip to the Moon", Georges Melies, 1902
- "The Conquest of the Pole", Georges Melies, 1907
- "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea", Stuart Patton, 1916
- "Mysterious Island", Lucien Hubbard, 1928
- "Michel Strogoff", starring Curt Jurgens, 1952?
- "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea", Richard Fleischer, 1954
- "Around the World in 80 Days", Mike Todd, 1956
- "From the Earth to the Moon", Byron Haskin, 1958
- "The Deadly Invention", Karel Zeman, 1958
- "Journey to the Center of the Earth", Henry Levin, 1959
- "Master of the World", William Witney, 1961
- "Mysterious Island", Cy Endfield, 1961
- "Five Weeks in a Balloon", Stuart Patton, 1962
- "Captain Nemo's Underwater City", James Hill, 1969
- "In Search of the Castaways", Walt Disney production starring Maurice Chevalier and Hayley Mills, 1968?
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