I hope your weekend is out of this world!
This cover of The Electrical Experimenter from 1915 features “Munchhausen in his ‘interstellar’ hovering over the moon,” as a way to advertise the serialized science fiction stories magazine founder Hugo Gernsback had written about Baron Munchausen.
German writer Rudolf Erich Raspe originated the fictional folk hero Baron Munchausen in his 1785 book Baron Munchhausen’s Narrative of his Marvellous Travels and Campaigns in Russia (AKA The Surprising Adventures of Baron Munchhausen). He based his character on an actual person: Hieronymus Karl Friedrich, Freiherr von Münchhausen—a real baron who was none too happy about ending up in the pages of a comedic novel, despite the Baron’s own reputation of exaggerating tales of his military service…
Hugo Gernsback resuscitated the character Munchausen for the magazine he founded, The Electrical Experimenter (later titled Science and Invention). Often credited as the father of the science fiction genre (along with Jules Verne and H.G. Wells), Gernsback also founded the magazine Amazing Stories, the first magazine devoted exclusively to the genre. The World Science Fiction Convention even presents annual awards in his name, “the Hugos.” TheSmithsonian Magazine has a great article about his influence in science fiction, if you’d like to know more.
If any of this is interesting, you will definitely want to see our current exhibition,Fantastic Worlds: Science and Fiction, 1780-1910. Its focus is not science fiction, per se, but what came before science fiction as a genre: how new frontiers of science captivated the public’s attention and how scientific innovations helped inspire fiction of the time period. In the exhibit’s digital library is an 1867 version of The Adventures of Baron Munchausen, illustrated by Gustav Doré. You can also find more digital copies of The Electrical Experimenter in our digital library.
No comments:
Post a Comment