Abstract

'Voyage to the Moon' And Other Imaginary Lunar Flights of Fancy in Antebellum America gathers for the first time in a scholarly critical edition four moon voyage stories published by Americans prior to the Civil War. Included in this volume are the works by George Tucker, Edgar Allan Poe, Richard Adams Locke and John Leonard Riddell. Along with a general introduction to the collection as a whole, each story has its own introductory material along with explanatory footnotes and appendixes to help identify the key points of its textual and cultural history.

“Do you want to go to the moon? If so, there can be no more fabulous travel guides than those Paul Gutjahr has compiled in this collection of nineteenth-century lunacy.”
—George Hutchinson, Newton C. Farr Professor of American History and Culture, Cornell University, USA

Paul C. Gutjahr is Ruth Halls Professor of English at Indiana University, US.

“Thanks to the fine research and lucid introduction by Paul Gutjahr, this entertaining collection of early nineteenth-century American moon voyages is an invaluable aid in exploring the science fiction component of America’s cultural imagination.”
—H. Bruce Franklin, John Cotton Dana Professor of English and American Studies, Rutgers University, USA

“In his cogent introductory materials, Gutjahr demonstrates not only the period’s deep interest in the possibility of life elsewhere in the universe but also the state of scientific knowledge about what lay beyond the atmosphere.”
—Philip F. Gura, William S. Newman Distinguished Professor of American Literature and Culture University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, USA

'Voyage to the Moon' And Other Imaginary Lunar Flights of Fancy in Antebellum America gathers together four moon voyage stories published by Americans prior to the Civil War. Included in this scholarly critical edition are the works of University of Virginia professor George Tucker, literary magazine author and editor Edgar Allan Poe, newspaper editor Richard Adams Locke, and scientist and medical educator John Leonard Riddell. Along with a general introduction to the collection as a whole, each story has its own introductory material along with explanatory footnotes and appendixes to identify the key points of its textual and cultural history.

The four moon tales found in 'Voyage to the Moon' And Other Imaginary Lunar Flights of Fancy in Antebellum America are remarkable for the ways in which they capture a wide diversity of both literary agendas and printed material. These stories originally appeared in genres ranging from the traditional novel and the literary periodical short story to a series of newspaper articles and a scientific pamphlet. The social critiques of Tucker and Poe, the manipulative power of startling scientific revelations demonstrated in Locke’s work and the more measured scientific discussions found in Riddell all bear witness to the power of print and science in the antebellum period.

“This collection of fascinating early American science fiction narratives shows how even antebellum authors were already dreaming beyond their earthly boundaries.”
—Charles Johanningsmeier, Wardle Chair of the College of Arts & Sciences, University of Nebraska at Omaha, USA