 | |
| Author | Robert Crossley |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Genre | Non-fiction |
| Publisher | Wesleyan University Press |
Publication date | 2011 |
| Publication place | United States |
| Pages | xvii + 353 |
| ISBN | 978-0-8195-6927-1 |
| OCLC | 495597233 |
| LC Class | PN3433.6 .C76 2011 |
Imagining Mars: A Literary History is a 2011 non-fiction book byscience fiction scholarRobert Crossley [Wikidata]. The book chronicles the history ofMars in fiction, and to a lesser extentin culture. The overarching thesis of the work is that the scientific understanding ofMars and the versions of the planet imagined in works of fiction have developed in parallel and influenced each other. It covers a timeframe spanning from the pre-telescope era up to the present day, especially the time period after 1877. Particular attention is paid to the influence of amateur astronomerPercival Lowell (1855–1916), who popularized the myth ofMartian canals in the public consciousness, and science fiction authorH. G. Wells (1866–1946) who wrote the seminal 1897 novelThe War of the Worlds. The book charts how the depiction of Mars changed throughout the second half of the 1900s in response to successive advances inplanetary science, while noting that some authors preferred to continue portraying the planet in a nostalgic way that was by then scientifically outdated.
The book received positive reviews upon release. Critics praised the depth and breadth of knowledge displayed, evidenced among other things by the inclusion of a large number of relatively obscure works. The interplay between science and fiction was found to be effectively illustrated. Crossley's inclusion of his personal assessments of literary merit was generally viewed as a positive; some reviewers perceived him to display a preference forhard science fiction. Also praised was the writing style, which was described as making the book not only appeal to science fiction scholars andfans but also be accessible to the general public. Some reviewers noted the lack of a bibliography listing the works cited in the book as a negative.
Robert Crossley [Wikidata] (born in 1945) is ascience fiction scholar and professor emeritus of English at theUniversity of Massachusetts Boston.[1][2]: 274 He had previously written about science fiction authorsH. G. Wells (1866–1946) and especiallyOlaf Stapledon (1886–1950), including the 1994 biographyOlaf Stapledon: Speaking for the Future.[1][3]: 484 The process of researching and writingImagining Mars spanned more than a decade.[2]: 280
Crossley had previously covered specific aspects ofMars in fiction in the 2000 essay "Sign, Symbol, Power: The New Martian Novel" and the 2004Philological Quarterly article "H. G. Wells, Visionary Telescopes, and the 'Matter of Mars'",[4][5] and would do so again in the 2012 essay "From Invasion to Liberation: Alternative Visions of Mars, Planet of War".[6] Earlier book-length treatments of the subject by other authors includeRobert Markley's 2005Dying Planet: Mars in Science and the Imagination andEric S. Rabkin [Wikidata]'s 2005Mars: A Tour of the Human Imagination.[7][8]
The book contains a preface, fourteen chapters, an afterword, endnotes, and an index. The chapters are:
On thecultural significance of Mars across the centuries, with a brief overview of its shiftingdepiction in fiction. Crossley argues that "the literary and scientific imaginations collaborate with each other and exist in tension with each other". He describesMarjorie Hope Nicolson's 1948 studyVoyages to the Moon as "the definitive history ofMoon fantasies" and writes that Mars lacks a counterpart, with the closest attempt thus far beingRobert Markley's 2005 bookDying Planet: Mars in Science and the Imagination. He divides thehistory of Mars observation into three eras, using a scheme devised byastronomy historianWilliam Sheehan [Wikidata]: the era ofnaked eye astronomy, Earth-basedtelescope observation, and theSpace Age.
On the history of Mars observation between theinvention of the telescope in the early 1600s and the 1877opposition of Mars. Crossley discusses several works from this period that speculate or fantasize about the planet's conditions and possible inhabitants, includingBernard Le Bovier de Fontenelle's 1686 workEntretiens sur la pluralité des mondes,Emanuel Swedenborg's 1758 workDe Telluribus in Mundo Nostro Solari, and the anonymously published 1839 novelA Fantastical Excursion into the Planets.
On the observations made during the 1877 opposition, and six books that were written in its wake. The main observation discussed is Italian astronomerGiovanni Schiaparelli's mistaken identification of straight lines on the Martian surface (actuallyoptical illusions), which he calledcanali (literallychannels), and which led to the myth ofMartian canals. The books covered arePercy Greg's 1880 novelAcross the Zodiac,W. S. Lach-Szyrma's 1883 novelAleriel, or A Voyage to Other Worlds,William James Roe's 1887 novelBellona's Husband: A Romance,Hugh MacColl's 1889 novelMr. Stranger's Sealed Packet,Robert Cromie's 1890 novelA Plunge into Space, andRobert D. Braine's 1892 novelMessages from Mars, By Aid of the Telescope Plant.
On the influence of US amateur astronomerPercival Lowell on the popular conception of Mars. Lowell interpreted Schiaparelli'scanali as artificial waterways, constructed by an advanced Martian civilization to stave offdesertification. He wrote three non-fiction books on the subject—Mars in 1895,Mars and Its Canals in 1906, andMars as the Abode of Life in 1908—popularizing his ideas about Mars and Martians among the general public. Says Crossley, "No figure is more central to the cultural and literary history of Mars in the twentieth century than Percival Lowell." His fellow astronomers were more skeptical, questioning not only Lowell's speculations about the conditions on Mars but also the existence of the canals themselves. Lowell died resolute in his convictions in 1916, by which time the canals had been abandoned as a serious scientific theory.
On Mars as asetting for works ofutopian fiction in the late 1800s and early 1900s. Crossley identifiesfeminist,socialist, and religious elements in the imagined ideal Martian societies. The influence of Schiaparelli and Lowell receives specific attention. Crossley highlightsGerman science fiction writerKurd Lasswitz's 1897 novelAuf zwei Planeten andRussian science fiction writerAlexander Bogdanov's 1908 novelRed Star as the most significant works in this tradition.
On the central position ofH. G. Wells's 1897 novelThe War of the Worlds in the history of Martian fiction. In Crossley's view, Wells' story displayed originality that set it apart from contemporary fiction about Mars in several different ways. Rather than being portrayed as essentially human and being noble creatures to emulate,Wells's Martians have a completely alien appearance and are evil—in Wells's words "intellects vast and cool and unsympathetic". Crossley also argues that unlike other Martian authors of the time, Wells was scarcely influenced by Lowell's ideas aboutplanetary science, drawing instead primarily uponCharles Darwin'sbiological notion ofevolution bynatural selection. Crossley identifies thealien invasion story—which he notes as a departure from the usual scenario of a visit to Mars by humans—as asatirical critique of contemporaryBritish colonialism in general and its devastating effects on theAboriginal Tasmanians in particular. OfGarrett P. Serviss's unauthorized 1898 sequelEdison's Conquest of Mars, Crossley writes that "it is astonishingly impervious to Wells's anti-imperialist motive".
On the interplay between the growing interest in Mars and in theparanormal in the late 1800s. The central figure in this is French author and astronomerCamille Flammarion and his 1889 novelUranie. Also covered isHélène Smith, amedium who claimed to be in communication with Mars. Crossley discusses some works of Martian fiction from this era that employsupernatural elements such asreincarnation, concluding that they for the most part lack literary merit.
On a trend that emerged around the turn of the century of portraying fictional Mars as the setting for characteristically male-dominatedadventure stories. Crossley acknowledges that the term "masculinism" isanachronistic here, but finds it fitting as he views the stories in question as standing in fundamental opposition to works offeminist science fiction such as the 1893 novelUnveiling a Parallel: A Romance byAlice Ilgenfritz Jones andElla Robinson Merchant [ca]. Recurring features identified by Crossley include Martian princesses,colonialist andracist attitudes, and using Mars as a kind of stand-in for the bygoneAmerican frontier. Six books receive in-depth analysis:Gustavus W. Pope's 1894 novelJourney to Mars,Ellsworth Douglass's 1899 novelPharaoh's Broker,George Griffith's 1901 novelA Honeymoon in Space,Edwin Lester Arnold's 1905 novelLieut. Gullivar Jones: His Vacation,Edgar Rice Burroughs's 1912 novelA Princess of Mars (the first in hisBarsoom series), andMarcianus Rossi's 1920 novelA Trip to Mars. The chapter also briefly coversworks aimed specifically at teenage boys.
On Martian fiction in the 1920s and 1930s. Crossley notes an initial decrease in the popularity of Mars in this era, followed by an upswing beginning with the release ofOlaf Stapledon's 1930 novelLast and First Men. He argues that the influence of Lowell was by this time largely supplanted by that of Wells, evidenced particularly by the alienness of the planet's inhabitants in works such asStanley G. Weinbaum's 1934 short story "A Martian Odyssey". In Crossley's estimation, the central piece of Martian fiction in this era wasC. S. Lewis's 1938 novelOut of the Silent Planet. Also discussed isOrson Welles's1938 radio adaptation ofThe War of the Worlds.
On Martian fiction in the 1940s and 1950s. By this time, advances in planetary science such as the failure ofspectrographic analysis to detectoxygen in theMartian atmosphere had rendered previous notions of a habitable Mars obsolete. Crossley describes it as a kind of transitional era, when "romantic Mars [grew] increasingly untenable and realistic Mars still [remained] largely unpalatable to the literary imagination". He compares and contrastsRay Bradbury using Mars as a vehicle forsocial commentary while paying scant attention to scientific realities in the 1950fix-up novelThe Martian Chronicles andArthur C. Clarke striving to portray the planet realistically in the 1951 novelThe Sands of Mars.
On the response to early Space Age discoveries about Mars, in particular the fiction that continued to portray the planet in a nostalgic way that was by then scientifically outdated. Crossley identifiesRobert A. Heinlein's 1961 novelStranger in a Strange Land andWalter Tevis's 1963 novelThe Man Who Fell to Earth as revisitations of the "man from Mars" motif common in the 1890s.Philip K. Dick's 1964 novelsThe Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch andMartian Time-Slip depict Mars as it had been imagined decades earlier, complete with the long-discredited canals. Theflyby of Mars byMariner 4 in 1965 revealed the planet to be even more barren and hostile to life than had previously been realized. Some authors rejected the implications for fiction writing, such asLeigh Brackett who declared in the foreword toThe Coming of the Terrans (a 1967 collection of earlier short stories) that "in the affairs of men and Martians, mere fact runs a poor second to Truth, which is mighty and shall prevail". Others embraced them, such asCzech science fiction writerLuděk Pešek whose 1970 novelThe Earth Is Near depicts the members of anastrobiological expedition on Mars driven to despair by the realization that their search for life there is futile. Following the arrival of theViking probes in 1976, the so-called "Face on Mars" superseded the Martian canals as the most central symbol of nostalgic depictions of Mars.
On the emergence of theterraforming theme in Martian fiction in the late 1970s and 1980s. Crossley creditsFrederick Turner with being an early voice on this subject in the post-Viking age in his 1978 novelA Double Shadow, and discusses his 1988epic poemGenesis in depth. Also covered are the early works ofKim Stanley Robinson depicting theterraforming of Mars: the 1982 short story "Exploring Fossil Canyon", the 1984 novelIcehenge, and the 1985 short story "Green Mars".
On the theme of human presence on Mars in 1990s Martian fiction. Crossley attributes the increased interest in the topic at this time to a confluence of factors: theSpace Exploration Initiative which proposed to complete ahuman mission to Mars by 2019, announced by US presidentGeorge H. W. Bush in 1989; the advocacy groupMars Underground and its key figureRobert Zubrin's 1990Mars Direct proposal for getting to Mars; the 1987–1991 construction ofBiosphere 2, aclosed ecological system largely perceived by the public as a way to demonstrate how humans could survive on Mars; and the launch of theMars exploration probeMars Pathfinder in 1996. Crossley identifies several recurring motifs in the fiction of this era, including "the rethinking of Mars as home rather than as outpost or colony", conflicts between emerging Martian societies and Earth, and revisiting the utopian theme found in the Martian fiction of a century before—albeit here the creation rather than discovery of an ideal society on Mars.
On the theme of humans taking on the identity of being denizens of Mars in 1990s Martian fiction. Crossley investigates the relationship in these stories between terraforming and "areoforming"—between humans changing Mars and Mars, in turn, changing humans. He writes that while earlier works such asFrederik Pohl's 1976Man Plus might occasionally use the concept oftransforming humans physically to live on Mars, fiction in this era focused more on the psychological transformation caused by living on the red planet. The majority of the chapter covers Kim Stanley Robinson's 1993–1996Mars trilogy in depth.
On how Mars fiction might develop in the years to come.Ian McDonald's 2002 short story "The Old Cosmonaut and the Construction Worker Dream of Mars" is used as a guiding example. Crossley concludes that "Where imagined Mars will go as the twenty-first century unfolds cannot be prophesied, because—undoubtedly—improbable, original, and masterful talents will work new variations on the matter of Mars."
John Gilbey, in a March 2011 review forTimes Higher Education, praised Crossley's decision to not solely focus on the most well-known works of Martian fiction such asH. G. Wells's 1897 novelThe War of the Worlds andKim Stanley Robinson's 1992–1996Mars trilogy, but to also include works that have grown less widely recognized since their initial publication. In his view, the book effectively shows how the portrayal ofMars in fiction has changed over time. He highlighted Crossley's observation that the interplay between astronomical progress and popular imagination means that a significant proportion of early non-fiction speculation about Mars (and Martians) comes across asscience fiction to the modern reader. Moreover, according to Gilbey, the "thoughtful and engaging" coverage of "a huge number of literary strands" provides insight into the cultural context in which each of the discussed works was written.[9]
Catherine Ramsdell reviewed the book forPopMatters in March 2011, writing that it would dispel any notion that science fiction is a low form of art. She commended Crossley's combination of writing about various aspects of real-world history, summarizing the plots of discussed works, and literary criticism. In Ramsdell's view, the way these aspects are interwoven in the text works to effectively further the reader's understanding of the overarching subject matter. She highlighted that although most of the discussed texts were written post-1877, Crossley goes further back and covers the connection betweenJohn Milton's 1667epic poemParadise Lost andChristiaan Huygens's posthumously-published 1698 workCosmotheoros, commenting "Welcome to the world of academic science fiction". Ramsdell also noted that Crossley appears to have a lower opinion ofRay Bradbury's 1950fix-up novelThe Martian Chronicles andRobert A. Heinlein's 1961 novelStranger in a Strange Land than most, preferringDavid G. Compton's 1966 novelFarewell, Earth's Bliss as this era's literary representation of Mars.[10]
Bruce A. Beatie wrote in the Spring 2011 issue ofSFRA Review that the book is "well written, thorough and insightful in its evaluations".[11]: 16 BecauseImagining Mars mainly covers the post-1877 era, Beatie foundEric S. Rabkin [Wikidata]'s somewhat briefer 2005 bookMars: A Tour of the Human Imagination—whose scope overlaps with that of Crossley's book—to provide "a convenient preface".[11]: 14 He wrote that while Crossley mainly points toMarjorie Hope Nicolson's 1948 studyVoyages to the Moon as a precursor to his work, the subject matter ofImagining Mars has more in common withKarl Siegfried Guthke [de]'s 1983 bookThe Last Frontier: Imagining Other Worlds from the Copernican Revolution to Modern Science Fiction.[11]: 14 He found the writing style to be accessible to the general public, not justscience fiction scholars andfans, commenting that this is in contrast to Guthke's work but shared with Nicolson's.[11]: 16 Beatie appreciated the inclusion of more obscure works in addition to the "canonical" ones, finding the coverage ofLuděk Pešek's 1970 novelThe Earth Is Near in chapter 11 and the works ofFrederick Turner in chapter 12 to be particularly interesting.[11]: 15–16 He also highlighted chapter 6 as "an excellent piece of interpretive and contextual criticism".[11]: 15 He commented that because the book is not exhaustive in terms of the works covered, but instead investigates the interplay between science and fiction,Imagining Mars is not areference work but rather—in Beatie's estimation—"a true literary history".[11]: 16 Beatie found the only serious flaw to be the lack of a bibliography.[11]: 16
Ryder W. Miller, writing in theInklings-profiledMythprint in March 2012, commended the depth and breadth of the knowledge on display. On the subject, Miller commented that the book contains "one hundred pages of exploration of the predecessors of H. G. Wells'sThe War of the Worlds where the story begins for most readers" and noted that many of the books discussed are difficult to come by for the typical consumer.[12]: 8 On Crossley's critical assessments, Miller wrote that "Crossley does have his favorites and appears to have a bias towards terraforming the planet."[12]: 9 Sanford Schwartz [Wikidata], writing in the similarly-orientedSehnsucht: The C. S. Lewis Journal in 2012, called the book a "masterly new study of our perpetual fascination with Mars".[13]: 243 OnC. S. Lewis's 1938 novelOut of the Silent Planet, Schwartz agreed with Crossley's overall positive assessment, but found his criticism of Lewis's alleged pro-Christian and anti-science bias to be exaggerated.[13]: 245 Overall, Schwartz foundImagining Mars to be a valuable resource for providing the cultural, scientific, and literary background information necessary for placing Lewis's work (and others) in the proper historical context.[13]: 243, 246
D. Harlan Wilson gave the book a positive review inExtrapolation in June 2012, describing it as "nothing less than a magnum opus of literary criticism on the subject" and comparing it favourably toRobert Markley's 2005 bookDying Planet: Mars in Science and the Imagination.[2]: 274, 280 In Wilson's opinion, Crossley "demonstrates an impressive breadth of research alongside thoughtful commentary".[2]: 277 He also wrote that the book gave him a better understanding of the central role fiction about Mars has played in the broader science fiction genre, influencing works set both on the red planet and elsewhere.[2]: 275 He particularly praised the attention paid in chapter 5 to historically-significant yet comparatively obscure works like the 1893 novelUnveiling a Parallel: A Romance byAlice Ilgenfritz Jones andElla Robinson Merchant [ca] andAlexander Bogdanov's 1908 novelRed Star.[2]: 277 Wilson further highlighted the accessibility of the language used as a positive, writing that the book would appeal strongly to science fiction scholars and fans alike, as well as being of interest to "anybody interested in the cultural history of the west".[2]: 280
Brooks Landon [Wikidata] called the book "wonderfully written and impressively comprehensive" in a July 2012 review inScience Fiction Studies.[14]: 314 The review also covered the 2011 essay collectionVisions of Mars: Essays on the Red Planet in Fiction and Science edited byHoward V. Hendrix,George Slusser, and Eric S. Rabkin (theproceedings volume of the 2008Eaton Science Fiction Conference, the theme of which was "Chronicling Mars"); Landon noted some parallels between the two volumes, including chapter 11 inImagining Mars being an extended version of an essay inVisions of Mars authored by Crossley.[14]: 324 He praised Crossley's readings of the texts analysed and the way these readings reinforce Crossley's central thesis of science and fiction having a relationship of reciprocal influence when it comes to Mars.[14]: 314 He commended the large volume of primary literature covered, as well as its breadth in terms of ranging from famous works to obscure ones.[14]: 314 On the latter point, he found the coverage of largely-forgotten works in chapter 3 "informative and frequently surprising".[14]: 315 In Landon's view, chapters 9 and 10 "form a kind of vital center" of the book, where Crossley skilfully provides context for the works of Lewis, Bradbury, and their contemporaries.[14]: 318 On chapter 13, he commented that "it is clear that Crossley faults [Greg Bear's 1993 novel]Moving Mars [...] for its 'allegiance to romantic plotting, to fantasy rather than scientific realism'".[14]: 322 He also wrote that while the afterword cautions against viewing Robinson'sMars trilogy as the ultimate endpoint of Martian fiction, he found this caveat to be significantly undercut by the lengthy and laudatory coverage of the trilogy in the preceding final chapter, commenting that the book "effectively ends with a love song to Robinson".[14]: 322 Landon concluded thatImagining Mars is not only a great book but an important one, inasmuch as it "presents a compelling case that 'Mars matters'".[14]: 323
Thomas J. Morrissey reviewed the book for theJournal of the Fantastic in the Arts in 2012, calling it a "banquet" compared to the "smorgasbord" ofVisions of Mars, and declaring both to be equally indispensable texts on the topic as Markley'sDying Planet.[3]: 480 In Morrissey's view, the book's contents "require all of the 309 pages they fill".[3]: 484 He praised the inclusion of works that may be obscure or poorly-written but are nevertheless important for attaining a complete understanding of the topic.[3]: 484–485 He highlighted Crossley's coverage ofPercival Lowell andCamille Flammarion as a good explainer on the influence incorrect ideas Mars had on the public perception of the planet and its depiction in fiction.[3]: 486 Morrissey further viewed the analysis of Turner's 1988 epic poemGenesis and the chapter covering Robinson'sMars trilogy as additional highlights of the book.[3]: 485–486 On the other hand, he disagreed with Crossley's criticism of Bradbury's writing style inThe Martian Chronicles, which Crossley found to be an example ofpurple prose.[3]: 486 Morrissey found the only significant drawback of the book to be the lack of a bibliography listing the works cited.[3]: 484, 486 He also deemed the price of $40 to be surprisingly affordable, particularly in light of the inclusion of several illustrations printed in colour.[3]: 487
Patrick Parrinder, reviewing the book forThe British Society for Literature and Science [Wikidata], wrote that it exhibits the "grace, skill and wide-ranging scholarship familiar from [Crossley's] earlier works". On the parallels to Nicolson'sVoyages to the Moon, he noted that Nicolson focused mostly on works written prior to 1800 whereas Crossley almost exclusively covers the history of Martian fiction followingGiovanni Schiaparelli's announcement of the discovery of the illusoryMartian canals during theopposition of Marsin 1877. Parrinder found the portion of the book that focuses on the fiction written in the wake of theMariner andViking probes to Mars between 1965 and 1976, when the inhospitable conditions of the planet became better understood andterraforming started to emerge as the dominant theme in Martian fiction, to be particularly interesting to read. On the more critical side, he found the selection of recent works of fiction to be questionable, notingStephen Baxter's 1996 novelVoyage as a high-profile omission. He also found himself disagreeing with some of Crossley's assessments of the discussed works' literary quality, but nevertheless considered the inclusion of such assessments to be an overall positive. Parrinder concluded that "barring new discoveries this is the definitive literary history of a planet that has long been prospected by the human imagination".[15]
The canvas is vast, the characters numerous, the challenge immense, but Crossley has successfully tied together a huge number of literary strands. He presents them in a thoughtful and engaging way that both richly illustrates the development of the Martian genre (if it can be so labelled) and highlights the ways in which the concerns of the authors speak to us about their own time and place.