8. Science Fiction/Fantasy

English readers have a false impression of Cyrano de Bergerac due to Edmund Rostand’s play of 1897; he did, however, have a rather large nose. Cyrano was a 17th-century satirist who was critical of religion and politics. This novel was first published in French as Histoire Eomique des ´Etats et Empires du Soleil in 1662. It is a satirical attack on cosmological beliefs that viewed man and the world as the centre of creation.

HG Wells’ ‘fantastic stories’ were highly influential on many writers of science fiction. In this story the science is highly suspect, whereas other writers of science fiction pride themselves on their references to true science. Wells recounts travel to the moon without a ship and describes the moon as being inhabited by a colony of advanced insect-like creatures.

This is the first of Oskar Kokoschka’s many books. It was commissioned as a children’s book but Kokoschka developed it into a dream narrative and a journey through sexual awakening. His illustrations of a world of forests and oceans are depicted in his signature expressionist style. The publisher stopped production of the book, so the first edition shown here is quite rare. The book is dedicated to his friend and fellow artist Gustav Klimt. It was reprinted in 1918

The Hobbit, first published in 1937, grew out of Tolkien’s philological studies. Before the story formed he had developed an entire language for elves. He then created a mythology and storyline to frame the language within. The Hobbit is a fantastic journey through ‘Middle Earth’. Tolkien and CS Lewis, along with other Oxford professors and students, belonged to the Inklings, a reading group where members encouraged each other’s fantasy fiction endeavours.