J.-H. Rosny aîné was the
pseudonymA pseudonym is a fictitious name used by a person, or sometimes, a group.Pseudonyms are often used to hide an individual's real identity, as with writers' pen names, graffiti artists, resistance fighters' or terrorists' noms de guerre and computer hackers' handles. Actors, musicians, and other...
of Joseph Henri Honoré Boex (February 17, 1856 - February 11, 1940), a
FrenchFrench is a Romance language globally spoken by about 65 million people as a first language , by 50 million as a second language, and by about another 200 million people as an acquired foreign language, with significant speakers in 57 countries. Most native speakers of the language live in France,...
author of
BelgianThe Kingdom of Belgium is a country in northwest Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts its headquarters, as well as those of other major international organizations, including NATO...
origin who is considered one of the founding figures of modern
science fictionScience fiction is a genre of fiction. It differs from fantasy in that, within the context of the story, its imaginary elements are largely possible within scientifically-established or scientifically-postulated laws of nature...
. Born in
BrusselsBrussels , officially the Brussels Region or Brussels-Capital Region , is the de facto capital city of the European Union and the largest urban area in Belgium...
in 1856, he wrote together with his younger brother Séraphin Justin François Boex under the pen name
J.-H. RosnyJ.-H. Rosny was the pseudonym of the brothers Joseph Henri Honoré Boex and Séraphin Justin François Boex , both born in Brussels. Together they wrote a series of novels and short stories about natural, prehistoric and fantasy subjects, published between 1886 and 1909, as well as several popular...
until 1909. After they ended their collaboration Joseph Boex continued to write under the name "Rosny aîné" (
Rosny the Elder) while his brother used
J.-H. Rosny jeuneJ.-H. Rosny jeune was the pseudonym of Séraphin Justin François Boex , a French author of Belgian origin who, along with his better known older brother J.-H. Rosny aîné, is considered one of the founding figures of modern science fiction...
(
Rosny the Younger).
Rosny Aîné was very much like
H. G. WellsHerbert George Wells was an English author, best known for his work in the science fiction genre. He was also a prolific writer in many genres, including contemporary novels, history, and social commentary....
or
Olaf StapledonWilliam Olaf Stapledon was a British philosopher and author of several influential works of science fiction.-Life:...
in his concepts and his way of dealing with them in his novels.
J.-H. Rosny aîné was the
pseudonymA pseudonym is a fictitious name used by a person, or sometimes, a group.Pseudonyms are often used to hide an individual's real identity, as with writers' pen names, graffiti artists, resistance fighters' or terrorists' noms de guerre and computer hackers' handles. Actors, musicians, and other...
of Joseph Henri Honoré Boex (February 17, 1856 - February 11, 1940), a
FrenchFrench is a Romance language globally spoken by about 65 million people as a first language , by 50 million as a second language, and by about another 200 million people as an acquired foreign language, with significant speakers in 57 countries. Most native speakers of the language live in France,...
author of
BelgianThe Kingdom of Belgium is a country in northwest Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts its headquarters, as well as those of other major international organizations, including NATO...
origin who is considered one of the founding figures of modern
science fictionScience fiction is a genre of fiction. It differs from fantasy in that, within the context of the story, its imaginary elements are largely possible within scientifically-established or scientifically-postulated laws of nature...
. Born in
BrusselsBrussels , officially the Brussels Region or Brussels-Capital Region , is the de facto capital city of the European Union and the largest urban area in Belgium...
in 1856, he wrote together with his younger brother Séraphin Justin François Boex under the pen name
J.-H. RosnyJ.-H. Rosny was the pseudonym of the brothers Joseph Henri Honoré Boex and Séraphin Justin François Boex , both born in Brussels. Together they wrote a series of novels and short stories about natural, prehistoric and fantasy subjects, published between 1886 and 1909, as well as several popular...
until 1909. After they ended their collaboration Joseph Boex continued to write under the name "Rosny aîné" (
Rosny the Elder) while his brother used
J.-H. Rosny jeuneJ.-H. Rosny jeune was the pseudonym of Séraphin Justin François Boex , a French author of Belgian origin who, along with his better known older brother J.-H. Rosny aîné, is considered one of the founding figures of modern science fiction...
(
Rosny the Younger).
Overview
Rosny Aîné was very much like
H. G. WellsHerbert George Wells was an English author, best known for his work in the science fiction genre. He was also a prolific writer in many genres, including contemporary novels, history, and social commentary....
or
Olaf StapledonWilliam Olaf Stapledon was a British philosopher and author of several influential works of science fiction.-Life:...
in his concepts and his way of dealing with them in his novels. He was, without a doubt, the second most important figure after
Jules VerneJules Gabriel Verne was a French author who helped pioneer the science-fiction genre. He is best known for his novels A Journey to the Center of the Earth , From the Earth to the Moon , Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Sea , Around the World in Eighty Days and The Mysterious Island...
in the history of modern
French science fictionFrench science fiction is a substantial genre within French literature. Dating back further than English science fiction, it remains an active and productive genre which has evolved in conjunction with anglophone science fiction and other French and international literature.-Proto science fiction...
.
Rosny’s first science fiction tale was the
short storyA short story is a work of fiction that is usually written in prose, often in narrative format. This format or medium tends to be more pointed than longer works of fiction, such as novellas and novels or books...
"Les Xipehuz" (1887), in which primitive humans (the story took place a thousand years before
BabylonBabylon was a city-state of ancient Mesopotamia, the remains of which are found in present-day Al Hillah, Babil Province, Iraq, about 85 kilometers south of Baghdad...
ian times) encounter inorganic aliens, with whom all forms of communication prove impossible. Men eventually drive away the invaders, but the hero mourns the loss of another life. This was the first time that science fiction had abandoned its usual anthropomorphic approach in the description of alien life.
The story "Un Autre Monde" ["Another World"] (1895) establishes that humans share the Earth with the land-bound Moedingen and the air-borne Vuren, two infinitely flat and invisible species who cohabit with us. Only a
mutantA mutant is an individual, organism, or new genetic character arising or resulting from an instance of mutation, which is a base-pair sequence change within the DNA of a gene or chromosome of an organism resulting in the creation of a new character or trait not found in the wild type. The natural...
whose vision is superior to that of ordinary men can see them. In
Le Cataclysme [The Cataclysm] (1896), an entire region of France sees the physical laws of nature change, as a result of the arrival of a mysterious electro-magnetic entity from
outer spaceOuter space comprises the relatively empty regions of the universe outside the atmospheres of celestial bodies. Outer space is used to distinguish it from airspace and terrestrial locations....
.
Rosny’s short novel,
La Mort de la Terre [
The Death of the Earth] (1910), takes place in the far future, when Earth had all but dried out. In it, the last descendants of mankind become aware of the emergence of a new species, the metal-based "Ferromagnetals", fated to replace us.
La Mort de la Terre is one of the most moving tales ever written about the extinction of Man.
Another novel,
La Force Mystérieuse [
The Mysterious Force] (1913), tells of the destruction of a portion of the light spectrum by a mysterious force -- possibly aliens from outer space who, for a brief while, share our physical existence. This causes panic, then a progressive and potentially deadly cooling of the world.
L'Énigme de Givreuse [
The Enigma of Givreuse] (1917) is another remarkable novel about a fissiparous human being, divided into two totally similar individuals, each naturally believing himself to be the original.
The novella
La Jeune Vampire [
The Young Vampire] (1920) was the first time that vampirism was described as a genetic
mutationIn biology, a mutation is a randomly derived change to the nucleotide sequence of the genetic material of an organism.Mutations can be caused by copying errors in the genetic material during cell division, or by exposure to mutagens , or can be induced by the organism itself, by cellular processes...
, transmissible by birth.
L'Étonnant Voyage d'Hareton Ironcastle [
The Amazing Journey of Hareton Ironcastle] (1922) is a more traditional
adventure novelThe adventure novel is a genre of novels that has adventure, an exciting undertaking involving risk and physical danger, as its main theme. Adventure has been a common theme since the earliest days of written fiction....
; in it, explorers eventually discover a fragment of an alien world, with its fauna and flora, attached to Earth. The novel was adapted and retold by
Philip José FarmerPhilip José Farmer was an American author, principally known for his award-winning science fiction and fantasy novels and short stories....
.
Rosny’s masterpiece is
Les Navigateurs de l'Infini [
The Navigators of Infinity] (1925) in which the word “astronautique” was coined for the first time. In it, Rosny’s heroes travel to
MarsMars is the fourth planet from the Sun in the Solar System. The planet is named after Mars, the Roman god of war. It is also referred to as the "Red Planet" because of its reddish appearance, due to iron oxide prevalent on its surface....
in the “Stellarium”, a
spaceshipA spacecraft is a craft or machine designed for spaceflight. On a sub-orbital spaceflight, a spacecraft enters space then returns to the Earth. For an orbital spaceflight, a spacecraft enters a closed orbit around the planetary body. Spacecraft used for human spaceflight carry people on board as...
powered by artificial gravity and made of “argine”, an indestructible, transparent material. On Mars, the human explorers come in contact with the gentle, peaceful, six-eyed, three-legged “Tripèdes”, a dying race who is slowly being replaced by the “Zoomorphs”, alien entities who bear some resemblance to the “Ferromagnetals” of
La Mort de la Terre. Later, a young Martian female, capable of bearing children
parthenogeticallyParthenogenesis is an asexual form of reproduction found in females where growth and development of embryos occurs without fertilization by a male. In plants, parthenogenesis means development of an embryo from an unfertilized egg cell, and is a component process of apomixis...
by merely wishing it, gives birth to a child after falling in love with one of the human explorers, undoubtedly the first romance ever written between a man and an alien female. This heralds the rebirth of the Martian race and, with Man’s help, the eventual reconquest of their planet.
Rosny also penned five powerful classic prehistoric novels:
Vamireh (1892),
Eyrimah (1893), the world-renowned classic
La Guerre du Feu better known as
Quest for FireQuest for Fire is a 1911 French novel by "J.-H. Rosny", the pseudonym of two brothers; the author was likely the elder of the two, Joseph Henri Honoré Boex . It was first published in English in 1967. It was made into a feature film of the same name in 1981...
(1909),
Le Félin Géant [
The Giant Cat] (1918) (sometimes known as
Quest of the Dawn Man) and
Helgvor du Fleuve Bleu [
Helgvor of the Blue River] (1930). In it, he combined the notions of modern drama with the ability to depict Man’s early days in a colorful, yet totally believable fashion.
In 1897, Joseph Boex was named to the
FrenchFrance , officially the French Republic , is a country located in Western Europe, with several overseas islands and territories located on other continents. Metropolitan France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, and from the Rhine to the Atlantic Ocean...
Légion d'honneurThe Légion d'honneur or Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur is a French order established by Napoleon Bonaparte, First Consul of the First Republic, on 19 May 1802...
and in 1903 was named to the first jury of the
Prix GoncourtThe Prix Goncourt is a prize in French literature, given by the académie Goncourt to the author of "the best and most imaginative prose work of the year"...
along with his
brotherJ.-H. Rosny jeune was the pseudonym of Séraphin Justin François Boex , a French author of Belgian origin who, along with his better known older brother J.-H. Rosny aîné, is considered one of the founding figures of modern science fiction...
. Rosny aîné remained involved with the
Académie GoncourtThe Société littéraire des Goncourt , usually called the académie Goncourt , is a French literary organization based in Paris that was founded in 1900 in accordance with the wishes of French writer and publisher Edmond de Goncourt , and in opposition to the then existing policies towards writers by...
and in 1926 became its president. He died in
ParisParis is the capital of France and the country's most populous city. It is situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
in 1940.
Selected bibliography
- "Les Xipehuz" (1887; transl. as "The Shapes", 1968)
- Vamireh (1892)
- Eyrimah (1893)
- Nymphée (1893)
- "Un autre monde" ["Another World"] (1895; transl. as "Another World", 2008)
- Les Profondeurs de Kyamo [The Depths of Kyamo] (1896)
- La Guerre du Feu Quest for Fire
Quest for Fire is a 1911 French novel by "J.-H. Rosny", the pseudonym of two brothers; the author was likely the elder of the two, Joseph Henri Honoré Boex . It was first published in English in 1967. It was made into a feature film of the same name in 1981...
(1909; transl. as The Quest for Fire, 1967)
- Le Trésor dans la Neige [The Treasure in the Snow] (1910)
- La Mort de la Terre [The Death of the Earth] (1910; transl. as The Death of the Earth, 1978)
- La Force Mystérieuse [The Mysterious Force] (1913)
- L'Aube du Futur [The Dawn of the Future] (1917)
- L'Énigme de Givreuse [The Enigma Of Givreuse] (1917)
- Le Félin Géant (1918; transl. as The Giant Cat, 1924; retransl. as Quest of the Dawn Man, 1964)
- La Grande Énigme [The Great Enigma] (1920)
- L'Étonnant Voyage d'Hareton Ironcastle [The Amazing Journey of Hareton Ironcastle] (1922; adapted & retold by Philip Jose Farmer as Ironcastle, 1976)
- Les Autres Vies, les Autres Mondes [Other Lives, Other Worlds] (1924)
- L'Assassin Surnaturel [The Supernatural Assassin] (1924)
- Les Navigateurs de l'Infini [The Navigators of Infinity] (1925)
- La Terre Noire [The Black Earth] (1925)
- Le Trésor Lointain [The Far-Away Treasure] (1926)
- La Femme Disparue [The Vanished Woman] (1926)
- Les Conquérants du Feu [The Conquerors of Fire] (1929)
- Les Hommes-Sangliers [The Boar-Men] (1929)
- Helgvor du Fleuve Bleu [Helgvor of the Blue River] (1929)
- Au Château des Loups Rouges [At the Castle of the Red Wolves] (1929)
- L'Initiation de Diane [Diana's Initiation] (1930)
- Tabubu (1932)
- La Sauvage Aventure [The Savage Adventure] (1932)
- Les Compagnons de l'Univers [The Companions of the Universe] (1934)
- Le Vampire de Bethnal Green [The Vampire of Bethnal Green] (1935)
See also
- J.-H. Rosny
J.-H. Rosny was the pseudonym of the brothers Joseph Henri Honoré Boex and Séraphin Justin François Boex , both born in Brussels. Together they wrote a series of novels and short stories about natural, prehistoric and fantasy subjects, published between 1886 and 1909, as well as several popular...
- J.-H. Rosny jeune
J.-H. Rosny jeune was the pseudonym of Séraphin Justin François Boex , a French author of Belgian origin who, along with his better known older brother J.-H. Rosny aîné, is considered one of the founding figures of modern science fiction...
- French science fiction
French science fiction is a substantial genre within French literature. Dating back further than English science fiction, it remains an active and productive genre which has evolved in conjunction with anglophone science fiction and other French and international literature.-Proto science fiction...
- Prix Rosny-Aîné
The Prix Rosny-Aîné is a literary prize for French science fiction. It has been awarded annually since 1980 in two categories: best novel and best short fiction.-Best Novel Winners:*1980 : Michel Jeury, for Le territoire humain...
External links