The Aerial Valley
THE AERIAL VALLEY
Five French utopian fantasies by Jacques Fabien, Victor Hugo, Gustave Marx, Jean-Baptiste Mosneron de Launay & Turrault de Rochecorbon.
adapted by Brian Stableford
covver by Jean-Félix Lyon
US$22.95/GBP 14.99
5x8 tpb, 272 pages
ISBN-13: 978-1-61227-435-5
The Aerial Valley (1810) proves that a utopian society can only maintain stability if it remains technologically limited and isolated from outside influences; it is a sensitive challenge to the philosophy of progress as an instrument of perfectibility.
The Year 2800 (1829) bases its anticipations of future improvement on bold social reforms.
Paris in Dreams (1863) echoes the then-ongoing endeavors of Baron Haussmann, who was busy remodeling the city in accordance with his own utopian design.
Victor Hugo's The Future was the first chapter of the great author's introduction to a guide-book produced for visitors to the Exposition Universelle of 1867.
Gustave Marx's Love a Thousand Years Hence (1889) is a satire of the glut of utopian accounts of future Paris, being elevated to the capital of a unified Europe.
Contents:
Introduction and Notes by Brian Stableford
Baron Jean-Baptiste Mosneron de Launay: The Aerial Valley [Le Vallon aérien] (1810)
Turrault de Rochecorbon: The Year 2800, or, The Dream of Recluse [L'an 2800] (1829)
Jacques Fabien: Paris in Dream [Paris en songe] (1863)
Victor Hugo: The Future [L'avenir] (1867)
Gustave Marx: Love A Thousand Years Hence [L'amour en Mille ans d'ici] (1873)