Table Of ContentRediscovering French
Science-Fiction
in Literature, Film
and Comics
Rediscovering French
Science-Fiction
in Literature, Film
and Comics
:
From to
Cyrano Barbarella
Edited by
Philippe Mather and Sylvain Rheault
Rediscovering French Science-Fiction in Literature, Film and Comics:
From Cyrano to Barbarella
Edited by Philippe Mather and Sylvain Rheault
This book first published 2015
Cambridge Scholars Publishing
Lady Stephenson Library, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE6 2PA, UK
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Copyright © 2015 by Philippe Mather, Sylvain Rheault and contributors
All rights for this book reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced,
stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means,
electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without
the prior permission of the copyright owner.
ISBN (10): 1-4438-8676-9
ISBN (13): 978-1-4438-8676-5
To my wife Angeline.
—Philippe Mather
In Memory of my mother and my father.
—Sylvain Rheault
In Memory of George Slusser (1939-2014).
"The astronomers suddenly notice strange beings coming out from
underneath the mushrooms, while making singular contortions. These are
the Selenites, or inhabitants of the Moon. A fantastical being rushes on an
astronomer, who defends himself, and with a stroke of his umbrella the
Selenite bursts into a thousand pieces.”
—From “Le Voyage dans la Lune” by Georges Méliès.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Preface ........................................................................................................ xi
Acknowledgements .................................................................................. xiii
Part I: French Proto Science Fiction in Literature
Introduction................................................................................................. 3
French Proto-SF in its Scientific and Literary Context
George Slusser
Chapter One ................................................................................................11
How Do I Know Unless I Go There? Cyranian Thought Experiment
as Scientific Method and Scientific Fiction
Ari Margolin
Chapter Two .............................................................................................. 21
The Filiation from Cyrano to Verne: An Exacting Poetics that Birthed
French Science Fiction
Lionel Philipps
Chapter Three ............................................................................................ 41
Flying the Colonial Skies during the French Enlightenment
Scott Sanders
Part II: Modern French Science Fiction in Literature
Introduction ............................................................................................... 65
Modern French SF in its Cultural and Literary Context
George Slusser
Chapter Four .............................................................................................. 75
Science Fiction as Science: The Case of S. S. Held’s La Mort du Fer
(1931)
Fred Waage
viii Table of Contents
Chapter Five .............................................................................................. 87
The Transfigured Epic in René Barjavel’s Body of Work
Élisabeth Stojanov
Chapter Six ................................................................................................ 99
The Challenge of the Invisible in Maurice Renard’s The Blue Peril
Lia Mitchell
Chapter Seven ........................................................................................... 111
The Generic Shift of Jacques Spitz: Towards Science Fiction
Patrick Guay
Chapter Eight ........................................................................................... 125
Writing Science Fiction in French
Élisabeth Vonarburg
Part III: French Science Fiction in Cinema and Graphic Novels
Introduction ............................................................................................. 133
French Science Fiction Cinema and Graphic Novels
Philippe Mather and Sylvain Rheault
Chapter Nine ............................................................................................ 143
A Brief Typology of French Science Fiction Film
Philippe Mather
Chapter Ten ............................................................................................. 161
Cartesian Dualism and the Orgasmatron: Interiority and Eroticism
in Barbarella
Mazin Saffou
Chapter Eleven ........................................................................................ 173
The Dualistic Traditions of American Film Noir and French Science
Fiction in Christian Volckman’s Renaissance: Paris 2054
Kirsten Bligh
Chapter Twelve ........................................................................................ 185
Métal Hurlant: First French Science Fiction Comic Magazine
Alexandra Rolland
Rediscovering French Science-Fiction in Literature, Film and Comics ix
Chapter Thirteen ...................................................................................... 199
Cartoon Robots Versus France (1945-1980)
Sylvain Rheault
Contributors ............................................................................................. 213
Index ........................................................................................................ 217
