Lumen

By Camille Flammarion

Book Overview

Camille Flammarion (1842-1925) can be called an Isaac Asimov or a Fred Hoyle of the 19th century. He was a well-renowned astronomer and meteorologist, who became famous by writing popular science books and early science fiction novels. He presented grand cosmological ideas in a way that distinguished him from another famous and contemporary Frenchman, namely Jules Verne, who was more interested in technology and geography. However, Flammarion also wrote many metaphysical non-fiction books, where he emerged as a religious freethinker with an eye for reincarnation and theosophy.

He published the astronomical magazine L'Astronomie from 1882, and in 1887 he founded Soci t astronomique de France, which still exists. Craters on the moon and on Mars are named after him, and there is also an asteroid called 1021 Flammarion. Another asteroid called 141 Lumen is named after this remarkable novel.

In Lumen (1872), the scientific and metaphysical sides of Camille Flammarion are combined into a sublime unification. Lumen is a unique cosmological and religious speculation. The novel consists of a dialogue between a dead astronomer and his still living friend. The astronomer gives eye-witness reports about the wonders of the outer space and of the creatures inhabiting distant stars.

A skillful firework of imagination and ideas, and at the same time filled with facts in an almost bone-dry manner. Here are thoughts about relativity and the nature of time that shows us there were scientists many decades before Einstein that felt there was something not quite right with the absolute time and space in the classical mechanics of Newton.

Other classic novels by Camille Flammarion, likewise instrumental in creating the science fiction genre, are Uranie (1889), La Fin du Monde (1893; adapted for the screen by Abel Gance in 1931) and Stella (1897).

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 9187611279
• ISBN13: 9789187611278
• Release Date: December 2019
• Publisher: Timaios Press
• Length: 144 Pages
• Weight: 0.76 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 5.8" x 8.3"

Customer Reviews

Short But Highly Influential

"Lumen" by Camille Flammarion is the third book in the Early Classics of Science Fiction series from Wesleyan University Press. First published as part of Flammarion's "Stories of Infinity" collection in 1872, Lumen is one of the first examples of science fiction exploring the different nature of alien life forms. Camille Flammarion was an Astronomer, who helped to popularize science. He was a founder of the Société Astronomique de France and the first president of that organization. It is the story of conversations between the spirit (Lumen) of a recently deceased man and Quaerens, a still living man who is seeking answers about the nature of the universe. Flammarion touches on subjects such as relativity (before Einstein), the speed of light and sound, the continuation of the human spirit after death, and the variation of alien life forms on different worlds. As one might expect, given the advances in science since it was written, there are certainly many mistakes in his thinking. However, this is still a remarkable work, and one which can be appreciated for its influence on the genre of science fiction. I would not be surprised if Olaf Stapledon had read this, as there are clear similarities between "Lumen" and Stapledon's "Star Maker". This is a very short work, only 117 pages long, but it is supplemented with a through set of notes, and a superb introduction by Brian Stableford who provided a new translation for this edition.