About this item
Highlights
- From the first illustrated edition of Jules Verne's Journey to the Center of the Earth in 1867, dinosaurs and prehistory have fascinated readers.
- About the Author: Allen A. Debus, a retired environmental chemist, has long been infatuated with dinosaurs, paleontology, science fiction, Godzilla and King Kong.
- 230 Pages
- Literary Criticism, Science Fiction + Fantasy
Description
About the Book
With the first illustrated edition of Jules Verne's Journey to the Center of the Earth, 1867, readers began a fascination with the concept of dinosaurs and prehistory. Although rudimentary paleo-fiction had actually gotten its start decades earlier, it was the partnership of Verne and illustrator Edouard Riou which gave dinosaurs a visual life and essentially set the stage for their artistic and literary depiction. Over the next century or so, writers would time and again come back to dinosaurs as an element of fantastic fiction, often using these creatures--through the venue of the written word--to reflect the world of the writers' own time.Book Synopsis
From the first illustrated edition of Jules Verne's Journey to the Center of the Earth in 1867, dinosaurs and prehistory have fascinated readers. Writers would time and again come back to dinosaurs as an element of fantastic fiction, often using these creatures--through the venue of the written word--to reflect the world of the writers' own time.
This literary survey examines how "paleoliterature" originated, developed and matured to the present day. Also discussed are the ways in which dinosaur fiction mirrors contemporary ideas about subjects such as geology, the Cold War, environmentalism, time travel, evolution and bioengineering.
Featured authors include Ray Bradbury, H.G. Wells, and Poul Anderson, among others. In select cases, the novelizations of movie scripts are also examined. An appendix provides brief summaries of deserving dinosaur texts.
Review Quotes
"comprehensive"-Catholic Library World; "a great reference"-Prehistoric Times; "excellent"-www.sfsite.com; "well designed...authoritatively researched"-www.sfrevu.com; "an interesting history of how dinosaurs have been treated in SF"-Critical Mass; "if you are interested in the history of dinosaurs in popular culture, Debus is an author you simply cannot ignore...Debus does a huge service to those who work in the history of science"-H-Net Reviews.
About the Author
Allen A. Debus, a retired environmental chemist, has long been infatuated with dinosaurs, paleontology, science fiction, Godzilla and King Kong. He has written several books addressing prehistoric creatures--both real and fictional--in popular culture, and attends Chicagoland's Wizard World and G-Fest. He is a member of the G-Fan Hall of Fame and lives in Hanover Park, Illinois.