Voltaire's Science Fiction
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Voltaire's Science Fiction

Written By : Voltaire
Cory Bruyea
Simply Audiobooks Publishing
Runtime : 48 minutes
Categories : Sci-Fi
Short Stories
Our Price : $9.95
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Voltaire, considered one of the most influential figures of his time, was a French Enlightenment writer whose works criticized religious dogma and the institutions of his day. First published in 1752, Micromegas features an ancient, 120,000 foot tall alien from a planet circling the star Sirius and his 6,000 foot tall companion from the planet Saturn. Together, they travel to the Earth via sun-powered interstellar flight. The visitors have a great deal of difficulty recognizing humanity and communicating with the planet’s microscopic inhabitants; and the story serves to illustrate that humankind has an inflated idea of its own importance in the universe.

In Plato's Dream (1756), Voltaire’s protagonist dreams that the entities that created the solar system are less than perfect. In the tale, the superbeing responsible for the Earth’s design must endure the ridicule of his peers, and admit that “…there was much moral and physical evil in his work…” Even though the story is presented as a merely a dream, Voltaire’s tale would have been considered heretical, even blasphemous, by the Church of his day.  Micromegas and Plato's Dream were both early precursors of the genre of Science Fiction.

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McCarthy's Bar
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