Collin de Plancy, Jacques
Entry updated 12 September 2022. Tagged: Author.
(1793-1881) French demonologist and author, born without the aspirational "de Plancy", though he used the full name for much of his life; best known for his Dicionnaire Infernal ["Dictionary of the Infernal"] (1818), which he added and republished in various forms over several decades. He is of Proto SF interest for Voyage au centre de la terre, ou, Aventures diverses de Clairancy et de se compagnons, dans le Spitzberg, au Pôle-Nord, et dans des pays inconnus [subtitle translates "Or, various adventures of Clairancy and his companions in the Spitzberg, and the North Pole, and in unknown countries"] (1821; trans Brian Stableford as Voyage to the Center of the Earth 2016), describing a Fantastic Voyage into the Hollow Earth, where the travellers discover a Utopian country whose temperate refusal of Panglossian remedies evokes Voltaire's Candide (1759). Eventually the cast returns to the surface, where life is more exciting. [JC]
Jacques-Albin Simon Collin de Plancy
born Plancy-l'Abbaye, Aube, France: 28 January 1793
died Paris: 13 January 1881
works (highly selected)
- Voyage au centre de la terre, ou, Aventures diverses de Clairancy et de se compagnons, dans le Spitzberg, au Pôle-Nord, et dans des pays inconnus [subtitle translates "Or, various adventures of Clairancy and his companions in the Spitzberg, and the North Pole, and in unknown countries"] (Paris: Chez Caillot père et fils, 1821) [binding unknown/]
- Voyage to the Center of the Earth (Encino, California: Hollywood Comics/Black Coat Press, 2016) [trans by Brian Stableford of the above: pb/Mike Hoffman]
links
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