Daniel, Gabriel
Entry updated 12 September 2022. Tagged: Author.
(1649-1728) French historian, polemical theologian and author whose Voiage du Monde de Descartes (1690; trans Thomas Taylor as A Voyage to the World of Cartesius 1692) is a Fantastic Voyage through the Cartesian universe, eventually carrying its protagonists beyond the Moon into outer "space" (it has been speculated that Daniel was the first to use the word in this sense). Space turns out to contain at least one philosopher's heaven [for Afterlife see The Encyclopedia of Fantasy under links below], where the followers of Aristotle and René Descartes (1596-1650) dispute on Cosmology and other matters. Descartes, who is Daniel's main target, is found at the close of the tale correcting God's errors. [PN/JC]
see also: Proto SF; Space Flight.
Gabriel Daniel
born Rouen, France: 8 February 1649
died Paris: 23 June 1728
works
- Voiage du Monde de Descartes (Paris: Chez la Veuve de Simon Be'nard, 1690) [Voiage is correct: binding unknown/]
- A Voyage to the World of Cartesius: Written Originally in French (London: Thomas Bennet, 1692) [trans by Thomas Taylor of the above: binding unknown/]
about the author
- Raymond John Howgego. Encyclopedia of Exploration: Invented and Apocryphal Narratives of Travel: A Comprehensive Guide to Invented, Imaginary, Apocryphal and Plagiarized Narratives of Travel by Land, Sea and Air, from the Earliest Times to the Twentieth Century (Potts Point, New South Wales: Hordern House Rare Books, 2013) [nonfiction: p112: hb/from J M W Turner]
links
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