Fontenelle, Bernard le Bovyer de
Entry updated 12 September 2022. Tagged: Author.
(1657-1757) French man of letters whose work pointed forward to the Age of Reason; nephew of the dramatist Pierre Corneille (1606-1684). He wrote much, and one of his most important books became a seminal influence on Proto SF: Entretiens sur la pluralité des mondes habités (1686; exp 1687; trans Sir W D Knight as A Discourse on the Plurality of Worlds 1687; new trans Aphra Behn as A Discovery of New Worlds 1688; new trans J Glanvill as The Plurality of Worlds 1688) [for further details see Checklist below]. This is one of the earliest works ever written popularizing science, notably Astronomy, for the layman, which it does by wittily presenting its speculations – many about the possibility of Life on Other Worlds, and during which he was dismissive of any likelihood that Mars contained life – in the form of conversations after dinner between the author and a marquise, and by being published in French rather than Latin. That the book was translated at least three times into English within two years of original publication is a sign that his presentation fell on fertile ground. In 1697 Fontenelle became permanent secretary of the Académie des Sciences, a post he held for forty-four years. [PN/JC]
see also: Cosmology; France; Stars; Venus.
Bernard Le Bovyer de Fontenelle
born Rouen, France: 11 February 1657
died Paris: 9 January 1757
works
- Entretiens sur la pluralité des mondes habités ["Discourses on the Plurality of Inhabited Worlds"] (Paris: C Blageart, 1686) [nonfiction: 5 discourses: binding unknown/]
- Entretiens sur la pluralité des mondes habités. Nouvelle Edition, Augmentée d'un Nouvel Entretien ["Discourses on the Plurality of Inhabited Worlds. New Edition, Augmented by a New Discourse"] (Paris: Michel Guerout, 1687) [nonfiction: exp of the above to 6 discourses: binding unknown/]
- A Discourse on the Plurality of Worlds (Dublin, Ireland: William Norman, 1687) [nonfiction: trans by Sir W D Knight of the above: binding unknown/]
- A Discovery of New Worlds (London: William Canning, 1688) [nonfiction: trans by Aphra Behn of the above: binding unknown/]
- The Plurality of Worlds (London: R Bentley and S Magnes, 1688) [nonfiction: trans by J Glanvill of the above: hb/]
- Conversations with a Lady, on the Plurality of Worlds: With the Addition of a Sixth Conversation: To Which is Also Added, a Discourse Concerning the Antients and Modern (London: M Wellington, 1719) [exp vt of the above: reprint of Glanvill's translation, plus the new (sixth) discourse from the 1687 edition above, trans by Mr Hughes: binding unknown/]
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