Hartmann, Franz
Entry updated 18 November 2024. Tagged: Author.
(1838-1912) German medical doctor, astrologer and author, a central figure (along with his associate Helena Blavatsky) in Theosophy, whose doctrines he espoused throughout his literary career. He wrote in both German and English; German originals for titles cited only in English have not been found. From his large output, of some moderate sf interest are An Adventure Among the Rosicrucians: By a Student of Occultism (1887) (see Johann Valentin Andreae), set partly in a Tibetan Lost World, and The Talking Image of URUR (first version 15 December 1888-February 1889 Lucifer: A Theosophical Monthly; 1890), the latter set in the Utopian City of Kakodumbala in Africa, from which perspective a Satire of Earthly Religions is mounted. Of slightly more general interest may be Unter den Gnomen im Untersberg: eine sonderbare Geschichte (1892; trans as Among the Gnomes: An Occult Tale of Adventure in the Untersberg 1895), in which a scientist discovers a Lost Race of gnomes Underground, teaches them modern civilization and Technology; consequently, they all die. [JC]
Franz Hartmann
born Donauwörth, Kingdom of Bavaria [now Germany]: 22 November 1838
died Kempten im Allgäu, German Empire [now Germany]: 7 August 1912
works (highly selected)
- An Adventure Among the Rosicrucians: By a Student of Occultism (Boston, Massachusetts: Occult Publishing Company, 1887) [hb/]
- The Talking Image of URUR (New York: John W Lovell Company, 1890) [first version appeared 15 December 1888-February 1889 Lucifer: A Theosophical Monthly: hb/]
- Unter den Gnomen im Untersberg: eine sonderbare Geschichte (Leipzig, Germany: Verlag von Wilhelm Friedrich, 1892) [illus/hb/uncredited]
- Among the Gnomes: An Occult Tale of Adventure in the Untersberg (London: T Fisher Unwin, 1895) [trans (by author?) of the above: hb/]
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