Le Faure, Georges
Entry updated 20 February 2023. Tagged: Author.
(1856-1953) French author who sometimes wrote as Georges Faber; his Aventures extraordinaires d'un savant russe (1888-1889-1890-1896 4vols) with Henry de Graffigny (1863-1934) [for publishing details see Checklist] – part of which has appeared as The Extraordinary Adventures of a Russian Scientist Across the Solar System (trans of the above by Brian Stableford 2009 2vols) – constitutes a remarkable traversal of the themes and tropes of the Scientific Romance at the end of the nineteenth century, clearly evidencing the pervasive influence of Jules Verne. Its protagonist, Mikhail Ossipov, has Discovered in selenite (named after his beautiful, kidnapped daughter) an explosive capable of destroying the world; in a series of complex adventures, he and others create inventions – various kinds of Spaceship, as well as at least one aeroplane, and eventually a ship fitted for Faster-than-Light travel – and visit – and travel to the Moon and other planets (see Fantastic Voyage), combating one another in Space Opera fashion and encountering Alien civilizations on Venus and Mars.
Also of sf interest is La Guerre sous l'eau (1890; trans Mary J Serrano as War Under Water 1892), a Future War tale in which Germany is confronted by a confederation of foes that deploys from Australia a submarine (and other Inventions) to destroy German shipping and culture (and to contribute, it is hoped, to a genocidal destruction of Germany itself). Le Faure was one of the most successful emulators of the work of Jules Verne, and it may be had a sharper sense of the uses of sf modes. [JC]
Georges Le Faure
born Paris: 12 June 1856
died Paris: 25 May 1953
works (selected)
series
Aventures extraordinaires d'un savant russe (one novel)
- Aventures extraordinaires d'un savant russe: I: La lune ["I: The Moon"] (Paris: Guillaume Édinger, 1888) with Henry de Graffigny [introduced by Camille Flammarion: hb/]
- Aventures extraordinaires d'un savant russe: II: Le soleil et les petites planètes ["The Sun and the Small Planets"] (Paris: Guillaume Édinger, 1889) with Henry de Graffigny [introduced by Camille Flammarion: hb/]
- Aventures extraordinaires d'un savant russe: III: Les planètes géantes et les comètes ["The Giant Planets and the Comets"] (Paris: Guillaume Édinger, 1890) with Henry de Graffigny [introduced by Camille Flammarion: hb/]
- Aventures extraordinaires d'un savant russe: IV: Le désert sidéral (Paris: Arthème Fayard, 1896) with Henry de Graffigny [introduced by Camille Flammarion: v: hb/]
- The Extraordinary Adventures of a Russian Scientist Across the Solar System (Encino, California: Hollywood Comics/Black Coat Press, 2009) [published in two volumes: trans by Brian Stableford the above four volumes, comprising one novel: pb/Jean-Pierre Normand]
individual titles
- La Guerre sous l'eau (Paris: Dentu, 1890) [binding unknown/]
- War Under Water (New York: Cassell Publishing Company, 1892) [trans by Mary J Serrano of the above: hb/]
- Les Robinsons Lunaires ["The Lunar Robinsons"] (Paris: Pigoreau, 1892) [binding unknown/]
links
previous versions of this entry