Thwackius, Herman
Entry updated 12 August 2018. Tagged: Author.

Pseudonym of US author Jonas Clopper (? -? ), who may have been a clergyman; his Proto SF Satire, Fragments of the History of Bawlfredonia: Containing an Account of the Discovery and Settlement, of that Great Southern Continent: And of the Formation and Progress of the Bawlfredonian Commonwealth [for full subtitle see Checklist below] (1819), recounts at least two Fantastic Voyages to Australia, in the first of which the compassionate captain Fredonius does not destroy an "Indian" culture. Later voyages, captained by the young Thomas Tammany Bawlfredonius, are accompanied by massacres of native peoples. Throughout, it is clear that America is the object of Clopper's satire, which is told in a tone that echoes the social commentaries of the young Washington Irving. Bawlfredonius himself is a version of Thomas Jefferson. [JC]
Jonas Clopper
born
works
- Fragments of the History of Bawlfredonia: Containing an Account of the Discovery and Settlement, of that Great Southern Continent; and of the Formation and Progress of the Bawlfredonian Commonwealth: Translated from the Original Bawlfredonian Manuscript, into the French Language by Monsieur Traducteur, and Rendered in English, by a Citizen of America (Baltimore, Maryland: Printed for the American Booksellers, 1819) [hb/uncredited]
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