von Voss, Julius
Entry updated 18 November 2024. Tagged: Author.
(1768-1832) German soldier, playwright and author, whose surname is also inscribed as von Voß, his military career, in which he distinguished himself, ending by 1798. Of his exceedingly prolific writings, some plays are certainly fantasticated, though he is of Proto SF interest almost exclusively for Ini: Ein Roman aus dem ein und zwanzigsten Jahrhundert (1810; trans Dwight R Decker as Ini: A Novel from the 21st Century 2021), set in a 2090 whose advances – Balloons hauled by eagles (see Transportation), a floating Island hoisted by whales, a City transformed into a Zone by a giant umbrella – are fanciful: a halfway house between archaic proto-sf exempla and the convulsively transformation Technologies of the nineteenth century. Von Voss intentions are clearly positive: the world envisioned is a Utopia, and is amply traversed (with commentary) by the young protagonist whose Fantastic Voyage in pursuit of his true love, the eponymous Ini, exposes him to various marvels. [JC]
Julius von Voss
born Brandenburg and der Havel, Kingdom of Prussia [now Germany]: 24 August 1768
died Berlin, Kingdom of Prussia [now Germany]: 1 November 1832
works (highly selected)
- Ini: Ein Roman aus dem ein und zwanzigsten Jahrhundert (Berlin: Karl Friedrich Umelang, 1810) [binding unknown/]
- Ini: A Novel from the 21st Century (Northlake, Illinois: Vesper Press, 2021) [trans by Dwight R Decker of the above: with added material: pb/]
- Auswahl Neuer Lustspiel für das Königliche Hof-Theater in Berlin ["Selected New Comedies for the Royal Court Theater in Berlin"] (Berlin: Schüppelchen buchhandlung, 1824) [plays: coll: binding unknown/]
- "Berlin in 1924" [trans by Dwight R Decker of one play from the above: text appears in Ini (see above): pb/]
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