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Hoche, Jules

(1859-1926) French author whose works seem to divide fairly equally between fiction and nonfiction. Several of his novels are sf, including Le Faiseur d'Hommes et sa Formule (1906; trans Brian Stableford as The Maker of Men and His Formula 2015), a tale clearly influence by H G Wells's The Island of Dr Moreau (1896), though the eponymous Mad Scientist invents a formula that insanely intensifies the pace of Evolution through enforced incubation. The narrator's description of the Horror in SF sight of embryos (and Monsters) hatching within the translucent membranes of great eggs is an early and extremely specific of the image of the Serpent's Egg, seen as a literal prolepsis of the dreaded future, whose importance as a twentieth century topos in Fantastika as a whole has been argued by John Clute in The Darkening Garden (2006). [JC]

Jules Hoche

born Strasbourg, France: 19 November 1859

died Saint-Chéron, Île-de-France, France: 7 March 1926

works (selected)

• Le Faiseur d'Hommes et sa Formule (Paris: F Juven, 1906) [binding unknown/]
  • The Maker of Men and His Formula (Encino, California: Hollywood Comics/Black Coat Press, 2015) [trans by Brian Stableford of the above: pb/Grillon]
• Le Secret des Paterson ["The Pattersons' Secret"] (Paris: Méricant, 1912) [pb/]
• Le Morts Volant ["The Flying Dead Man"] (Paris: Méricant, 1912) [pb/]
• L'Effarante Aventure ["The Stupefying Adventure"] (Paris: Albin Michel, 1923) [hb/]
• Le Mauvais Rêve (Paris: France-Edition, 1925) [binding unknown/]
  • The Bad Dream (Encino, California: Hollywood Comics/Black Coat Press, 2019) [coll: trans by Brian Stableford of the above: two stories added: pb/Nathalie Lial]

links

• Internet Speculative Fiction Database
• Picture Gallery

Entry from The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction (2011-current) edited by John Clute and David Langford.
Accessed 11:43 am on 3 December 2023.
<https://sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/hoche_jules>