This article has some excellent background info on the author Caesar's Column. An excerpt:
Along with that of Edgar Allan Poe, Jules Verne, and H.G. Wells, Donnelly’s speculative futurism in his 1890 novel Caesar’s Column must be included in the origins of the science fiction genre as a whole and, more specifically, that sci-fi subset which includes the dystopian novel—nightmare visions of societies gone irreparably wrong.
Unfortunately, the entire article is not available online for free, but the Cambridge Public Library does carry the journal.
1 comment:
After reading Caesar's Column I was struck by the similarities in the book to other novels such as 1984 and Brave New World. All of these take place in a time where the common citizen is without basic rights or privileges. Also the main protagonists in each story seem to be in awe of the great cities that have developed, yet wary of the power imposed by the government like bodies. It is curious to me to hear writers talk about the future of the world as a scary place, partially because technology has become so advanced that it seems as if every move or idea against the norm is a possible risk of making someone outcast. In these three books technology and advancement of society is often taken to the extreme and it seems as if only bad will come out of the future instead of all the positives that are under the surface.
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