“There are more than 185,000 songs with the word ‘moon’ in their title”.
That’s according to Spotify, the audio streaming platform which has probably the largest database of songs.
On hearing this staggering number of references to the ‘Moon’, I thought it might be worth dwelling on this topic, as we commemorate, this week, the 50th anniversary of man’s historic moon landing.
Man’s fascination with the Moon – whether in song or in the story – has been going on for centuries. In fact, for millennia.
From poetic expressions in romance to serious inquiry through science, this lovely large white sphere, which hovers overhead, in different hues and in different phases, has captivated mankind for ages.
From a thin crescent to a full moon, and from that full moon back to the crescent, its appearance has helped us mark months and days, in almost all civilizations.
Today, even though the light and smog in our ultra-modern cities, prevent us from enjoying its full beauty, on Moon's metaphoric use in writings, however, man continues to wax eloquent. And this fascination is unlikely to wane.
But, how did fiction help man to dream, a dream so big, that he thought he could reach the Moon?
What were the small steps in fiction which led to this giant leap for mankind?
Investigating these questions, I found a wealth of information that somehow inspired 'man' to journey to the Moon.
Many people regard an ancient Greek novel by Lucian of Samosata, a Syrian satirist, written around A.D. 120, as the first true piece of ‘science fiction’.
Titled ‘Vera Historia’ (A True Story), it actually begins by stating that the story is, in fact, an utter lie, and not true at all!
In the story, the ship of Lucian and his fellow travellers is blown off-course. They are then caught up in a huge whirlwind which blows them up high in the sky - towards the Moon.
The travellers soon get caught-up in a full-scale interplanetary war. It is between the king of the Moon and the king of the Sun, over the colonization of the Morning Star! Both armies have hybrid lifeforms which could make us wonder if the second-century writer has, somehow, got a sneak peek at the aliens shown in this century's ‘Star Wars’ movie series!
The prominent astronomer Johannes Kepler too had written some fiction. In his ‘Somnium’ (The Dream) published four years after his death, in 1634, he talks of a dream in which a demon describes the moon’s inhabitants to an Icelandic boy and his mother who is a witch.
After Kepler’s writings, stories of moon voyages suddenly became popular; even by Cyrano de Bergerac and Daniel Defoe.
In 1638, an English historian and author Francis Godwin published a short novel called ‘The Man in the Moone’, describing the adventures of a Spaniard named Domingo Gonsales. Gonsales trains some migratory swans to wear harnesses and fly him around in an “engine” he had devised. He describes a 12-day journey watching the Earth recede from view as the swans take him to the lunar surface. And he tells us of a utopian lunar society there, where inhabitants are extraordinarily tall, with no illness, with no crime or with no need for any lawyers.
Around the same time another Englishman, the philosopher, and clergyman John Wilkins, composed ‘A Discourse Concerning a New World and Another Planet’, a full scientific discussion of the Moon and the possibility of voyaging there.
John Wilkins, in 1640, had apparently said, “I do seriously, and upon good grounds, affirm it possible to make a flying chariot, in which a man may sit, and give such a motion unto it, as shall convey him through the air.” (‘Many fictional moon voyages preceded the Apollo landing’ by Tom Seigfried, Sciencenews.org
In 1865, Jules Verne’s book ‘From the Earth to the Moon’ talked of a huge cannon, which can shoot a group of men into space, to land on the moon.
And that was more than 100 years before the actual moon landing occurred.
Even in the world of comic books, Tintin’s adventures, in ‘Destination Moon’ and ‘Explorers on the Moon’, were written long before the actual Moon Landing.
None of us can deny this truth. That sci-fi books, in many ways, inspired the real Moon landing.
These imaginative writers tell us that their writings may be just small steps for man. But they led to this giant leap for mankind, which we must commemorate now.
With great respect.
Interested readers might like to read this old post too.
(related to science-fiction, on my other blog).
"Why we should pay attention to medical thrillers"
Published on
www.joelsjottings.com
That’s according to Spotify, the audio streaming platform which has probably the largest database of songs.
On hearing this staggering number of references to the ‘Moon’, I thought it might be worth dwelling on this topic, as we commemorate, this week, the 50th anniversary of man’s historic moon landing.
Man’s fascination with the Moon – whether in song or in the story – has been going on for centuries. In fact, for millennia.
From poetic expressions in romance to serious inquiry through science, this lovely large white sphere, which hovers overhead, in different hues and in different phases, has captivated mankind for ages.
From a thin crescent to a full moon, and from that full moon back to the crescent, its appearance has helped us mark months and days, in almost all civilizations.
Today, even though the light and smog in our ultra-modern cities, prevent us from enjoying its full beauty, on Moon's metaphoric use in writings, however, man continues to wax eloquent. And this fascination is unlikely to wane.
But, how did fiction help man to dream, a dream so big, that he thought he could reach the Moon?
What were the small steps in fiction which led to this giant leap for mankind?
Investigating these questions, I found a wealth of information that somehow inspired 'man' to journey to the Moon.
Many people regard an ancient Greek novel by Lucian of Samosata, a Syrian satirist, written around A.D. 120, as the first true piece of ‘science fiction’.
Titled ‘Vera Historia’ (A True Story), it actually begins by stating that the story is, in fact, an utter lie, and not true at all!
 |
| Written around AD 120- AD 125 |
The travellers soon get caught-up in a full-scale interplanetary war. It is between the king of the Moon and the king of the Sun, over the colonization of the Morning Star! Both armies have hybrid lifeforms which could make us wonder if the second-century writer has, somehow, got a sneak peek at the aliens shown in this century's ‘Star Wars’ movie series!
The prominent astronomer Johannes Kepler too had written some fiction. In his ‘Somnium’ (The Dream) published four years after his death, in 1634, he talks of a dream in which a demon describes the moon’s inhabitants to an Icelandic boy and his mother who is a witch.
After Kepler’s writings, stories of moon voyages suddenly became popular; even by Cyrano de Bergerac and Daniel Defoe.
 |
| Published in 1657 |
 |
| Published in 1741 |
 |
| Published in 1638 |
John Wilkins, in 1640, had apparently said, “I do seriously, and upon good grounds, affirm it possible to make a flying chariot, in which a man may sit, and give such a motion unto it, as shall convey him through the air.” (‘Many fictional moon voyages preceded the Apollo landing’ by Tom Seigfried, Sciencenews.org
In 1865, Jules Verne’s book ‘From the Earth to the Moon’ talked of a huge cannon, which can shoot a group of men into space, to land on the moon.
And that was more than 100 years before the actual moon landing occurred.
 |
| Published in 1865 |
 |
| Published in 1901 |
Even in the world of comic books, Tintin’s adventures, in ‘Destination Moon’ and ‘Explorers on the Moon’, were written long before the actual Moon Landing.
 |
| Published in 1954 |
These imaginative writers tell us that their writings may be just small steps for man. But they led to this giant leap for mankind, which we must commemorate now.
With great respect.
----------
Interested readers might like to read this old post too.
(related to science-fiction, on my other blog).
"Why we should pay attention to medical thrillers"
Published on
www.joelsjottings.com
No comments:
Post a Comment