Conversations on the Plurality of Worlds

Bernard de Fontenelle, H.A. Hargreaves, Nina Rattner Gelbart

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English

California Uni Pr Trade
22 June 1990

Literature, Poetry & Criticism; Hydrobiology

"Surveying the night sky, a charming philosopher and his hostess, the Marquise, are considering thep ossibility of travelers from the moon. ""What if they were skillful enough to navigate on the outer surface of our air, and from there, through their curiosity to see us, they angled for us like fish? Would that please you?"" asks the philosopher. ""Why not?"" the Marquise replies. ""As for me, I'd put myself into their nets of my own volition just to have the pleasure of seeing those who caught me.""

In this imaginary conversation of three hundred years ago, readers can share the excitement of a new, extremely daring view of the uinverse. Conversations on the Plurality of Worlds (Entretiens sur la pluralité des mondes), first published in 1686, is one of the best loved classics of the early French enlightenment. Through a series of informal dialogues that take place on successive evenings in the marquise's moonlit gardens, Fontenelle describes the new cosmology of the Copernican world view with matchles clarity, imagination, and wit. Moreover, he boldly makes his interlocutor a woman, inviting female participation in the almost exclusively male province of scientific discourse.

The popular Fontenelle lived through an entire century, from 1657 to 1757, and wrote prolifically. H. A. Hargreaves's fresh, appealing translation brings the author's masterpiece to new generations of readers, while the introduction by Nina Rattner Gelbart clearly demonstrates the importance of the Conversations for the history of science, of women, of literature, and of French civilization, and for the popularization of culture."

By: Bernard de Fontenelle
Introduction by: Nina Rattner Gelbart
Translated by: H.A. Hargreaves
Imprint: California Uni Pr Trade
Country of Publication: United States
Dimensions: Height: 210mm, Width: 140mm, Spine: 10mm
Weight: 181g
ISBN: 9780520071711
ISBN 10: 0520071719
Pages: 132
Publication Date: 22 June 1990
Audience: College/higher education , Professional and scholarly , Professional & Vocational , A / AS level , Further / Higher Education
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active

H. A. Hargreaves is Professor of English at the University of Alberta. His interests range from Shakespeare to science fiction, and he is himself a cutural popularizer, having written as many stories, scripts, and documentaries as he has scholarly articles. Nina Rattner Gelbart is Professor of History at Occidental College, Los Angeles. She has written on Englightenment science, medicine, and utopian novels, and is the author of the prizewinning The King's Midwife: A History and Mystery of Madame du Coudray (California, 1998).

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Conversations on the Plurality of Worlds

Bernard de Fontenelle, H.A. Hargreaves, Nina Rattner Gelbart

$40.95

Paperback

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