Post by Carioca on May 18, 2006 23:31:10 GMT
Greetings!
Here's an interesting entry from the Difference Engine weblog at the University of Glamorgan (UK):
difference.weblog.glam.ac.uk/posts/2006/05/18/different-engines
difference.weblog.glam.ac.uk/images/alvim-correa.jpg
"Different Engines
18 May 09:38
Listen; writing a book is a fascinating business.
As you may know, God and I are busy doing just that for the MacMillan Science list; the book's called Different Engines: How Science Drives Fiction and Fiction Drives Science.
So I've been very busy the last couple of months writing my current chapter on the science fiction of the C19th, focussing particularly on Shelley, Verne and Wells, but also looking at Edward Bulwer-Lytton's The Coming Race, and Samuel Butler's Erewhon.
As with all histories, of course, you can't cover everything. Between 1870 and 1900 alone over 70 futuristic fantasies were written. Of those, the likes of Edward Bellamy's Looking Backwards and William Morris' News From Nowhere are notable, though they are more concerned perhaps with socialist utopia than science, and for that reason they've not made my cut.
I recently began to search for compelling images to go in the chapter and came across some beautiful and very evocative illustrations for Wells' War of the Worlds.
These illustrations are by the artist Alvim Corrêa, and his own story is also very much worth the telling.
Alvim Corrêa was born in 1876 into a wealthy family in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. But in 1892 Corrêa and his family, were considered monarchists by the new Brazilian republic, and exiled to Lisbon.
After reading the Davray (French) edition of War of the Worlds, in 1903 Corrêa travelled to London to meet HG Wells and show him some conceptual sketches and illustrations he had produced. His vision so impressed Wells that the author befriended Corrêa and chose him to illustrate the 1906 deluxe edition of War of the Worlds that would be printed by L. Vandamme, a leading Belgian publisher.
When the L. Vandamme Edition was published there were only 500 signed copies. The last drawing in the book, highlighted by the word 'Fin', depicts a seated HG Wells and a standing Alvim Corrêa. Of the artist, Wells declared, "A. Corrêa contributed more to this work with his brush than I did with my pen."
The Collection of 31 original drawings, a postcard from HG Wells to Alvim Corrêa, and a promotional poster are still extant, and some of the Collection is currently on loan to our old friends at the Science Fiction Museum in Seattle.
Many thanks to Stefan Gefter, also of Seattle, for a fascinating chat on the phone last night, for the bio on Alvim Corrêa, and for permission to use the illustration in the chapter!
If anyone is interested in further details on Alvim Corrêa you can contact Stefan Gefter at sgefter@aseptico.com
Posted by markbrake, category of "Science Communication""
case.glam.ac.uk/CASE/StaffPages/MarkBrake/MB.html
"Prof. Mark Brake runs CASE: the University of Glamorgan’s Centre for Astronomy and Science Education. He is, it says here, the Professor of Science Communication at CASE!
CASE is a group of around a dozen staff known globally for innovative cross-curricular degrees, such as the BSc in Science and Science Fiction (the first degree of its kind in worldwide), BSc Astronomy & Space, and the imminent BSc Astrobiology!
Much of Marks?s work involves the communication of science; helping to run SETPOINT Wales, sitting on the NASA Astrobiology Science Communication Board, working with the world?s first Science Fiction Museum and Hall of Fame in Seattle, or making radio and TV appearances on topics ranging from the politics of science communication to the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy."
A BSc in Science and Science Fiction sounds fantastic! Pity I don't live in the UK! ;D
Still, it was a pleasure chatting with Mark about his book and discussing Alvim Corrêa's life and War of the Worlds artwork. Another Corrêa fan is born! ;D
Cheers!
Carioca
Here's an interesting entry from the Difference Engine weblog at the University of Glamorgan (UK):
difference.weblog.glam.ac.uk/posts/2006/05/18/different-engines
difference.weblog.glam.ac.uk/images/alvim-correa.jpg
"Different Engines
18 May 09:38
Listen; writing a book is a fascinating business.
As you may know, God and I are busy doing just that for the MacMillan Science list; the book's called Different Engines: How Science Drives Fiction and Fiction Drives Science.
So I've been very busy the last couple of months writing my current chapter on the science fiction of the C19th, focussing particularly on Shelley, Verne and Wells, but also looking at Edward Bulwer-Lytton's The Coming Race, and Samuel Butler's Erewhon.
As with all histories, of course, you can't cover everything. Between 1870 and 1900 alone over 70 futuristic fantasies were written. Of those, the likes of Edward Bellamy's Looking Backwards and William Morris' News From Nowhere are notable, though they are more concerned perhaps with socialist utopia than science, and for that reason they've not made my cut.
I recently began to search for compelling images to go in the chapter and came across some beautiful and very evocative illustrations for Wells' War of the Worlds.
These illustrations are by the artist Alvim Corrêa, and his own story is also very much worth the telling.
Alvim Corrêa was born in 1876 into a wealthy family in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. But in 1892 Corrêa and his family, were considered monarchists by the new Brazilian republic, and exiled to Lisbon.
After reading the Davray (French) edition of War of the Worlds, in 1903 Corrêa travelled to London to meet HG Wells and show him some conceptual sketches and illustrations he had produced. His vision so impressed Wells that the author befriended Corrêa and chose him to illustrate the 1906 deluxe edition of War of the Worlds that would be printed by L. Vandamme, a leading Belgian publisher.
When the L. Vandamme Edition was published there were only 500 signed copies. The last drawing in the book, highlighted by the word 'Fin', depicts a seated HG Wells and a standing Alvim Corrêa. Of the artist, Wells declared, "A. Corrêa contributed more to this work with his brush than I did with my pen."
The Collection of 31 original drawings, a postcard from HG Wells to Alvim Corrêa, and a promotional poster are still extant, and some of the Collection is currently on loan to our old friends at the Science Fiction Museum in Seattle.
Many thanks to Stefan Gefter, also of Seattle, for a fascinating chat on the phone last night, for the bio on Alvim Corrêa, and for permission to use the illustration in the chapter!
If anyone is interested in further details on Alvim Corrêa you can contact Stefan Gefter at sgefter@aseptico.com
Posted by markbrake, category of "Science Communication""
case.glam.ac.uk/CASE/StaffPages/MarkBrake/MB.html
"Prof. Mark Brake runs CASE: the University of Glamorgan’s Centre for Astronomy and Science Education. He is, it says here, the Professor of Science Communication at CASE!
CASE is a group of around a dozen staff known globally for innovative cross-curricular degrees, such as the BSc in Science and Science Fiction (the first degree of its kind in worldwide), BSc Astronomy & Space, and the imminent BSc Astrobiology!
Much of Marks?s work involves the communication of science; helping to run SETPOINT Wales, sitting on the NASA Astrobiology Science Communication Board, working with the world?s first Science Fiction Museum and Hall of Fame in Seattle, or making radio and TV appearances on topics ranging from the politics of science communication to the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy."
A BSc in Science and Science Fiction sounds fantastic! Pity I don't live in the UK! ;D
Still, it was a pleasure chatting with Mark about his book and discussing Alvim Corrêa's life and War of the Worlds artwork. Another Corrêa fan is born! ;D
Cheers!
Carioca