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Obres de Charles Rowcroft

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[The Triumph of Woman: A Christmas Story] by Charles Rowcroft
This Victorian novel published in 1848 is now considered to be proto science fiction, of course Rowcroft would not have realised this when he wrote it. He must have thought that he was writing an entertainment of some kind with some light hearted satire, but also one where he could stretch his readers imagination and wrap it all up with a love story spiced with a bit of adventure. It features an alien from another planet with an advanced civilisation, who has special powers, there is an attempt at scientific explanation and there is a certain sense of wonder.

The novel starts with Doctor Asterscop a celebrated German Astronomer looking through his telescope “so powerful that you may see into the middle of next week” seeing an unidentified object hurtling towards earth. It is Christmas day and his shrewish wife is calling for him to come down to dinner as all their important guests have arrived. Asterscop is thinking he might be witnessing the destruction of earth, but the hectoring voice of his wife and the smell of the roast goose pries him from his vantage point and downstairs. Just as the family and guests are sitting down to dinner they hear a noise in the garden and go and investigate. They meet a strange man who tells them that he has come from another world and after some initial awkwardness they invite him into dinner. Zhara the stranger, convinces them he is telling the truth by turning their copper coins into gold with the aid of a gizmo that he carries with him. A couple of servants having witnessed the demonstration, attempt to steal the device, but find themselves transported away from the house. Zhara is distraught as he can no longer return home, but he has started to have strange feelings for Angela, Dr Astercorp’s beautiful daughter,

Zhara reveals that the elders of his planet have banned all women because they are far too dangerous, but he cannot help being fascinated with them as he embarks on a series of adventures around Europe in a quest for his lost gizmo. His adventures all seem to involve women and he is by turns exasperated, frightened, cheated and lost in admiration. He is constantly in danger of being treated with suspicion and has a succession of narrow scrapes, while still nurturing the strange feelings he has for Angela. The major part of the novel is a gentle caricature of the various women from Countries in Europe that Zhara meets along the way and the question he keeps asking is: were the elders on his planet right to ban all women? Ha the clue is in the title.

It’s all good fun and fairly well written and so three stars.
… (més)
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Marcat
baswood | Jan 12, 2018 |

Estadístiques

Obres
13
Membres
18
Popularitat
#630,789
Valoració
3.0
Ressenyes
1
ISBN
6