Trips to the Moon
Author(s): Lucian Of Samosata, Thomas Francklin
Genre(s): Classics (greek & Latin Antiquity), Epistolary Fiction, Fantastic Fiction
Narrators: Ralph Snelson
Number of Chapters: 6
Length: 3 hours and 27 minutes
Language: English
The endeavour of small Greek historians to add interest to their work by magnifying the exploits of their countrymen, and piling wonder upon wonder, Lucian first condemned in his Instructions for Writing History, and then caricatured in his True History, wherein is contained the account of a trip to the moon, a piece which must have been enjoyed by Rabelais, which suggested to Cyrano de Bergerac his Voyages to the Moon and to the Sun, and insensibly contributed, perhaps, directly or through Bergerac, to the conception of Gulliver’s Travels. The Icaro-Menippus Dialogue describes another trip to the moon, though its satire is more especially directed against the philosophers. (Summary from the Introduction)