Utopia and science in Man in the Moone (1638) of Francis Godwin

• Grant number: 12/21318-6
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships abroad - Research Internship - Master's degree
• Start date: February 01, 2013
• End date: July 31, 2013
• Field of knowledge: Linguistics, Literature and Arts - Literature - Modern Foreign Literatures
• Principal Investigator: Carlos Eduardo Ornelas Berriel
• Grantee: Bruna Pereira Caixeta
• Supervisor: Daphne Patai
• Host Institution: Instituto de Estudos da Linguagem (IEL). Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP). Campinas , SP, Brazil
• Institution abroad: University of Massachusetts, Amherst (UMass Amherst), United States
• Associated to the scholarship: 12/01575-4 - Utopia and science in "Man in the Moone" (1638) of Francis Godwin, BP.MS

Abstract

The two objectives of this research project are the translation and study of the fiction work "The Man in the Moone". This drama, written by the English Anglican bishop Francis Godwin and published in 1638, falls within a list of stories of imaginary journeys to the moon, consecrated with the Greek Lucian of Samosata in the second century a. C. According to Grant McColley, it is considered the first English text to refer to interplanetary travel. But, even more curious than the way in which the main character travels to the moon by means of birds, "Man in the Moone" proposes other trips, such as to the fictional island of St. Helena and to China. The adventures result in a plot that deals with astronomical discussions, scientific invention, the process of English colonization in the transition between the Tudor and Stuart periods and appreciation of an ideal social organization, influenced by the "Utopia" (1516) of Thomas More. Just as this text is commonly classified as science fiction, it could equally be described as utopian. The subjects and plot of the work, and the difficulty in defining its genre, will be proposed and discussed in this project. (AU)