Gabriel de Foigny (ca. 1630-1692) is the author of an important

utopia A utopia ( ) typically describes an imaginary community or society that possesses highly desirable or nearly perfect qualities for its members. It was coined by Sir Thomas More for his 1516 book ''Utopia (book), Utopia'', describing a fictional ...

, ''

La Terre Australe connue LA most frequently refers to Los Angeles, the second largest city in the United States. La, LA, or L.A. may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Music * La (musical note), or A, the sixth note * "L.A.", a song by Elliott Smith on ''Figure ...

'', 1676.

Life

All we know about Foigny, including his identity (the book was printed without his name), is based exclusively on the second edition of

Pierre Bayle Pierre Bayle (; 18 November 1647 – 28 December 1706) was a French philosopher, author, and lexicographer. A Huguenot, Bayle fled to the Dutch Republic in 1681 because of religious persecution in France. He is best known for his '' Historica ...

's '' Dictionnaire historique et critique'' (1701, under "Sadeur"). He was born in

Lorraine Lorraine , also , , ; Lorrain: ''Louréne''; Lorraine Franconian: ''Lottringe''; german: Lothringen ; lb, Loutrengen; nl, Lotharingen is a cultural and historical region in Northeastern France, now located in the administrative region of Gr ...

and became a

Franciscan The Franciscans are a group of related Mendicant orders, mendicant Christianity, Christian Catholic religious order, religious orders within the Catholic Church. Founded in 1209 by Italian Catholic friar Francis of Assisi, these orders include t ...

, but left the order. He moved near

Geneva Geneva ( ; french: Genève ) frp, Genèva ; german: link=no, Genf ; it, Ginevra ; rm, Genevra is the List of cities in Switzerland, second-most populous city in Switzerland (after Zürich) and the most populous city of Romandy, the French-speaki ...

, now as a

Protestant Protestantism is a Christian denomination, branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Reformation, Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century agai ...

, and made a living as a tutor. The ''Terre australe connue'' was printed at Geneva, as if from

Vannes Vannes (; br, Gwened) is a commune in the Morbihan department in Brittany in north-western France. It was founded over 2,000 years ago. History Celtic Era The name ''Vannes'' comes from the Veneti, a seafaring Celtic people who lived ...

.Geoffroy Atkinson,
The Extraordinary Voyage in French Literature Before 1700
', 1920 p. 36

In English

*Gabriel de Foigny. '' The Southern Land, Known'' (La Terre Australe connue, 1676). Trans. and ed. David Fausett. Syracuse UP, 1993

References

Everett F. Bleiler Everett Franklin Bleiler (April 30, 1920 – June 13, 2010) was an American editor, bibliographer, and scholar of science fiction, detective fiction, and fantasy literature. In the late 1940s and early 1950s, he co-edited the first "year's best" ...

French Voyages into Imaginary Lands
in: Science Fiction Studies # 63 = Volume 21, Part 2 = July 1994 *Geoffroy Atkinson,'' The Extraordinary Voyage in French Literature Before 1700'', 1920 (reissue 1966, AMS Press, Columbia University studies in Romance philology and literature; also in Google books) * Marrone Caterina, ''Le lingue utopiche'' Nuovi Equilibri, Viterbo, 2004

995 Year 995 ( CMXCV) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. Events By place Japan * 17 May - Fujiwara no Michitaka (imperial regent) dies. * 3 June: Fujiwara no Michikane gain ...

p. 338,

Notes

External links

''Sadeur'' in Dictionnaire historique et critique
by Pierre Bayle 1630s births 1692 deaths 17th-century French male writers 17th-century French novelists Year of birth uncertain French male novelists Authors of utopian literature {{France-writer-stub