''The Consolidator; or, Memoirs of Sundry Transactions from the World in the Moon'' is a fictional adventure by

Daniel Defoe Daniel Defoe (; born Daniel Foe; – 24 April 1731) was an English writer, trader, journalist, pamphleteer and spy. He is most famous for his novel ''Robinson Crusoe'', published in 1719, which is claimed to be second only to the Bible in its ...

published in 1705. It is a satirical novel that mixes fantasy with political and social satire.

Plot summary

The narrator travels to the

Moon The Moon is Earth's only natural satellite. It is the fifth largest satellite in the Solar System and the largest and most massive relative to its parent planet, with a diameter about one-quarter that of Earth (comparable to the width of ...

through the means of the titular "consolidator" – a

chariot A chariot is a type of cart driven by a charioteer, usually using horses to provide rapid motive power. The oldest known chariots have been found in burials of the Sintashta culture in modern-day Chelyabinsk Oblast, Russia, dated to c. 2000&nbs ...

with two feathered winged creatures.

Analysis

The novel is a political satire of the British political and society of Defoe's era. For example, each of the chariot's winged steeds represents a houses of parliament. The chariot has also been described as one of the earliest spaceships (or

airship An airship or dirigible balloon is a type of aerostat or lighter-than-air aircraft that can navigate through the air under its own power. Aerostats gain their lift from a lifting gas that is less dense than the surrounding air. In early ...

s) in known fiction. This, in addition to its portrayal of the Moon and the concept of space flight, resulted in the work being classified as one of the proto-SF works.

References

External links

* 1705 books Novels by Daniel Defoe English adventure novels English historical novels 18th-century British novels Novels set in Imperial China Novels set on the Moon Satirical novels {{18thC-adventure-novel-stub