L'An 2440, Rêve S'il En Fut Jamais
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''L'An 2440, rêve s'il en fut jamais'' (literally, in English, ''The Year 2440: A Dream If Ever There Was One''; but the title has been rendered into English as ''Memoirs of the Year Two Thousand Five Hundred'' or ''Memoirs of the Year 2500'', and also as ''Astraea's Return, or The Halcyon Days of France in the Year 2440: A Dream)'' is a 1771
novel A novel is an extended work of narrative fiction usually written in prose and published as a book. The word derives from the for 'new', 'news', or 'short story (of something new)', itself from the , a singular noun use of the neuter plural of ...
by
Louis-Sébastien Mercier Louis-Sébastien Mercier (6 June 1740 – 25 April 1814) was a French dramatist and writer, whose 1771 novel '' L'An 2440'' is an example of proto-science fiction. Early life and education He was born in Paris to a humble family: his father was ...
. It has been described as one of the most popular and controversial novels of the 18th century, one of the earliest works of
science fiction Science fiction (often shortened to sci-fi or abbreviated SF) is a genre of speculative fiction that deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts. These concepts may include information technology and robotics, biological manipulations, space ...
, and the first work of
utopian fiction Utopian and dystopian fiction are subgenres of speculative fiction that explore extreme forms of social and political structures. Utopian fiction portrays a setting that agrees with the author's ethos, having various attributes of another reality ...
set in the future rather than at a distant place in the present.


Plot

The novel describes the adventures of an unnamed man who, after engaging in a heated discussion with a philosopher friend about the injustices of Paris, falls asleep and finds himself in a Paris several centuries into the future. He wanders through the changed city, eventually ending up in the ruins of the
Palace of Versailles The Palace of Versailles ( ; ) is a former royal residence commissioned by King Louis XIV located in Versailles, Yvelines, Versailles, about west of Paris, in the Yvelines, Yvelines Department of Île-de-France, Île-de-France region in Franc ...
. Mercier's hero notes everything that catches his fancy in this futuristic Paris.
Public space A public space is a place that is open and accessible to the general public. Roads, pavements, public squares, parks, and beaches are typically considered public space. To a limited extent, government buildings which are open to the public, su ...
and the
justice system The contemporary national legal systems are generally based on one of four major legal traditions: civil law, common law, customary law, religious law or combinations of these. However, the legal system of each country is shaped by its unique hi ...
have been reorganized. Citizens' garb is comfortable and practical. Hospitals are effective and science-based. There are no
monks A monk (; from , ''monachos'', "single, solitary" via Latin ) is a man who is a member of a religious order and lives in a monastery. A monk usually lives his life in prayer and contemplation. The concept is ancient and can be seen in many reli ...
, priests, nuns, prostitutes,
beggars Begging (also known in North America as panhandling) is the practice of imploring others to grant a favor, often a gift of money, with little or no expectation of reciprocation. A person doing such is called a beggar or panhandler. Beggars m ...
, dancing masters (i.e., dance teachers),
pastry chefs A pastry chef or pâtissier (; feminine pâtissière, ) is a station chef in a professional kitchen, skilled in the making of pastry, pastries, desserts, breads and other Baking, baked goods. They are employed in large hotels, bistros, restauran ...
,
standing armies A standing army is a permanent, often professional, army. It is composed of full-time soldiers who may be either career soldiers or conscripts. It differs from army reserves, who are enrolled for the long term, but activated only during wars ...
,
slavery Slavery is the ownership of a person as property, especially in regards to their labour. Slavery typically involves compulsory work, with the slave's location of work and residence dictated by the party that holds them in bondage. Enslavemen ...
, arbitrary arrest,
taxes A tax is a mandatory financial charge or levy imposed on an individual or legal entity by a governmental organization to support government spending and public expenditures collectively or to regulate and reduce negative externalities. Tax co ...
,
guilds A guild ( ) is an association of artisans and merchants who oversee the practice of their craft/trade in a particular territory. The earliest types of guild formed as organizations of tradespeople belonging to a professional association. They so ...
,
foreign trade International trade is the exchange of Capital (economics), capital, goods, and Service (economics), services across international borders or territories because there is a need or want of goods or services. (See: World economy.) In most countr ...
, coffee, tea, or tobacco: such occupations, institutions, and products have been adjudged to be useless and
immoral Immorality is the violation of moral laws, norms or standards. It refers to an agent doing or thinking something they know or believe to be wrong. Immorality is normally applied to people or actions, or in a broader sense, it can be applied to gr ...
– as has much previously written literature, which has been willingly destroyed by the future librarians, who proudly display their library, reduced to a single room of only the most valuable works. Written only 18 years before the French Revolution of 1789, the book describes a future secular, liberal, modern and
pacifist Pacifism is the opposition to war or violence. The word ''pacifism'' was coined by the French peace campaigner Émile Arnaud and adopted by other peace activists at the tenth Universal Peace Congress in Glasgow in 1901. A related term is ''a ...
France that has been established through a peaceful revolution led by a "
philosopher-king The philosopher king is a hypothetical ruler in whom political skill is combined with philosophical knowledge. The concept of a city-state ruled by philosophers is first explored in Plato's ''Republic'', written around 375 BC. Plato argued that ...
" who has set up a system resembling a
parliamentary monarchy Constitutional monarchy, also known as limited monarchy, parliamentary monarchy or democratic monarchy, is a form of monarchy in which the monarch exercises their authority in accordance with a constitution and is not alone in making decisions. ...
. The future
utopian A utopia ( ) typically describes an imagined community or society that possesses highly desirable or near-perfect qualities for its members. It was coined by Sir Thomas More for his 1516 book ''Utopia'', which describes a fictional island soci ...
,
egalitarian Egalitarianism (; also equalitarianism) is a school of thought within political philosophy that builds on the concept of social equality, prioritizing it for all people. Egalitarian doctrines are generally characterized by the idea that all h ...
France is portrayed as having no religion and no military.


Editions and translations

Everett C. Wilkie Jr. notes that there have been many misstatements concerning the novel's publication history and Mercier's bibliography in general. According to Evelyn L. Forget, Mercier finished the first manuscript in 1768, though Wilkie writes that parts of the book clearly date to 1770, as they reference events of that year. Sources also vary as to the year of the book's first edition, citing 1770 or 1771. Wilkie writes it might have been "pulled off the press so late in 1770 that it was dated 1771, the year it was actually sold", but "despite evidence to the contrary s no known edition dating to 1770 has been found scholarly practice has made the supposed 1770 edition of this novel an enduring bibliographical ghost". The confusion is partly the fault of Mercier himself, who at different times gave both dates as the year of the first edition's publication. Wilkie concludes that the only fact that Mercier was consistent about is that the first edition was published in Amsterdam by E. van Harrevelt, and existing evidence strongly favors 1771 – probably the summer – as the correct date of publication. Due to its controversial criticism of the ''
Ancien Régime ''Ancien'' may refer to * the French word for " ancient, old" ** Société des anciens textes français * the French for "former, senior" ** Virelai ancien ** Ancien Régime ** Ancien Régime in France {{disambig ...
'' and portrayal of a secular future, the novel was at first published illicitly, appearing anonymously, smuggled into France, and sold by underground booksellers. It was banned in France; in Spain by the
Inquisition The Inquisition was a Catholic Inquisitorial system#History, judicial procedure where the Ecclesiastical court, ecclesiastical judges could initiate, investigate and try cases in their jurisdiction. Popularly it became the name for various med ...
in 1778, supposedly burned by the Spanish king himself; and by the
Holy See The Holy See (, ; ), also called the See of Rome, the Petrine See or the Apostolic See, is the central governing body of the Catholic Church and Vatican City. It encompasses the office of the pope as the Bishops in the Catholic Church, bishop ...
in 1773, placed on the ''
Index Librorum Prohibitorum The (English: ''Index of Forbidden Books'') was a changing list of publications deemed heretical or contrary to morality by the Sacred Congregation of the Index (a former dicastery of the Roman Curia); Catholics were forbidden to print or re ...
.'' Nevertheless, it quickly became an underground bestseller in France, with over twenty editions during Mercier's lifetime, as well as a number of translations abroad, with many unauthorized and sometimes altered editions. It has been described as "one of the eighteenth century's most successful books" and "one of the most controversial", with an estimated 60,000 copies in several languages printed during that time, provoking a gamut of contemporary evaluations. By the late 1770s Mercier admitted his authorship of the novel, and his name finally appeared in the 1791 edition, after the fall of the ''Ancien Régime''; due to Mercier's late admission of authorship, some early versions were attributed to
Rousseau Jean-Jacques Rousseau (, ; ; 28 June 1712 – 2 July 1778) was a Genevan philosopher ('' philosophe''), writer, and composer. His political philosophy influenced the progress of the Age of Enlightenment throughout Europe, as well as aspects ...
or to
Voltaire François-Marie Arouet (; 21 November 169430 May 1778), known by his ''Pen name, nom de plume'' Voltaire (, ; ), was a French Age of Enlightenment, Enlightenment writer, philosopher (''philosophe''), satirist, and historian. Famous for his wit ...
. It was first translated to English 1772 by William Hooper, and was the first utopia published in the United States:
Thomas Jefferson Thomas Jefferson (, 1743July 4, 1826) was an American Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father and the third president of the United States from 1801 to 1809. He was the primary author of the United States Declaration of Indepe ...
and
George Washington George Washington (, 1799) was a Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father and the first president of the United States, serving from 1789 to 1797. As commander of the Continental Army, Washington led Patriot (American Revoluti ...
owned the first edition. Around the same time it was translated to Dutch and German, and a few years later into Italian. For the English edition, Hooper changed the title to ''Memoirs of the Year Two Thousand Five Hundred'' or ''Memoirs of the Year 2500'' and added a number of footnotes. Mercier's choice of the somewhat awkward number 2440 might be related to it being his 700th birthday, whereas Hooper's title, described as "perplexing" by one scholar, is likely due to his preference for a simpler, rounded up title. Mercier published four editions (1771, 1774, 1786 and 1779), although there is some further controversy surrounding the 1774 edition, whose authorship Mercier later denied. The revised edition of 1786, now under the title ''L'an deux mille quatre cent quarante, Suivi de L'Homme de Fer: Songe'' (lit. ''The Year Two Thousand Four Hundred and Forty, Followed by The Iron Man: Dream,'' with ''L'Homme de Fer: Songe'' being a new, separate short story) was in turn partially translated to English by Harriot Augusta Freeman under another liberally changed title, ''Astraea's Return, or The Halcyon Days of France in the Year 2440: A Dream'' (according to the ''Encyclopedia of Science Fiction'', as of 2019, no official English translation of the revised 1786 version exists). Neither the Hooper nor Freeman's translations were authorized by Mercier, and both translators openly admitted they did not know who the author was (he was first attributed as the author in English in an 1802 translation of his work). Despite its popularity in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, the work was quickly eclipsed by others and "almost forgotten" by the 20th century.


Discussion

''L'An 2440'' was one of Mercier's most famous works. It has been described as an "important milestone in the evolution of
science fiction Science fiction (often shortened to sci-fi or abbreviated SF) is a genre of speculative fiction that deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts. These concepts may include information technology and robotics, biological manipulations, space ...
", particularly of the
utopian fiction Utopian and dystopian fiction are subgenres of speculative fiction that explore extreme forms of social and political structures. Utopian fiction portrays a setting that agrees with the author's ethos, having various attributes of another reality ...
variety, " n its time anexceedingly popular ork of proto-science fiction", and one of the first works in the genre focusing on the near future. Brian M. Stableford noted that "it laid the groundwork for the first theoretical discussion of the potential scope of futuristic fiction". Its plot structure, showing a familiar setting centuries into the future, instead of some far-away but contemporary place, has been credited with starting "the crucial shift of utopia from the imaginary island to future time". The book has also been described as "the first uchronia". However, earlier novels by other writers had been set in the near future. These include Francis Cheynell's ''Aulicus His Dream'' (1644), Jacques Guttin's ''Epigone. Histoire du siècle futur'' (1659), Samuel Madden's '' The Memoirs of the Twentieth Century'' (1733), and the anonymously written ''The Reign of George VI'', 1900–1925 (1763). Mercier's novel has been described as having been inspired by the
Enlightenment Enlightenment or enlighten may refer to: Age of Enlightenment * Age of Enlightenment, period in Western intellectual history from the late 17th to late 18th century, centered in France but also encompassing (alphabetically by country or culture): ...
philosophy of
Jean-Jacques Rousseau Jean-Jacques Rousseau (, ; ; 28 June 1712 – 2 July 1778) was a Republic of Geneva, Genevan philosopher (''philosophes, philosophe''), writer, and composer. His political philosophy influenced the progress of the Age of Enlightenment through ...
and by earlier utopian fiction such as
Francis Bacon Francis Bacon, 1st Viscount St Alban (; 22 January 1561 – 9 April 1626) was an English philosopher and statesman who served as Attorney General and Lord Chancellor of England under King James I. Bacon argued for the importance of nat ...
's ''
New Atlantis ''New Atlantis'' is a utopian novel by Sir Francis Bacon, published posthumously in 1626. It appeared unheralded and tucked into the back of a longer work of natural history, ''Sylva Sylvarum'' (forest of materials). In ''New Atlantis'', Bac ...
'' (1626). ''The Year 2440'' also inspired many later authors. Some of the earliest works to be influenced by it are
Betje Wolff Elizabeth ("Betje") Wolff-Bekker (24 July 17385 November 1804) was a Dutch novelist who, with Agatha "Aagje" Deken, wrote several popular epistolary novels such as ''Sara Burgerhart'' (1782) and ''Willem Levend'' (1784). Biography Betje Bekker ...
's ''Holland in het jaar 2440'' (1777),
Vladimir Odoyevsky Prince Vladimir Fyodorovich Odoyevsky (, ; – ) was a Russian philosopher, writer, music critic, philanthropist and pedagogy, pedagogue. He became known as the "Russian E.T.A. Hoffmann, Hoffmann" and even the "Russian Johann Faust, Faust" on a ...
's '' The Year 4338: Petersburg Letters'' (1835), and Mary Griffith's ''
Three Hundred Years Hence ''Three Hundred Years Hence'' is a utopian science fiction novel by author Mary Griffith, published in 1836. It is the first known utopian novel written by an American woman. The novel was originally published in 1836 as part of Griffith's col ...
'' (1836). The growing speculation about the near future has been related to the growing popularity of the idea of
progress Progress is movement towards a perceived refined, improved, or otherwise desired state. It is central to the philosophy of progressivism, which interprets progress as the set of advancements in technology, science, and social organization effic ...
. One of the novel's themes is
slavery Slavery is the ownership of a person as property, especially in regards to their labour. Slavery typically involves compulsory work, with the slave's location of work and residence dictated by the party that holds them in bondage. Enslavemen ...
, and support for its
abolition Abolition refers to the act of putting an end to something by law, and may refer to: *Abolitionism, abolition of slavery *Capital punishment#Abolition of capital punishment, Abolition of the death penalty, also called capital punishment *Abolitio ...
, and even advocacy of some limited
decolonization Decolonization is the undoing of colonialism, the latter being the process whereby Imperialism, imperial nations establish and dominate foreign territories, often overseas. The meanings and applications of the term are disputed. Some scholar ...
– tempered, however, by Mercier's view of
Western culture Western culture, also known as Western civilization, European civilization, Occidental culture, Western society, or simply the West, refers to the Cultural heritage, internally diverse culture of the Western world. The term "Western" encompas ...
(defined primarily on the superior example of
French culture The culture of France has been shaped by Geography of France, geography, by History of France, historical events, and by foreign and internal forces and groups. France, and in particular Paris, has played an important role as a center of high ...
) and by his patriotism, which sees France as the world's new, benevolent
hegemon Hegemony (, , ) is the political, economic, and military predominance of one state over other states, either regional or global. In Ancient Greece (ca. 8th BC – AD 6th c.), hegemony denoted the politico-military dominance of the ''hegemon'' ...
. Another theme concerns gender equality, about which Mercier has again been described as both progressive and conservative: in his future world, marriages are based on love,
divorce Divorce (also known as dissolution of marriage) is the process of terminating a marriage or marital union. Divorce usually entails the canceling or reorganising of the legal duties and responsibilities of marriage, thus dissolving the M ...
is legal, and
dowries A dowry is a payment such as land, property, money, livestock, or a commercial asset that is paid by the bride's (woman's) family to the groom (man) or his family at the time of marriage. Dowry contrasts with the related concepts of bride price ...
are abolished; but ideal women are "free" to devote themselves to life at home as "good wives and mothers". ''The Year 2440'' has been described as an important example of French pre-Revolutionary literary
dissidence A dissident is a person who actively challenges an established political or religious system, doctrine, belief, policy, or institution. In a religious context, the word has been used since the 18th century, and in the political sense since the 20 ...
, and even as a veiled call to action – something made more explicit in the preface to later editions, in which Mercier urges the coming of an "age of progress and universal happiness", claiming his novel as
prophetic In religion, mythology, and fiction, a prophecy is a message that has been communicated to a person (typically called a ''prophet'') by a supernatural entity. Prophecies are a feature of many cultures and belief systems and usually contain divin ...
(drawing much derision from contemporaries).
Robert Darnton Robert Choate Darnton (born May 10, 1939) is an American cultural historian and academic librarian who specializes in 18th-century France. He was director of the Harvard University Library from 2007 to 2016. Life Darnton was born in New Yor ...
writes that "despite its self-proclaimed character of fantasy... ''L'An 2440'' demanded to be read as a serious guidebook to the future. It offered an astonishing new perspective: the future as a
fait accompli Many words in the English vocabulary are of French language, French origin, most coming from the Anglo-Norman language, Anglo-Norman spoken by the upper classes in England for several hundred years after the Norman conquest of England, Norman ...
and the present as a distant past. Who could resist the temptation to participate in such a
thought experiment A thought experiment is an imaginary scenario that is meant to elucidate or test an argument or theory. It is often an experiment that would be hard, impossible, or unethical to actually perform. It can also be an abstract hypothetical that is ...
? And once engaged in it, who could fail to see that it exposed the rottenness of the society before his eyes, the Paris of the eighteenth century?"


References


External links

* Full text o
''L'an deux mille quatre cent quarante. Rêve s'il en fut jamais''
(in French, various editions
including on French Wikisource
* Full text of ''Memoirs of the Year Two Thousand Five Hundred''
Volume IVolume II
(in English, 1772 translation by Hooper) *


Further reading

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Year 2440, The 18th-century French novels Utopian novels Novels set in Paris French science fiction novels Censored books 1771 novels Novels set in the 25th century