A phenomenon of unknown origin hits the Earth and affects the behavior of light… This terrible event leads to frenzied behavior, revolts, and riots… When the situation subsides, after a drastic drop in the world population, the surviving scientists, Langre and Meyral, settle in Roche-sur-Yonne to study the biological alterations resulting from this cataclysm… Qualified as a masterpiece of merveilleux-scientifique by science fiction essayists Guy Costes and Joseph Altairac, Rosny aîné claims for his work the status of a scientific novel, in particular by dedicating it to the physicist Jean Perrin and to the mathematician Emile Borel. Indeed, the author puts forward, through the scientist Langre, a scientific explanation for this planetary cataclysm: it would have been caused by the encounter of the Earth with another invisible world.
First Appearance “La force mystérieuse” by J.-H. Rosny aîné serialized from January to May 1913 in the monthly magazine Je Sais Tout (E: I Know Everything)
First Publisher Je Sais Tout
Appearance List “La force mystérieuse” by J.-H. Rosny aîné serialized from January to May 1913 in the monthly magazine Je Sais Tout (E: I Know Everything); La force mystérieuse (1914, Plon); La force mystérieuse (1924, abridged, Georges Crès); The Mysterious Force trans. Brian Stableford [Black Coat Press – Read a chapter]. Review: The Mysterious Force and Other Anomalous Phenomena – MarzAat [Web].
Sample Read La force mystérieuse: Roman (1914) [Internet Archive]
Description A phenomenon of unknown origin hits the Earth and affects the behavior of light… This terrible event leads to frenzied behavior, revolts, and riots… When the situation subsides, after a drastic drop in the world population, the surviving scientists, Langre and Meyral, settle in Roche-sur-Yonne to study the biological alterations resulting from this cataclysm… Qualified as a masterpiece of merveilleux-scientifique by science fiction essayists Guy Costes and Joseph Altairac, Rosny aîné claims for his work the status of a scientific novel, in particular by dedicating it to the physicist Jean Perrin and to the mathematician Emile Borel. Indeed, the author puts forward, through the scientist Langre, a scientific explanation for this planetary cataclysm: it would have been caused by the encounter of the Earth with another invisible world.
