Earth Revisited
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 | |
| Author | Byron A. Brooks |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Genre | Speculative fiction Utopian fiction |
| Publisher | Arena Publishing Co. |
Publication date | 1893 |
| Publication place | United States |
| Media type | Print (Hardcover) |
| Pages | 318 |
Earth Revisited is an 1893 utopian novel by Byron Alden Brooks.[1] It is one entrant in the large body of utopian and speculative fiction that characterized the later 19th and early 20th centuries.[2][3][4]
Brooks sends his protagonist from the late 19th century into the future to experience a vastly improved world. His novel is one of a stream of such books that appeared in the late 19th century. Edward Bellamy's Looking Backward (1888) was the most famous, popular, and influential of these; and Earth Revisited has been dismissively called "One of the stepchildren" of Bellamy's book.[5] Yet Brooks's novel can be usefully compared to an earlier work in the genre, John Macnie's The Diothas (1883). Both books share some particular ideas (like communal food preparation for private homes); and the concept of reincarnation is fundamental to both, which is not typical of the utopian literature of the era as a whole.
Like many other utopian novels, Earth Revisited also verges on science fiction in its anticipation of future technologies. Notably, Brooks envisions contact with intelligent life on the planet Mars: topographic features are engineered as signals between the planets. (On the Earth, a large equilateral triangle, a hundred miles per side, is constructed in the Great Plains.)[6] Brooks also foresees a vast land reclamation project that turns the Sahara Desert into a region of lakes and farmland.[7]
Society and technology
Brooks anticipates a number of developments that would come about in the decades after his book, including a juvenile justice system that is empowered to remove children from homes with unsuitable parents. Technologically, he equips his future with electric cars and dirigible-like aircraft called "anemons." He envisions electricity generated with solar power. (Solar power was in its beginnings in his epoch)[8] He predicts color photography and advances in electronic communications. In what may be the most surprising feature in the book, dogs are taught to understand human speech and respond with a simple code of staccato barks[9] — a foreshadowing of modern communication with apes and other animals using methods like sign language.
Spiritualism
In his novel, author Brooks goes farther than most utopian writers of his generation (including Macnie) ever did in uniting the utopian genre with elements of the spiritualism that was popular in his era.[10] One contemporaneous source classified his book as a "spiritual romance."[11] Brooks uses several elements of spiritualism in his book, including hypnotism, somnambulism, clairvoyance, mediumship, and automatic writing; reincarnation and life after death are important themes. Brooks concludes his book with a long discussion of religious and theological matters.
Every novelist who wants to send their protagonist into the future has to decide on a means of doing so. For Bellamy, hypnosis does the trick, while the anonymous author of The Great Romance administers a "sleeping draught" to his character. Brooks chose the unusual and radical approach of having his hero die, then reawaken in the body of another man living a century later.