Micromegas - Definition and Overview

Micromégas is a short story written in the Eighteenth Century by the French philosopher and satirist Voltaire. It is a significant development in the history of literature because it originates ideas which helped create the genre of Science Fiction.

The tale recounts the visit to Earth of a being from a planet circling the star Sirius and his companion from the planet Saturn. This story and Voltaire's 'Plato's Dream' (another early precursor of Sci-fi) were probable influences upon H. G. Wells.

The technique of using an outsider to comment on aspects of western culture was popular at this period, and was used again by Voltaire in Zadig, and by Montesquieu in Lettres persanes (Persian Letters), amongst others.

See also: Jonathan Swift, Gulliver's Travels; Mary Shelley, Frankenstein, The Last Man; Thomas More, Utopia.

External links

• Online text of Micromégas (http://wondersmith.com/scifi/micro.htm)
• Online text of Plato's Dream (http://wondersmith.com/scifi/plato.htm)