Lichtenberger, André
Entry updated 12 September 2022. Tagged: Author.
(1870-1940) French editor, politician and author. Of his several works of fantasy or sf, Les Centaures, roman fantastique (Paris: Calman-Lévy, 1904) and Pickles, ou récits à la mode anglaise ["Pickles; Or, Stories in the English Style"] (coll 1923), have been assembled as The Centaurs and Other Stories (omni trans Brian Stableford 2013). The title novel is a prehistoric fantasy about the gradual extinction of the centaurs (and other creatures who obeyed the Law, which is Thou Shalt Not Kill) by Homo sapiens, who routinely break the Law. The tale deals with matters similar to those that occupied Thomas Burnett Swann for most of his career. The remaining tales are homages to English writers: to Rudyard Kipling in "Mowgli Returns from the Front", to Jonathan Swift in "Gulliver in the Land of the Vichebolks", and to H G Wells in "Mr Cuffycoat's Curious Adventure". Raramémé, histoire d'ailleurs (1921; trans Brian Stableford as The Children of the Crab 2013) is an unusually powerful Lost Race: French and German explorers, in the middle of World War One, discover a Utopia in a mysterious Pacific Island inhabited by peaceful beings sidelined (see Apes as Human) by the main thrust of Evolution. As an inevitable consequence of the behaviour of humans at War, their culture is duly destroyed. [JC]
André Lichtenberger
born Strasbourg, France: 29 November 1870
died Paris: 23 March 1940
works (selected)
- Les Centaures, roman fantastique (Paris: Calman-Lévy, 1904) [binding unknown/]
- Raramémé, histoire d'ailleurs (Paris: J Ferenczi, 1921) [binding unknown/]
- The Children of the Crab (Encino, California: Hollywood Comics/Black Coat Press, 2013) [trans by Brian Stableford of the above: pb/Mike Hoffman]
- Pickles, ou récits à la mode anglaise ["Pickles; Or, Stories in the English Style"] (Paris: Crès, 1923) [coll: binding unknown/]
- The Centaurs and Other Stories (Encino, California: Hollywood Comics/Black Coat Press, 2013) [omni: trans by Brian Stableford of the above plus Les Centaures above: three of four stories from Pickles are here included: pb/Mike Hoffman]
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