The Great Romance, by The Inhabitant

Abstract

Volumes I and II of The Great Romance, two novelettes 55 pages and 39 pages in length respectively, were published separately under the pseudonym of The Inhabitant in 1881 in Ashburton (or possibly Dunedin), New Zealand, and are worthy of attention for their position in the history of utopias and science-fiction (SF). Volume I is interesting as it appears to be the principal source for the frame story of Edward Bellamy’s (1850-1898) influential American novel Looking Backward 2000-1887 (1888), as well as for his short story “To Whom This May Come” (1898). Yet both volumes I and II are also of interest for: (i) providing an instance of how widespread the writing and publishing of SF was in the 19th century, particularly the existence in rural New Zealand of a distinct Antipodean SF/utopian tradition evidenced elsewhere by the likes of Samuel Butler, John Macnie, Anthony Trollope and Jules Verne; (ii) demonstrating a cutting-edge position in the writing of late 19th century SF, with a focus on the future, interplanetary travel, a sympathetic treatment of non-humanoid aliens, technological developments in space travel and non-oxygen environments; and (iii) as a further expression of a late 19th century British Zeitgeist with an emphasis on progress, morality and race.