History of Venus in fiction and science
prior to 1960’s probing (4/5)
Prior to the 1962 Mariner II passing
of Venus, only terrestrial observations of Venus were made. These observations
were monotonously ruddy, the cloud cover of Venus providing am impenetrable
dusty cloak covering its surface. This veil of mystery led to some wild
theories as what exactly Venus was concealing: world-spanning oceans, gigantic
foliage, murky swamps, and featureless plains. When the Mariner probe read high
temperatures on the surface, sullen theorists had to accept the hard news.
Later when the Russian Venera 4 probe descended through the atmosphere, high
levels of carbon dioxide and low levels of oxygen were recorded, again dashing
the hopes of easily finding extraterrestrial life on a solar body. The Venera 4
probe confirmed the extreme temperatures on the surface, but the most brilliant
scientists and theorists still held hope for extreme forms of life, where
Venusian life “might have to embody substances which are liquid at 280 degrees,
build a strange genetic code, possibly with compounds of phosphorous or
selenium, and feed on carbon dioxide and dust” (Davy, “Venus Mystery for
Scientists”, p.263).
Farewell, Fantastic Venus takes the reader through the fictional
and non-fictional history of Venus’s development. Containing more excerpts and
essays than complete stories, this book is more of a synopsis than an
anthology, more of a reference than a collection. It’s certainly interesting to
read all the speculation, from the extreme to the urbane, from the aquatic to
the deserted, from the thriving to the uninhabited.
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SECTION I: Clouded Judgments
[précis] A Trip to Venus (1897) - John
Munro
A review of a predictably camp story of
Naysmith Carmichael, inventor of the flying “car”, flies to Venus only to find
beautiful bucolic people with a noble Christian disposition. 8 pages
[essay] The Story of the Heavens (1882)
- Sir Robert Ball
An astronomer recounts witness Venus’s
transit across the sun in 1882 during a snow flurries yet still manages to
obtain measurements regarding its diameter. 4 pages
[excerpt] Honeymoon in Space (1968) -
George Griffith
Delicious Venus air greets the
travelers who remark how lovely everything is. Using music as a “universal
language”, the humans and Vesuvius music and wonderment. 15 pages
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SECTION II: Never-fading Flowers
[essay] The Destinies of the Stars
(1917) - Svante Arrhenius
The astronomer induces that Venus is
“dripping wet” without actually measuring the atmosphere, and further induces
growths of “luxuriant vegetation”. 3 pages
[excerpt] Last and First Men (1930) -
Olaf Stapledon
Once the Fifth Men arrive on Venus,
where oxygen is plentiful, billions of years of evolution and genetic
manipulation spawn extreme versions of humans and their cultures. 25 pages
[excerpt] Pirates of Venus (1932) -
Edgar Rice Burroughs
Wanting for Mars, bur arriving Venus (I
hate when that happens), Napier is attacked in the towering foliage but is
saved men in loin-cloths armed with knives. 9 pages
[excerpt] Perelandra (1943) - C. S.
Lewis
The narrator arrives in the oceanic
world on Venus, adrift in the sea amid towering waves, seeking solace upon a
great patch of foliage where bears fruit and bubbles. 17 pages
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SECTION III: Swamp and Sand
[shortstory] Alchemy (1950) - John &
Dorothy de Courcy (4/5)
A blue-skinned Venus native meets the
narrator. They traverse the desert-like landscape to share meals and ascend the
towers which pictorially represent Venus history. 9 pages
[essay] The Man from Venus (1939) -
Frank R. Paul
Inducing a “tropical richness” with
watery areas in great abundance, this illustrator envisions scaled Vesuvius,
replete with great strength, numerous children, and satisfaction. 2 pages
[shortstory] A City on Venus (1941) - Henry
Gade (2/5)
The ubiquitous “perpetual cloud
blanket” hides a rocky land with coral reefs, floating islands, fungus-caped
dwellings, citizens flying upon tamed pterodactyls. 3 pages
[essay] Unveiling the Mystery Planet
(1955) - Willy Ley
Admitting little is known of Venus, a
scientist covers the known facts through the history of viewing Venus as a
celestial body and reviewing prior misconceptions. 8 pages
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SECTION IV: “Venus is Hell!”
[essay] Exploring the Planets (1964) -
V. A. Firsoff
Using scientific methods, a scientist
covers the facts about Venus’s microwave emissions and hypothesizes three
scenarios prior to a “manned satellite mission” in the future. 3 pages
[novella] The Big Rain (1954) - Poul
Anderson (4/5)
Hollister arrives on Venus as an
earthborn man wanting to make a new life on the authoritarian planet, yet
successfully eludes suspicion of actually of being a United Nations
Inspectorate spy. His mission is simply to infiltrate the industrial sector and
eventually report back his findings on how human life on Venus has been shaped.
The UN isn’t happy about Venus being independent, but the Venusians themselves
are caught in the romanticism of the strife for self-sufficiency. When
Hollister abruptly gets married, due to the fertility laws, and his wife visits
him on-location, he becomes suspicious, interrogates his wife, and rallies his
workforce for a counter-authoritarian strike against the city of New America. 68 pages
[excerpt] Intelligent Life in the Universe
(1966) - Carl Sagan
Reviewing past scientific hypotheses
about Venus, Sagan updates the facts with recent discoveries from the 1962
Mariner II pass and posits an “appalling hot” planet. 7 pages
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SECTION V: Big Sister
[excerpt] Escape to Venus (1956) - S.
Makepeace Lott
In-bound to Venus, a husband and wife
listen to the dry cinematic information of the specifics of Venusian politics,
the Venus calendar, and the concept of no private property. 4 pages
[novella] Sister Planet (1959) - Poul
Anderson (5/5)
An oceanic Venus is colonized by a sole
research station. The native aquatic animals (cetoids) seem to trade minerals
and gems for the humans’ works of art and musical pieces, but the verdict is
still out on whether they’re actually intelligent. When Hawthorne
one day receives a luscious gem from his cetoid friend Oscar, he becomes
intrigued by the strong possibility of their innate intelligence, which is
confirmed when Oscar invites Hawthorne
onto his back for a plunge into the deep Venusian ocean where he witness a
majestic underwater Taj Mahal. Keeping his secret safe for now, another
scientist reveals that he has proven that Venus can be colonized by way
of radial terraformation. This very idea haunts Hawthorne. 29 pages
[shortstory] Before Eden (1961) - Arthur
C. Clarke (4/5)
At a high elevation on the southern
pole with lowering temperatures, the likelihood of liquid water on Venus is
increasing for two scientists. The two walk up a slope to a liquid lake where
their attention to drawn to a nearby dark shaggy growth creeping their way.
Thermophobic, the carpet steers clear of their suits’ exhaust and shrieks away
from their white light beams. Inflating a tent, the scientists gather their
materials and bury their wastes before heading back to the ship. Now that
they’ve left, the shaggy growth’s attention is now drawn. 12 pages
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SECTION VI: The Open Question
[essay] Some Mysteries of Venus
Resolved (1967) - Sir Bernard Lovell
After the American Mariner II probe
passing of Venus in 1962 and the Russian descent through the atmosphere to the
surface in 1967, the fantasies of a fantastic Venus have been flattened. 5
pages
[essay] Dream of Distance (1967) - Anonymous
“written… by an anonymous drug addict
while under the influence of LSD. In its musings, its style, it belongs
unmistakably to our times and outlook” (Aldiss, “The Open Question”, p. 255). 3
pages
[essay] Venus Mystery for Scientists
(1967) - John Davy
The absence of nitrogen and argon on
Venus stumps scientists, including Dr. Sagan. Whatever life exists on Venus
would be very exotic, be it the soil or in the clouds. 3 pages
[essay] Scientist Says Icecaps on Venus
Would Make Life Possible (1968) - Evert Clark
As the title says, some possibility
remains that pressure and temperature may be stable enough to support life at
the poles. Life on Venus isn’t an impossibility. 3 pages
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