hollow earth theory
Dates: 2/27/01,12:43 PM through 3/17/01,12:45 PM (7 postings)
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hollow earth theory
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FROM: Jenny Carson <carsonje@oplin.lib.oh.us>
REC'D: 2/27/01, 12:43 PM
FROM: Dennis Lien <Dennis.K.Lien-1@tc.umn.edu>
REC'D: 2/27/01, 1:55 PM
Could be quite a bit longer. The first (I think) fiction piece on the
theme was Ludvig Holberg's 1741 Latin book whose latest English ed. is:
---------------------------------------------------------------
Holberg, Ludvig, baron, 1684-1754.
The journey of Niels Klim to the world underground. Introduced
and edited by James I. McNelis, Jr.
Lincoln, University of Nebraska Press [1960]
xxxi, 236 p. 21 cm.
ry of Congress (Use s=):
Voyages, Imaginary--Early works to 1800.
Utopias--Early works to 1800.
"Modern" hollow earth theories date from John Cleve Symmes (1742-1814),
who tried to convince the American Congress to outfit an expedition
to explore same. Symmes is possibly the author behind the apparent
pseudonym of "Adam Seaborn," author of SYMZONIA: A VOYAGE OF DISCOVERY,
first published in 1820, which in turn is often considered an influence
on Edgar Allen Poe's NARRATIVE OF ARTHUR GORDON PYM--which breaks off
just as (perhaps) the explorers are about to be swept into a Polar
"Symmes hole" into said hollow earth. (Or maybe not.)
The best-known and longest-running fiction series involving a hollow
earth is that of Edgar Rice Burroughs: AT THE EARTH'S CORE; PELLUCIDAR;
TANAR OF PELLUCIDAR; TARZAN AT THE EARTH'S CORE; BACK TO THE STONE AGE;
LAND OF TERROR; and SAVAGE PELLUCDAR.
The entry on "Hollow Earth" in THE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF SCIENCE FICTION
(1993), pages 579-580, lists a number of other titles, most of them
awfully obscure even by my standards; some with relatively recent reprints
include Casanova's ICOSAMERON; Vladimir Obruchev's PLUTONIA; "Vera
Zarpvotch's" MIZORA; William Bradshaw's THE GODDESS OF ATVATABAR.
Not quite Hollow Earth stories, but close, are Bulwer Lytton's THE COMING
RACE and of course Jules Verne's JOURNEY TO THE CENTER OF THE EARTH.
One that's even had popular paperback editions in recent years and a
certain cult following is John Uri Lloyd's ETIDORHPA (originally
published in 1895). For an excerpt and a bit of background, see
http://itsa.ucsf.edu/~ddrc/lloyd.html
There's another cult following (overlapping with UFO/abduction folks)
around the works of Richard S. Shaver, mostly published in AMAZING
STORIES and FANTASTIC ADVENTURES magazines in the late 1940s and in
THE HIDDEN WORLD and other UFO/occult titles in the 1950s and 1960s
(and most of which were probably rewritten by AMAZING's editor, Ray
Palmer, to bring Shaver's semi-illiterate style up to minimal pulp
qualifications). The last batch is usually referred to as "The Shaver
Mystery;" Shaver was quite serious about his lurid fantasies, Palmer
was probably just out to make a buck. Your favorite web search engine
will turn up a number of hits on shaver mystery or richard shaver
of which these are reasonable introductions:
http://www.parascope.com/nb/articles/shaverMystery.htm
http://www.aracnet.com/~rlyeh/spirituality/essays/shaver.html
http://www.disorganization.com/History/Shaver.html
A couple of recent sf novels that make use of the Hollow Earth theory as
plot devices are Richard Lupoff's CIRCUMPOLAR! (1984) and Rudy Rucker's
THE HOLLOW EARTH (1990).
I'll give you 50% odds your client is thinking either of John Uri Lloyd
or Richard S. Shaver; 20% likelihood of Edgar Rice Burroughs; 10% each
on Holberg or on "Seaborn;" 5% on Rucker; 5% on none of the above.
Dennis Lien / U of Minnesota Libraries // d-lien@tc.umn.edu
FROM: "Deb Warner" <dwarner@co.durham.nc.us>
REC'D: 2/28/01, 10:32 AM
FROM: Jeanne Etling <jetling@ccs.nsls.lib.il.us>
REC'D: 2/28/01, 11:14 AM
Jeanne Etling
Dundee (IL) Township Public Library District
FROM: MaryKay Bird-Guilliams <marykbg@wichita.lib.ks.us>
REC'D: 2/28/01, 11:14 AM
Plutonia: an adventure in-prehistory by V.A. Obruchev (Russian geologist)
Copyright 1957
Featured hollow earth, dinosaurs (mammoth on the cover).
Extremely hard to find and out of print.
I read this in junior high. My school library had a copy. I have never
seen it since, but its well written.
Mary K. Bird-Guilliams
Branch Manager
Rockwell District Library
Wichita Public Library
marykbg@wichita.lib.ks.us
FROM: "christine jeffords" <sevenstars39@hotmail.com>
REC'D: 3/2/01, 10:34 AM
>From: Jenny Carson <carsonje@oplin.lib.oh.us>
>Reply-To: "Fiction_L" <Fiction_L@maillist.webrary.org>
>To: Fiction_L <fiction_l@maillist.webrary.org>
>Subject: hollow earth theory
>Date: Tue, 27 Feb 2001 13:33:27 -0500 (EST)
>
>Does anyone know the title and author of a fiction book based on the
>hollow earth theory? It was probably written at least 25-30 years ago,
>maybe longer ago than that.
>
>
The best known such is probably Edgar Rice Burroughs's "Pellucidar" series
(6v., I believe). Lin Carter did a pastiche; he called his world
"Zanthodon." And, of course, there's "Journey to the Center of the Earth,"
but I'm sure you already knew about that.
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FROM: Jeanne Etling <jetling@ccs.nsls.lib.il.us>
REC'D: 3/17/01, 12:45 PM
Jeanne Etling
Dundee (IL) Township Public Library District
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