How the Moon Has Have Been Equally Fanciful

Books! Books! Books! There is no end to knowledge. All you need to do is flip through the pages to get that extra dose of BOOKS infotainment. So simply read on... 03 y landing on the Moon in 1969, Neil Verne-esque tales Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin ar- rived at a place which, up until Cinema versions of the moon that point, had been the stuff of How the moon has have been equally fanciful. In fantasy. But even after they trans- George Melies’ extraordinary Bformed fantasy into fact, the moon continues 1902 work ‘A Trip to the Moon’, to capture the imagination of storytellers, the travellers find giant mush- just as it has for centuries. Literature, nov- rooms and excitable natives. els, cinema... from time im- He follows Verne with a can- memorial, the moon has been inspired storytellers non-propelled space capsule – the object of innumerable and a splashdown at sea on imaginary expeditions. their return. As technology Here’s how the celestial body has been the subject of artistic intrigue brought the possibility of a lunar flight clos- er, that seemed to dampen the market for the Celestial dreams more fanciful lunar tales. As far back as the second century BC, the satirist Lucian of Lunar living Samosata, in ‘True Stories’, freepik Photo: imagined a voyage to the Classic sci-fi writer Robert moon that saw the author and Heinlein still used the moon as his fellow travellers find the the setting for his 1966 novel King of the Moon caught up in a war with ‘The Moon Is a Harsh Mis- the King of the Sun. tress’. By this time, humans in- In the 17th century, French writer Cyra- habit it, and Heinlein’s tale is no de Bergerac wrote a tale titled ‘The Other about the revolt of the lunar World: Comical History of the States and Em- colony against Earth’s rule. pires of the Moon’. And just a year before the Baron Munchausen, the real moon landings, Stanley fictional nobleman created by Kubrick’s epic 1968 film ‘2001: German writer Rudolf Erich A Space Odyssey’ has astro- Raspe, travelled to the moon nauts at an outpost on the moon finding a mys- in a flying boat in 1785 fanta- terious obelisk there. Here, as in Arthur C sy series, ‘The Surprising Ad- Clarke’s ‘Earthlight’, the moon has become lit- ventures of Baron Mun- tle more than the stage for something far more chausen’. And the 17th-centu- important. Perhaps what the ry astronomer Johannes Ke- 1969 Apollo mission to the pler imagined demons on the Moon did was not so much end moon in his story titled ‘The the telling of tales about the Dream’. satellite as change the kind of stories being told. After the Apollo landings, the moon be- Reaching for the moon came a focus for pop culture. In more modern times, science fiction pio- neer H G Wells imagined a sophisticated race of insect-like creatures living below the satel- In pop culture lite’s surface in ‘The First Men on the Moon’. The heroes of the achingly Wells’s adventurers reached the moon using kitsch 1970s science fiction tel- a substance that negated the evision series ‘Space 1999’ are based on the moon forces of gravity. – and have to cope with a nuclear accident that Jules Verne, in his 1865 knocks it out of orbit and sends them hurtling tale ‘From the Earth the READ MORE: MOON IN FICTION into space. The moon also featured in any num- Moon’, was a little less fanci- ber of comic-book adventures and cartoon se- ful, shooting his travellers ARTEMIS 172 HOURS ON THE MOON THIS PLACE HAS NO ries from the 1970s onwards. across space in a giant cannon. by ANDY WEIR (2017) by JOHAN HARSTAD ATMOSPHERE David Bowie released his A century or so later, Arm- by PAULA DANZIGER Kubrick-inspired classic 1969 strong, travelling back from This science fiction novel set After NASA picks up a trans- single ‘Space Oddity’ the same the moon, referred to Verne’s in late 2080s takes place on mission from the moon, it Fifteen-year-old Aurora has month as the moon landings. A tale in one of his television Artemis, the first chooses three grand plans generation later, in the 2013 ver- broadcasts. More recently still, city on the Moon. teenagers to go for life. But sion, Canadian astronaut Chris one of Herge’s 1950s ‘Tintin’ 1 2 Hadfield played his cover ver- adventures featured a visit to the moon — and It follows the life of to a top-secret moon 3 they go kaput sion of the song from the In- even Snowy, his loyal dog, got a spacesuit. porter and smuggler base with a team of when her parents ternational Space Station. AFP Jasmine as she gets astronauts. Turns out announce that they caught up in a con- there is much more than are moving to the spiracy for control of the city. meets the eye! moon for an experiment. AUTHORS OF INDIA SHUT UP! Mrigendra Raj HITTING A Pulitzer prize winning biographer’s interview THE BOOKS tip: Stay quiet and let the interviewee talk THE NEWS obert A Caro, the Pulitzer fiction. There is one particularly Prize-winning author of ‘The useful piece of advice for anyone. INDIAN COOKBOOKS RPower Broker’ and ‘The Years In the chapter titled ‘Tricks of the 1 SCORE BIG AT THE of Lyndon Johnson,’ is known for Trade’ Caro writes, “Interviews: si- his meticulously researched and lence is the weapon, silence and peo- GOURMAND AWARDS: Cookbooks from thoroughly reported biographies. ple’s need to fill it – as long as the photo: Facebook Which is why Caro’s latest book, person is not you, the interviewer.” India bagged several his 12-year-old child prodigy from ‘Working: Researching, Interview- Caro likens his own interviewing prizes at the 24th ing, Writing’, is so particularly fas- process to those of fictional inter- Uttar Pradesh has already written Which book has this edition of the cinating. In ‘Working,’ for the first viewers like Inspector Maigret and 135 books on diverse genres, includ- time ever, Caro details the fasci- George Smiley, at least in one dis- T Gourmand World quote? ing religion and biographies of famous nating process behind his tinct way: All Cookbook Awards, with author Sonal personalities. 1. “The sweetest smiles hold the work. three ‘have little cleans his glasses. Caro does some- Ved’s ‘Tiffin: 500 Authentic Recipes’ win- The book devices they use to thing far more pedestrian: He writes Raj began writing at the age of six, his darkest secrets.” ning in three categories. Nandita is tremen- keep themselves from reminders for himself to ‘shut up’. first being a compilation of poems. Now he dously use- talking.’ In the case of Whether you are interviewing Haksar’s ‘The Flavours of Nationalism: 2. “It ain’t always rocket science, writes under the pseudonym ‘Aaaj Ka ful if you are Maigret, Caro a subject or interviewing a job can- Recipes for Love, Hate and Friendship’ sometimes a door is just a door.” interested in the says, he cleans his didate, the same logic applies: Shut Abhimanyu’ and has four world records to won in two categories – cookbook for process of research- pipe. And in the up! How that person responds to si- his credit. IANS 3. “I’m giving serious thought ing and writing non- case of Smiley, he lence could speak volumes. BI peace and food writing. Kiranmayi into eating your wife.” Bhushi’s ‘Farm to Fingers’ and ‘Culture & 4. “It is said that in death, all Politics of Food in Contemporary India’ also won awards while HarperCollins was things become clear.” Jeet Thayil on International named food book publisher of the year. PTI 5. “What looked like morning was the beginning of endless night.” NOVELIST DAVID 2 BALDACCI GIFTS 6. “It doesn’t cost anything to Booker Prize judging panel $1M TO MARK TWAIN pay attention.” HOME: The historic ward-winning Indi- The 2019 International His debut novel ‘Narcopolis’ was home in Hartford 7. “When dancing with a pit bull, an author Jeet Thay- shortlisted for the 2012 Man Book- il will be part of a Booker Prize was won by er Prize. His poetry collections in- (Connecticut, US), it’s always best to let him lead.” Afive-member judging Omani author Jokha Alharthi clude ‘These Errors Are Correct’, where Mark Twain and panel for the 2020 Interna- for ‘Celestial Bodies’ which won the Sahitya Akademi his family once lived ANSWERS tional Booker Prize. The Award, and ‘English’, winner of a 7. Michael Barnett’s ‘Eden Fading’ ‘Eden Barnett’s Michael 7. £50,000 prize, which runs New York Foundation for the Arts has received a $ 1 million gift from best- 6. Scott Cherney’s ‘Red Asphalt’ ‘Red Cherney’s Scott 6. alongside the main Book- winner of the Sahitya Akademi award. selling novelist David Baldacci and his er Prize for works of fic- Award, will join his fellow judges Thayil will be joined on the In- 5. William Peter Blatty’s ‘The Exorcist’ ‘The Blatty’s Peter William 5. wife. Baldacci, who has published 38 tion in the English lan- to look for the best works of trans- ternational Booker Prize judging books, has served on the board of 4. Dan Brown’s ‘Digital Fortress’ ‘Digital Brown’s Dan 4. guage, is split equally lated fiction from entries published panel by comparative literature and trustees of the Twain House since 2012. 3. Thomas Harris’ ‘Hannibal Lecter’ ‘Hannibal Harris’ Thomas 3.

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