Auf zwei Planeten

by

German language

Published June 11, 1897

OCLC Number:
3125826

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5 stars (1 review)

Two Planets (German: Auf zwei Planeten, lit. On Two Planets, 1897) is an influential science fiction novel postulating intelligent life on Mars by Kurd Lasswitz. It was first published in hardcover by Felber in two volumes in 1897; there have been many editions since, including abridgements by the author's son Erich Lasswitz (Cassianeum, 1948) and Burckhardt Kiegeland and Martin Molitor (Verlag Heinrich Scheffler, 1969). The 1948 abridgement, with "incidental parts" of the text taken from the 1969 version, was the basis of the first translation into English by Hans H. Rudnick, published in hardcover by Southern Illinois University Press in 1971. A paperback edition followed from Popular Library in 1976.

1 edition

reviewed Auf zwei Planeten by Kurd Lasswitz

A fun story with serious gems about politics, utopianism and racism.

5 stars

Read it (in German) as part of my final assessment, and it ended up as my favorite. Even though the size initially discouraged me, the pages flew by, and I wished it'd continue.

The Science in the novel's Sci Fi is clearly outdated by today's knowledge (it was written in 1897), but once you're aware of that, it just adds to the fun and immersion. Besides the obvious love story, there are also many hidden gems about politics, utopianism and racism embedded.

Definitely worth a read, though be aware that the paperback version I had (from exlibris.ch) had some printing errors and some of the many freely available digital versions have too.

Just sad I wasn't tested on this book in the end :'(