Cyrano de Bergerac

Savinien de Cyrano de Bergerac (1619–1655), the real man behind Rostand’s later play, wrote The Other World: Comical History of the States and Empires of the Moon and of the Sun, imaginative voyages that use trips to the Moon and Sun to satirise religion and philosophy, and even sketch means of space travel. Bold, sceptical and inventive, these are landmark ancestors of the interplanetary tale.