G.-H. Bougeant 1 hr 46 min read

Prince Fan-Férédin journeys into the fantastical land of 'Romancie', the realm of romances and novels itself, and explores its marvelous geography, natural history, and inhabitants.

G.-H. Bougeant's 1735 book is a witty allegorical fantasy and literary satire. Clever, playful, learned. Read it for a delightful Enlightenment jeu d'esprit, a voyage into the very country of fiction, gently mocking the conventions of the romance genre, an ingenious early work of metafictional fantasy, here in the original French.

In its time

Published in 1735, during the Pre-1800, voyages to the moon, subterranean worlds, and philosophical utopias, the deep roots of the imaginative tradition, from kepler and cyrano to the enlightenment.

Reading it

1 hr 46 min read (a novella, a full arc in one sitting or two).