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| In The Experiment of Dr. Mops (1939), a man's vision is
modified so that he can peer into the future at an accelerated rate, giving
his entourage foreknowledge of events yet to come. Can the future be changed?
And what will the subject see after his own death?
The unhappy protagonist of The Eye Of Purgatory (1945) sees not the
real future but an increasingly aging present, where death and decay
became overpowering sights. This dark, introspective novel is a powerful
reflection of the notion of time and aging, and is unique in the annals
of science fiction.
Jacques Spitz (1896-1963) was a grandmaster of French science fiction
who penned eight groundbreaking novels between 1935 and 1945, becoming
the worthy successor of Maurice Renard and J.-H. Rosny Aîné,
and heralding luminaries of the 1950s and 1960s such as René
Barjavel, Jacques Sternberg and Pierre Boulle. In his fiction, Spitz
used realistic, scientific details, his own wild and surrealistic imagination
and pessimistic view of humanity,to craft tragicomic satires on a "cosmic"
scale. His concerns anticipated the so-called "New Wave" and
writers like J. G. Ballard and Thomas Disch by 30 years.
Cover by Juan Miguel Aguilera
Published by Black Coat Press in 2010
ISBN: 978-1-935558-64-4
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