This book examines the development of Latin American science
fiction from the mid-nineteenth century until the early days of
Modernsmo via an in-depth discussion of the first three novels
published in Spanish America:
Viaje maravilloso del senor
Nic-Nac al planeta Marte by Argentinian writer Eduardo Ladislao
Holmberg,
Desde Jupiter by the Chilean Francisco Miralles,
and
Querens by Pedro Castera from Mexico. These three novels
incorporate all the attributes that consistently appear in a
science fiction work through a blend of Darwinism and Spiritism,
the two most dominant and widely-debated scientific discourses of
their time. Consistent with the social and political interests in
the recently independent Latin American nations, the three writers
address scientific, aesthetic, intellectual and personal beliefs
through a combination of utopian optimism and dystopian
pragmatism.