The mummy! : a tale of the twenty-second century

Title:

Author:

Loudon, Mrs. (Jane), 1807-1858 author.

ISBN:

9781464215285

Author:

Loudon, Mrs. (Jane), 1807-1858 author.

Publication Date:

2022

Physical Description:

xx, 531 pages ; 22 cm.

Series:

Haunted library of horror classics

General Note:

"The Horror Writers Association Haunted library of horror classics presents."

"This text of The Mummy! A Tale of the Twenty-Second Century is that of the 1827 edition, first published by Henry Colburn in London, England"--Title page verso.

"Includes biographical information about the author, discussion questions, and suggested further reading"--Page 4 of cover.

Summary:

"A chilling addition to the acclaimed Haunted Library of Horror Classics series, complete with annotations and extra materials. Within a decade of the 1818 publication of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, another Englishwoman invented a foundational work of science fiction. Seventeen-year-old Jane Webb Loudon took up the theme of reanimation, moved it three hundred years into the future, and applied it to Cheops, an ancient Egyptian mummy. Unlike Shelley's horrifying, death-dealing monster, this revivified creature bears the wisdom of the ages and is eager to share his insights with humanity. Cheops boards a hot-air balloon and travels to 22nd-century England, where he sets about remedying the ills of a corrupt government. In recounting Cheops' attempts to put the futuristic society to rights, the young author offers a fascinating portrait of the preoccupations of her own era as well as some remarkably prescient predictions of technological advances. The Mummy! envisions a world in which automatons perform surgery, undersea tunnels connect England and Ireland, weather-control devices provide crop irrigation, and messages are transmitted with the speed of cannonball fire. The first novel to feature the concept of a living mummy, this pioneering tale offers an engaging mix of comedy, politics, and science fiction"--

Subject Term:

Twenty-second century -- Fiction.

Genre:

Horror fiction

Science fiction.

Added Author:

Tuttle, Lisa, 1952-

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Summary

A chilling addition to the acclaimed Haunted Library of Horror Classics series, complete with annotations and extra materials

Within a decade of the 1818 publication of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, another Englishwoman invented a foundational work of science fiction. Seventeen-year-old Jane Webb Loudon took up the theme of reanimation, moved it three hundred years into the future, and applied it to Cheops, an ancient Egyptian mummy. Unlike Shelley's horrifying, death-dealing monster, this revivified creature bears the wisdom of the ages and is eager to share his insights with humanity. Cheops boards a hot-air balloon and travels to 22nd-century England, where he sets about remedying the ills of a corrupt government.

In recounting Cheops' attempts to put the futuristic society to rights, the young author offers a fascinating portrait of the preoccupations of her own era as well as some remarkably prescient predictions of technological advances. The Mummy! envisions a world in which automatons perform surgery, undersea tunnels connect England and Ireland, weather-control devices provide crop irrigation, and messages are transmitted with the speed of cannonball fire. The first novel to feature the concept of a living mummy, this pioneering tale offers an engaging mix of comedy, politics, and science fiction.

Author Notes

JANE WEBB (Jane C. Loudon, 1807-1858) was a British writer best known for creating the first popular gardening manuals. Born into a wealthy family, she was orphaned at the age of 17 and began writing to support herself. Her first major work, Mummy! A Tale of the Twenty-Second Century was published anonymously in 1827 when she was twenty years old. Many believe that she was inspired by Mary Shelley's Frankenstein , which had published less than a decade prior. The Mummy! is considered a pioneering work of science fiction, and the first English language story to feature a reanimated mummy.

Reviews (1)

Publisher's Weekly Review

The latest obscure reissue in the Horror Writers Association's Haunted Library series, this sprawling, far-future satirical novel was first published in 1827 and occupies the same literary terrain between the late gothic and early science fiction as Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. Its plot hinges on the efforts of disinherited British noble Edric Montagu and his mentor, mad scientist Dr. Entwerfen, to reanimate the mummy of the long-interred Pharaoh Cheops of Egypt using a galvanic battery. The experiment succeeds--whereupon the revived Cheops steals the pair's hot-air balloon (the 22nd century's most advanced vehicle for transcontinental travel) and flees Egypt for London. After accidentally causing the death of England's Queen Claudia, Cheops plays the meddling Machiavelli in the selection of the next monarch, setting up Elvira, the queen's legitimate successor (and love interest of Edric's brother, Edmund), to fail in favor of her impetuous cousin, Rosabella. Webb (1807--1858) revels in writing Cheops's stilted, stuffy dialogue as this singularly malignant figure mingles with courtiers and royalty, accepted as a natural extension of their most devious inclinations. Military and court intrigues add to the entertaining, if sometimes overwrought, melodrama. Readers interested in the early evolution of the sci-fi genre should check this out. (Apr.)