The Unparalleled Adventure of One Hans Pfaall
The short story "The Adventure of One Hans incomparable Pfaall " ( Original: "The Unparalleled Adventure of One Hans Pfaall " ) was published by Edgar Allan Poe in June 1835 and focuses on the journey of Hans Pfaall a hot air balloon to the moon. It is one of the first science fiction stories ever.
Action
The short story is in three parts:
In the first part: A short, four-sided opening describes the " highly philosophical [ ] excitement " (p. 125) in the Dutch city of Rotterdam, which is triggered by the appearance of a balloon of dirty newspaper, which is controlled by a very strange shape.
The second part of the journey to the moon described in detail, which he takes with a cat and a dove. In the course of the journey throws the cat, kitten; all animals used Hans Pfaall for examination.
The narrator does not believe that there is a vacuum between the Earth and Moon; he believes it does not matter how far away it is from the earth, it always existed air, just take their concentration off and on. Hans traveling using a " airtight, but elastic caoutchouc bag [s ] " (p. 160) to his basket, whose air he regularly renewed with a capacitor
" [ U] nd as I so with both hands clung to the network, I barely had time to notice that all around the whole country, as far as the eye could see, was covered densely with tiny dwellings, as I already upside down in the middle of unleashed a seemingly fantastical city and a huge amount of ugly little people landed "(p. 185f. ).
Then cancels the story of Hans Pfaall.
In the final part, the narrator tells of speechlessness and admiration of the people of Rotterdam, and undermines the veracity of his report by statements such as: " Hans Pfaall itself, de [r ] drunken [ ] rogue, and titled the three idlers, his creditors, [ had ] been [ seen degree two or three days ago still in a suburban pub ] "(p. 190).
German translations
- The incomparable Adventure of One Hans Pfaall. [ Translated by Hans Wollschläger. ] In: Edgar Allan Poe: Collected works in 5 volumes. [ Translated by Arno Schmidt, Hans Wollschläger, Kuno Schuhmann, Friedrich Polakovics and Ursula Wernicke. ] Vol 1: King Pest. Narratives. Haffmans, Zurich 1994, ISBN 3-251-20169-7 [ reissue the first time in 1966 by Kuno Schuhmann and Hans Dieter Müller ed. Work output of the Walter -Verlag ], pp. 125-199, 335-345 (comment). [ Reference output used here. ]