CHIACCHIERE LUNATICHE - FRANCIS GODWIN - THE STRANGE VOYAGE AND ADVENTURES OF DOMINGO GONSALES

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"THE STRANGE VOYAGE AND ADVENTURES OF DOMINGO GONSALES

TO THE WORLD IN THE MOON"

1638

FRANCIS GODWIN (1562 - 1633)

(pagina a cura di C.V. Insolitus - pseud.)

Prozio di Jonathan Swift scrisse The Man in the Moone, or a Discourse of a Voyage thither, by Domingo Gonsales, si suppone, attorno al 1620, Questo libro fu però pubblicato postumo nel 1638. Nella sua opera Godwin dichiara non solo di credere nel sistema copernicano ma fa propri i principi delle leggi gravitazionali supponendo che il peso corporeo decresca in funzione della distanza del soggetto dalla Terra.
Domingo Gonzales, eroe del romanzo, fra le varie curiosità, scopre che tutti, a differenza dei terrestri, parlano una stessa lingua che non consiste di parole e di lettere, ma di strani toni. È infatti un linguaggio musicale.
Gonzales pensa che sia facile inventare una lingua simile, agevole da apprendere, e che ugualmente facile sia costruire qualunque altra lingua del Mondo fatta solo di toni e di note.Lo scritto, ricco di invenzione e conoscenza influenzò John Wilkins per il suo The discovery of a world in the Moone. Entrambi furono tradotti in francese e imitati in molti contenuti da Cyrano de Bergerac mentre Jonathan Swift vi si ispirò per il viaggio di Gulliver a Laputa.

INTRODUZIONE

An Account of the Maud of St. Hellena; thePlace where
he resided some Years in, and where he planned this
Wonderful Voyage; his entering on Board one of the
Homeward-bound East-India Ships for Spain; their running
on the Rocks near the Pike of Teneriff to avoid
an English Squadron of Ships, that were in Pursuit of
the Spanish Fleet ; Gonsales had just Time to fix his Machine,
which carried him in Safety to the Pike of Teneriff,
having refted his Gansas on the Mountain, whence
was pursued by the Savages; when giving the Signal to
his Birds, they arose in the Air with him for their Journey
to the Moon : The wonderful Apparitions and Devils
he met with in his Progress; their Temptations to
him, which he avoided, and their suppiying him with
choice Provisions ; his leaving this Hellith Crew, and
proceeding on his Voyage to the Moon; his safe Arrival
there; the Manners, Customs, and Language of the
Emperors, Kings, Princes and People: His short Stay
there, to the great Grief of the Lunars; the inestimable
Presents in Jewels the Author received at his Departure;
his repairing to our Earthly Globe again, and was set
down in China by his Birds; his being taken for a Magician
by the Country People, and preserved from their
Fury by a Chinese Mandarin; his going aboard an India
Ship bound to Europe, his safe Arrival in his own Country,
where he made his Discoveries to the King of Spain,
who held several Cabinet Councils to deliberate on 21
proper use to be made of thefe Difcoveries.
With a Description of the Pike of Teneriff, as travelled up
by some English Merchants.