Interplanetary Intimacy: Alien-Human Love in J.-H. Rosny aîné’s Martian Novels

Abstract

This article reassesses J.-H. Rosny aine’s two sequential novels, Les Navigateurs de l’infini (1925) and Les Astronautes (1933; published posthumously in 1960), dealing with the exploratory voyage of three astronauts to Mars and humanity’s first encounter with a rational extraterrestrial race. The love story between the human first-person narrator, Jacques, and Grâce, an orificeless, six-eyed female tripedal creature, gradually eclipses the wider context of exploration and scientific advancement. The romance occupies much of the sequel, with the added complication of a love triangle with Violaine, the sister of one of the other voyagers. Through the perspective of this unusual relationship, Rosny calls into question European colonialism and pessimistic science fiction exemplified by H. G. Wells pitting human civilization against an alien enemy. The works may be contextualized as part of an interwar wave of science fiction involving Martians that critiqued imperialism. Above all, alterity is posited as an ultimately positive notion.