Dear Urania
In 1857 the Neapolitan astronomer Ernesto Capocci di Belmonte (1798–1864) published the novella Report of the first Voyage to the Moon made by a woman in the year of grace 2057. The tale takes the form of a letter from the Moon written by Capocci’s protagonist Urania to her friend Ernestina on Earth — a conceit allowing the writer to give free rein to his more fanciful scientific speculations under the cover of fiction. In Dear Urania Burgin imagines Ernestina’s reply.
Storyline
In 1857 the Neapolitan astronomer Ernesto Capocci di Belmonte (1798–1864) published the novella Report of the first Voyage to the Moon made by a woman in the year of grace 2057. The tale takes the form of a letter from the Moon written by Capocci’s protagonist Urania to her friend Ernestina on Earth — a conceit allowing the writer to give free rein to his more fanciful scientific speculations under the cover of fiction. In Dear Urania Burgin imagines Ernestina’s reply.
