The Somnium Project

Exploring Johannes Kepler's 'Somnium' – one of the first science fiction stories

Johannes Kepler: Somnium (The Dream)

[Footnotes with numbers are Kepler’s; footnotes with letters are mine.]

I.   The Dream 

The narrator reads about ancient magic before falling asleep in the moonlight to dream

II.   ‘My name is Duracotus …’

A mysterious book, written by an Icelander named Duracotus, whose mother Fiolxhilde practiced ancient & occult arts

III.   A Voyage

After an argument with his mother, the boy Duracotus stows away on a ship bound for Denmark 

IV.   At Hven with Tycho Brahe

Duracotus joins the students of astronomer Tycho Brahe at the Uraniborg observatory on the island of Hven

V.   Voyage Home

After studying at Uraniborg for years, Duracotus returns to Iceland and his mother Fiolxhilde, who thought him dead

VI.  Fiolxhilde Speaks

Fiolxhilde reveals the occult art of conversing & traveling with certain ‘wise spirits’ encountered in Iceland

VII.  A Summoning

Fiolxhilde summons her arcane teacher, an entity or ‘daemon’ with the ability to travel through space

VIII.  The Daemon from Levania

The daemon describes Levania – the earth’s moon – and the selection of humans who can survive the journey

IX.  Journey to the Moon

The dangers of space travel for humans and the methods used by daemons to ensure their safety

X.  Between Worlds

How squadrons of daemons can transport human travelers to the moon through the shadow of a solar eclipse

XI.  On Lunar Astronomy

How the astronomy of the inhabitants of the moon differs between lunar regions and from the earth

XII.  The Earth from the Moon

The appearance of the earth and the movements of celestial objects seen by the inhabitants of the moon

XIII.  Lunar Regions

The regions of the moon according to astronomical phenomena seen from the lunar surface

32 responses to “Johannes Kepler: Somnium (The Dream)”

  1. Whewell’s Gazette: Year2, Vol. #20 | Whewell's Ghost Avatar
    Whewell’s Gazette: Year2, Vol. #20 | Whewell's Ghost

    […] The Somnium Project: Johannes Kepler: Somnium (The Dream) […]

    Reply
  2. Avi Katz Avatar
    Avi Katz

    Don’t know who’s reading this but– point of interest, ‘Levana’, ‘The White One’, is a poetic name for the moon in Hebrew

    Reply
    1. Tom Metcalfe Avatar
      Tom Metcalfe

      Fascinating – thank you!

      Reply
    2. Thomas Klugh Avatar
      Thomas Klugh

      Meeee! I’m reading this, Avi. I’ve been (trying) to teach myself Latin for many years. It’s slow going but personally rewarding… Using Wheelock’s 7th Ed.. This page is a real find… And I thank you!

      Reply
  3. Avatar
    Anonymous

    Are there only XiV pages published? Are the rest going to be published here?

    Reply
    1. Tom Metcalfe Avatar
      Tom Metcalfe

      Yes, it’s a work in progress. Eventually I hope to complete all the pages of the story and the many footnotes, which are about four times as long as the main story. If you subscribe/follow the blog you can get email updates when new pages are posted. Please note they are not public domain, but a new (& copyrighted) translation – however I hope to post the entire story so it can be read here for free forever.

      Reply
      1. Thomas Klugh Avatar
        Thomas Klugh

        And I can’t thank you enough! This page is a real find for me!

  4. riasath Avatar
    riasath

    Congratulations for this amazing work!

    Is it okay to reproduce this online (along with your name, blog’s name and all the due credits for your hardwork), purely for the sake of promoting this work? or saving for personal use?

    Also, I’d love to know from where you’re translating (the original piece) and is it available somewhere?
    How many chapters are remaining and by what time will it be completed?

    Good luck for this tho! 🙂

    Reply
    1. Tom Metcalfe Avatar
      Tom Metcalfe

      Thanks, you are welcome to link to or quote from my translation here, but not to reproduce the whole translation.

      The Latin is from Frisch 1858, Kepler’s Opera Omnia, source here: https://archive.org/details/joanniskepleria12frisgoog

      I’ve also edited the Latin shown on my blog to common modern spellings.

      The main story is about 2/3 done, then there are many 1000s of words of Kepler’s footnotes to go

      Reply
  5. Christian Raum Avatar
    Christian Raum

    Hello Tom, that’s an amazing work you are doing!
    I am staying on Ven in the moment and were at Brahe’s Uraniborg this sfternoon. I published a small post with pictures, pasted in from your Latin text and set a link to your Blog. Please let me know whether I should add Background or Credits about your Blog. Thanks! Christian
    Pls click… http://wp.me/p5Mrwz-1gV

    Reply
    1. Tom Metcalfe Avatar
      Tom Metcalfe

      Yes that’s fine, thank you for the link! I will also link your blog post up in the blog section here

      Reply
  6. constantinocasasbuenas Avatar
    constantinocasasbuenas

    Your work is fantastic. Thank you. I would like to get your updates in order to fully understand the role of Somnium within the specificities of the socio-political context when it was written.

    Reply
  7. orwaazzam Avatar
    orwaazzam

    Is this every thing? this is the whole novel?

    Reply
    1. Tom Metcalfe Avatar
      Tom Metcalfe

      No, not yet. Still about half of the story and all of Kepler’s own footnotes to go

      Reply
  8. Ed Wicke Avatar
    Ed Wicke

    Superb; much enjoyed so far,

    Reply
  9. Avatar
    Anonymous

    This is so great!! Thank you thank you!!

    Reply
  10. Lefty bloody cheffy Avatar
    Lefty bloody cheffy

    More please 🙂

    Reply
  11. DD Avatar
    DD

    Thanks so much. I am sharing the link with a few others who will appreciate as much as I did.

    Reply
  12. Divers sites internet | Lors de l'Astronome Johannes Kepler a Écrit le Premier ouvrage de Science-Fiction, Le Rêve (1609) | La revue de web des livres

    […] Isaac Asimov et de Carl Sagan, sci-fi a commencé bien plus tôt, avec un roman intitulé” Somnium (“Le Rêve”), écrit par nul autre que l’allemand, un astronome et un mathématicien […]

    Reply
  13. When Astronomer Johannes Kepler Wrote the First Work of Science Fiction, The Dream (1609) – The Hour News

    […] mavens as Isaac Asimov and Carl Sagan, sci-fi started even previous, with a unique referred to as Somnium (“The Dream”), written by means of none rather than German astronomer and mathematician […]

    Reply
  14. Avatar
    Anonymous

    For some years I work on “Somnia”, works, aspects (philosophical or scientific) that are given under the literary genre of a “somnium”, so there is some time that I study Kepler’s somnium and your work has been very helpful. Thank you

    Reply
  15. The Uncertain Heavens: Christiaan Huygens’ Ideas of E.T. Life in the 1680s – Brewminate

    […] Somnium, Johannes Kepler, 1608. […]

    Reply
  16. How space became the ultimate frontier for beauty – Beautifaire

    […] concept we could all someday lead a cosmic lifestyle. In 1609, German astronomer Johannes Kepler wrote a novel through which a young traveller lands on the Moon to seek out that lunar beings consider Earth […]

    Reply
  17. ..dribble (dreams, dadaism and being overtaken by real events) – very random considerations

    […] other blog is the Somnium Project (https://somniumproject.wordpress.com/somnium/?blogsub=confirming#subscribe-blog) – I want to read Kepler’s story, having read John Banville’s, […]

    Reply
  18. Avatar
    Anonymous

    I am an English teacher at a science high school in South Korea. I am planning to read the English version of Somnium with my students.Your website is greatly helping me with the understanding! (I am an English teacher, so I don’t know much about science.) Thank you very much for your hard work. : )

    Reply
  19. Avatar
    Anonymous

    I am an English teacher at a science high school in South Korea. I am planning to read the English version of Somnium with my students, and your website is greatly helping me with the understanding! (I am an English teacher, so I don’t know much about science.) Thank you very much for your hard work. : )

    Reply
  20. 2024 Reading Summary: February (+ Writing Update) | A Phuulish Fellow

    […] Somnium in an online English translation is infamously nasty. I can recommend starting here: https://somniumproject.wordpress.com/somnium/ – but that only gets you the first half of the story. For the second half, go to the […]

    Reply
  21. Avatar
    Anonymous

    Thank you very much 🙂

    Reply
  22. Avatar
    Anonymous

    hello,

    i’ve been reading your text for several years as a reference and inspiration for my own texts. But I would like to ask if I am allowed to translate each section from your version intospanish. I live in Mexico, I like to write and it is difficult for me to find this beautiful text in my language.

    thank you very much for your generosity in your work!

    Reply
    1. Tom Metcalfe Avatar
      Tom Metcalfe

      Yes, that will be fine, thank you for asking. Please add a link here with any results.

      Reply
  23. Eli Graham Avatar
    Eli Graham

    Great reading yoour blog post

    Reply
  24. Kepler e a Ficção Científica: Análise de Somnium – Stella D'Avansso Avatar
    Kepler e a Ficção Científica: Análise de Somnium – Stella D’Avansso

    […] PROJECT. Página “Somnium” do blog. Disponível em: https://somniumproject.wordpress.com/somnium/. Acesso em: […]

    Reply

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The Somnium Project is an ongoing effort to fully translate into English the Somnium, which Kepler wrote in Latin between 1600 and his death in 1630.

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