The Future's Eve

Villiers de L'Isle-Adam's The Future's Eve (L've Future, 1886) is a visionary interrogation of technology, humanity, and ideal love. When Lord Ewald asks his friend (a fictionized Thomas Edison) to replace Alicia, his flawed lover, Edison births Hadaly, a lifelike android. Blending science fiction, Gothic romance and Symbolist philosophy, The Future's Eve attacks the pursuit of perfection and is considered to be the first popular depiction of artificial life. It is celebrated for its prescient themes, poetic language, and its profound commentary on the meeting of human longing and technological innovation. By reimagining the text in twenty-first century English, R J Dent carefully preserves the novel's essence while addressing the linguistic complexities and challenges of the original novel. This new translation of The Future's Eve revitalises L'Isle-Adam's 1886 text and provides readers with a fresh, accessible, modern English version of this groundbreaking work which reflects the author's satirical take on science.