The Bad Dream

The speculative motif featured in The Bad Dream–the possibility of suspended animation achieved by means of refrigeration–has a substantial literary history in works of fantasy. Jules Hoche’s depiction of a technology of suspended animation is however, much closer in spirit and speculative technological depiction to modern development in “cryonics” than anything that has gone before, and it deserves to be reckoned a significant precursor of the many modern works featuring that theme.

Jules Hoche is undoubtedly one of the more interesting writers who dabbled in speculative fiction in the first quarter of the 20th century. He was a genuinely original thinker, both in his inventions and his attitudes, and never failed to produce food for thought, although one cannot help but regret that he was gradually strangled by the relentless dullness of the popular demand.