author
Cyrano de Bergerac
1619–1655
A real-life swordsman, playwright, and free-thinking satirist, he inspired one of literature’s most famous legends. His own writing mixes wit, bold ideas, and early imaginative journeys to the Moon and the Sun.
4 Audiobooks
L'autre monde; ou, Histoire comique des Etats et Empires de la Lune
by Cyrano de Bergerac
A Voyage to the Moon
by Cyrano de Bergerac
Voyages to the Moon and the Sun
by Cyrano de Bergerac
Lettres d'amour
by Cyrano de Bergerac
About the author
Born in Paris in 1619, Savinien de Cyrano de Bergerac was a French writer, soldier, and duelist whose life later became wrapped in romantic myth. The historical Cyrano was not simply the swashbuckling hero made famous by Edmond Rostand’s much later play; he was also a sharp, inventive author with a taste for argument, satire, and intellectual freedom.
He wrote plays, letters, and prose works that challenged accepted ideas and showed a lively, restless imagination. He is especially remembered for The Other World stories, including journeys to the Moon and the Sun, works that helped make him an important early forerunner of science fiction.
Cyrano died in 1655 at just thirty-six. Though legend sometimes overshadows the man, his reputation endures because the writing itself is so energetic, curious, and unexpectedly modern.