Simon Tyssot de Patot

Born in 1655, Simon Tyssot de Patot was a French Protestant who left France and settled in the Dutch Republic, where he became a professor of mathematics in Deventer. He lived through an era of religious upheaval, and that experience of exile helps explain the outsider's perspective and imaginative freedom often associated with his writing.

He is best known today for works including Voyages et Avantures de Jaques Massé and La Vie, les aventures, et le voyage de Groenland du révérend père Cordelier Pierre de Mésange. These books mix fantastic travel, social satire, and bold speculation, and they are often noted for their place in the early history of science fiction and imaginary-voyage literature.

Tyssot de Patot died in 1738. Though he is not a household name now, readers interested in the roots of speculative fiction often find him a fascinating figure: a learned refugee, a teacher, and an early experimenter in stories that pushed beyond the known world.