Heliopolis

Dystopia by Ernst Jünger

Blurb

Heliopolis is an utopistic or dystopian novel by Ernst Jünger published in 1949. In the fictional city of Heliopolis the henchmen of a Proconsul and a Landvogt fight each other. Commander Lucius de Geer belongs to the staff of the Proconsul, but he stands more and more aloof these inner fights. Finally he leaves Heliopolis. The novel connects speculative fiction with philosophic excursions and historical allusions.
The novel takes place in the future at a time not exactly given. Heliopolis is described as a metropolis in the Mediterranean. It controls enormous areas and regions. The names of the countries in the novel indicate, that Jünger did not want to imply a specific location. In Greek mythology the Hesperides are regions in the far west of the then known world, here they are new discovered areas not completely explored. Also the "Burgenland", Asturia, the Parsi and the Mauretanians do not really match existing countries or people of this or similar name. They rather stand for different political directions or systems.

First Published

1949

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