November 14, 2003

Wesleyan University Press Reissues a 19th-Century Dystopian Sci-Fi Novel

By DAVID GLENN

THE MINNESOTA JEREMIAH: Caesar's Column, a dystopian science-fiction novel written in 1889 by the eccentric Minnesota populist leader Ignatius Donnelly, is not a subtle piece of work.

Set in New York City in 1988, the book features a damsel in distress named Estella Washington, who serves as a cardboard allegory of the lost virtues of the country's founders. The story ends with an apocalyptic scene of destruction, as thousands of oppressed and degraded workers lay waste to the streets

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