The End of Illa (French: La fin d'Illa) is a novella by the French writer José Moselli, published in 1925.
The novel begins with marines discovering a manuscript on a Pacific atoll, which reveals the existence of an advanced civilization that no longer exists today. The narrator, the military chief Xié, recounts the last days of the city of Illa when the city, led by its dictator Rair, went to war against the neighboring city Nour.
Classified as scientific marvel and utopian literature, this novel reinterprets the myth of Atlantis. José Moselli addresses themes of technological advance and its social consequences. In effect, the installation of a dictatorship and the moral decadence that accompanies scientific progress lead progressively to the self-destruction of the brilliant civilization of Illa.
The story, published initially in serial form in the magazine Sciences and Voyages between January 29 and July 9, 1925, is illustrated by the artist André Galland. The novel was republished numerous times in France during the second half of the 20th century, but was not translated into English until the 21st century.
Background
After a career in the merchant marine, José Moselli met in 1910 one of the Offenstadt brothers, who suggested writing an adventure novel. Their collaboration proved fruitful, and José Moselli rapidly became a leading author for the Offenstadt brothers.
During his literary career, Moselli wrote nearly a hundred episodic novels for magazines published by Offenstadt, like The Splendid, The Intrepid, The Little Illustrated, or Cry-Cry. Thus, when the two brothers launched the magazine Sciences and Voyages on September 4, 1919, they asked him for short writings belonging to the fantastic subgenre. José Moselli therefore started the publication of Ice Prison (1919–1920) in the first edition of the magazine; for many years afterward, he furnished the magazine with The "Phi" Ray (1921), The Conquerors of the Abyss (1922), or in its annual supplement (The Scientific Almanach) with The Eternal Voyage or the Prospectors of Infinity (1923) and The Messenger from the Planet (1924).
At the time The End of Illa was published, the Offenstadt brothers were launching a defamation lawsuit against the abbot Calippe, who had categorized Sciences and Voyages as dangerous for youth in his newspaper. This court case was one of many undertaken by the Offenstadts with the goal of preserving the youth market of Sciences and Voyages. As with the previous lawsuits, on May 27, 1924, the Amiens court rejected the lawsuit on the basis that the novels and articles the magazine published had nothing scientific about them, and could consequently have a pernicious effect on the imagination and intelligence of children. Science fiction essayist Jacques Van Herp believed this court case may have led Moselli to self-censor and reduce the scope of the described inventions in the novel.
Science fiction writings represented only a part of Moselli's work; he wrote mostly adventure novels. Nevertheless, between 1919 and 1929, he published ten conjectural novels in Sciences and Voyages.
Summary
Prologue: Grampus Island
On March 22, 1875, the American whaler Grampus is sailing the Pacific under the command of Captain Ellis when it discovers an unlisted islet. The crew disembarks to find potable water and discover, in the middle of the vestiges of an ancient civilization, a violet stone made of an unknown substance as well as a manuscript written in a mysterious alphabet. Returning to San Francisco, Captain Ellis recounts his discovery, which nobody takes seriously. The manuscript and stone are sold to Doctor Akinson for a meager price.