{"product_id":"the-electric-life","title":"The Electric Life","description":"\u003cp class=\"font-claude-response-body break-words whitespace-normal leading-[1.7]\" style=\"caret-color: #000000;\"\u003eIn 1893, French illustrator and satirist Albert Robida published a novel that predicted video conferencing, germ warfare, streaming entertainment, surveillance cameras, screen exhaustion, drone-like air taxis, pharmaceutical restaurants, and women leading in every profession. He missed flying cars. He got nearly everything else right.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp class=\"font-claude-response-body break-words whitespace-normal leading-[1.7]\" style=\"caret-color: #000000;\"\u003e\u003cem\u003eThe Electric Life\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cspan class=\"Apple-converted-space\"\u003e \u003c\/span\u003eis Robida's masterpiece — the final volume of his visionary trilogy that began with\u003cspan class=\"Apple-converted-space\"\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003eThe Twentieth Century\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cspan class=\"Apple-converted-space\"\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e(1883) and\u003cspan class=\"Apple-converted-space\"\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003eWar in the Twentieth Century\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cspan class=\"Apple-converted-space\"\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e(1887). Set in a Paris of 1955 where the Eiffel Tower stands 'ancient and somewhat rusty' and a luxury hotel perches atop the Arc de Triomphe, the novel follows an inventor's family through a world of pneumatic transport, téléphonoscope video calls, and chemist-soldiers parading bacteriological cannons with philanthropic rhetoric.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp class=\"font-claude-response-body break-words whitespace-normal leading-[1.7]\" style=\"caret-color: #000000;\"\u003eWhere Jules Verne celebrated bold engineers, Robida satirised the humans left behind by progress. His comic method is devastating: change the technology, leave human nature untouched. Couples argue through phonograph recordings. Mothers monitor children via screen. A senator's scholarly history of dangerous women turns out to feature his ex-wife's face on every page. The technology is science fiction. The comedy is social realism. That combination is why the novel reads as startlingly contemporary — a retrofuturistic mirror held up to our own age of screen addiction, digital surveillance, and wellness-industry anxieties.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp class=\"font-claude-response-body break-words whitespace-normal leading-[1.7]\" style=\"caret-color: #000000;\"\u003eOften regarded as the first science fiction graphic novel,\u003cspan class=\"Apple-converted-space\"\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003eThe Electric Life\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cspan class=\"Apple-converted-space\"\u003e \u003c\/span\u003eintegrates over 100 of Robida's original illustrations directly into the narrative — not as decoration but as editorial commentary, delivering jokes and satire that the prose alone cannot convey. From the pneumatic chaos of\u003cspan class=\"Apple-converted-space\"\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003eThe Tubes\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cspan class=\"Apple-converted-space\"\u003e \u003c\/span\u003eto the withered figures in\u003cspan class=\"Apple-converted-space\"\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003ePhysical Decay of the Overly Refined Races\u003c\/em\u003e, these plates are essential to the reading experience.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp class=\"font-claude-response-body break-words whitespace-normal leading-[1.7]\" style=\"caret-color: #000000;\"\u003eThis new and complete English translation by Time Warp Editions restores the unabridged 1893 French text with:\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp class=\"font-claude-response-body break-words whitespace-pre-wrap leading-[1.7]\" style=\"caret-color: #000000;\"\u003e— Over 100 original illustrations, sharpened and brightened for modern print — A refined translation prioritising readability for English-speaking audiences — Extensive chapter endnotes contextualising Robida's historical references and satirical targets — A new introduction, author biography, and full bibliography\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp class=\"font-claude-response-body break-words whitespace-normal leading-[1.7]\" style=\"caret-color: #000000;\"\u003eFor readers of classic French science fiction, steampunk, Victorian illustrated books, and retrofuturism — and for anyone who suspects the future was already laughing at us more than a century ago.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp class=\"font-claude-response-body break-words whitespace-normal leading-[1.7]\" style=\"caret-color: #000000;\"\u003e\u003cem\u003eTime Warp Editions: preserving and refining classic literature for modern readers.\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Time Warp Editions","offers":[{"title":"Case Bound - PPC","offer_id":50773818048816,"sku":"9781967573042","price":22.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"url":"https:\/\/www.thegreatbritishbookshop.co.uk\/products\/the-electric-life","provider":"The Great British Bookshop","version":"1.0","type":"link"}