Merveilleux scientifique
Merveilleux scientifique (also spelled with a hyphen: merveilleux-scientifique, literally translated "scientific marvelous") is a literary genre that developed in France from the end of the 19th century to the middle of the 20th century. Akin today to science fiction, this literature of scientific imagination revolves around key themes such as mad scientists and their extraordinary inventions, lost worlds, exploration of the Solar System, catastrophes and the advent of supermen.