This essay extends Bud Foote's theory of a link between geographical and temporal travel in Northern science fiction to include the science fiction of the Southern hemisphere. It examines two tales of marvelous overland journeys that were set in the Latin America of the day but which represented travel to the nations' natural, historical, and cultural pasts: the Brazilian Augusto Emflio Zaluar's 0 Doutor Benignus (Docwr Bemgnu.s) and the Argentine Eduardo Ladislao Holmberg's Dos partidos en lucha: Fan, wsw cientifica (livo Factions Struggle for Life: A Scientific Fantasy). Despite marked dissmiliarities between the backgrounds and world views of their writers, these two novels hare common influences and deal with themes of scientific and pseudoscientific uses of evolutionary theories, national progress through the spread of scientific knowledge, and the representation of South America as the locus for a utopian future.
Available at: http://works.bepress.com/rachel_haywoodferreira/15/