Everyone is a Moon
“The clouds I can handle. But I can't fight with an eclipse.”
- “Eclipse” (Stephenie Meyer, 2007)
Early birds in North America were treated to an unusual sight last April 4.
A total lunar eclipse, the third in the tetrad, was visible for about five minutes. (The previous eclipses took place on April 15, 2014 and October 8, 2014. The next - and final - one will occur on September 28, 2015.) The eclipse was visible in the Pacific Ocean region, while those living in the US got the chance to see it before sunrise. This astronomical event is no less dramatic than the total solar eclipse. The blood moon, in case you haven't seen one. Yet. It's not what you're thinking.
Stephenie Meyer's “The Twilight Series” include “New Moon” and “Eclipse”. “The Midnight Sun” is a retelling of “Twilight”, the first in the series. The books chart the affair between Isabella “Bella” Swan, a teenage girl, and Edward Cullen, a 104-year-old vampire. It has nothing to do with the (solar) eclipse, which is considered a bad omen in many cultures. It is also not associated with lycanthropes, even though Jacob Black, Bella's best friend, is a descendant of shapeshifters. (These creatures usually transform into wolves.) But the moon is a harbinger of terrifying things to come.
Fright night
In Greek mythology, Artemis is considered the goddess of the moon. Arthurian romance depicted sorcery gripping old Britain. Either one can be frightening, which may be the reason why the moon is associated with malevolent creatures.
You need to think of certain lore in Europe, in the British isles in particular, where blood-sucking beings lure lovesick men (during the full moon).They're distant relatives of the vampire. You need to look at certain works in modern literature to erase your doubts. One chapter of “The Historian” (2005) describes a medieval monastery in the Pyrenees, and how the moon transforms the mountain range into an ethereal setting. (Alas, this is the place where one scholarly monk discovers a way to be immortal.) Elizabeth Kostova surely did a thorough research.
But there's another side of the moon, which many are unaware of.
Journey into space
The moon is a natural setting for most works in science fiction, and the reasons are pretty obvious. Many readers are excited about it, if not carried away. It's a vision of where human civilization is heading, where mankind is capable of sending spacecrafts to other planets and satellites and colonize it. Maybe technology will allow a small crew of astronauts to venture beyond the Solar System. The moon is a symbol of hope.
Think of writers such as Jules Verne, who may have see the outer space as a means of respite from the turmoil happening during his time. Some see a seer in the Frenchman, whose works are considered too fantastic back then. He may have know Neil Armstrong.
