Reading Verne's Voyages Extraordinaires
- Thread starter farseer2
- Start date
farseer2
Registered User
- Joined
- Nov 24, 2006
- Messages
- 1,309
Thanks, and I'm glad your enjoying these mini-reviews, Sfinx. I also have a soft spot for Verne (obviously, or I would not be embarked in this project). He's a bit like Isaac Asimov, in the sense that he has a rational, well-ordered way of telling stories that appeals to me. His novels are also short and easy to read.
farseer2
Registered User
- Joined
- Nov 24, 2006
- Messages
- 1,309
(26) L'Archipel en feu (The Archipelago on Fire, aka Islands on Fire, 1884) (1 volume) 62K words
The 26th Extraordinary Voyage takes place in Greece and the Aegean Sea. While most of Verne's Voyages are set at the time they were written, this one tells of (fictional) events happening during the Greek War of Independence, around 60 years before the publication of the novel. It is the first out of four historical novels within the Extraordinary Voyages (the others, all of them written during the following five years after this one, are "North Against South", "The Flight to France" and "Family Without a Name").
First read or reread?: First read for me.
What is it about?: On the 18th of October, 1827, a small Levantine vessel piloted by Captain Nicholas Starcos returns home to Vitlyo, an ancient village in the Peloponnesus, only to be denied entry by his widowed mother. At the same time Lt. Henry d’Albaret, along with many other young men from France and the rest of Europe, has joined the cause of Greek freedom in the war against the Ottoman Empire. While he is recovering from a wound received in battle, d’Albaret meets Hadjine Elisundo, his banker’s lovely daughter. They fall in love and make plans to marry, but Starcos, who holds a devastating secret against the girl’s father, demands her hand in marriage.
Although a historical novel is a new side of Verne, the author had already told a war story in "Michael Strogoff". Also, "The Steam House", even though it does not take place during a war, was rooted in a previous war, and Verne showed his didactic nature there by telling the reader many details about the Indian Rebellion of 1857. "The Archipelago on Fire" is also like that, being a war story and also an opportunity for Verne to tell the reader about the Greek War of Independence. In a modern writer, these asides would be considered strange, but as we know for Verne this is a feature. Ideally, the reader goes along for the story and also to learn something.
I have noticed a certain tendency in this part of Verne's career to tell stories with more dramatic depth. For example, in "The Vanished Diamond" there were some tragic consequences of the disappearance of the fabulous jewel. Here there's also dramatic depth in the story of Nicholas Starcos and his conflict with Henry d’Albaret.
I can't say there's a similar depth in the characters. I like Verne's characters, but he is not one for character development. His characters tend to be static. There's usually no hero's journey in his novels that leaves the protagonist changed or transformed, except perhaps for younger heroes like Dick Sands from "A Captain at Fifteen", who necessarily matures as a result of the sudden responsibility placed in his hands and the adventures and privations he goes through. So, in this novel, d’Albaret and Starcos do not evolve and learn new things about themselves. This is one of Verne's limitations as a literary writer, although on the other hand it leaves him free to concentrate on what he is interested in, which is the plot and the documentary element. After all, you can tell good stories with static characters, see for example the Sherlock Holmes canon.
As an adventure novel I thought "The Archipelago on Fire" was successful. Although it's not action all the time, it has the pathos that the story requires and the pace is good. Some reviewers of course complain about the historical digressions, but well, this is Verne, not Tom Clancy. On the minus side, the ending was a bit easy, in the sense that the villain allowed a situation that he had under control to get out of his hands.
The twists are not very surprising here, you see them coming, but I still read it with pleasure and wanted to know what would happen next. I also got an overview of a war I knew almost nothing about, even though two centuries ago it captured the imagination of many Europeans, who had sympathy for Greece's struggle for freedom, as the cradle of western civilization. Lord Byron, for example, was one of the philhellenists who took up arms in support of the Greek revolutionaries, and he would die in the war some years before the start of this novel.
The novel is mostly set at sea, as the hero is given a ship with the task of cleaning the Aegean of pirates. It's not the first time we have pirates as villains in Verne's novels, but here there's more focus on piracy than in any other of the Extraordinary Voyages so far. There's also plenty of strong women featured here, even though their deeds are not the focus of the novel.
Enjoyment factor: I enjoyed it. It was an entertaining adventure with a historical setting. At this point in Verne's career his most popular novels were already a thing of the past, but he was still very readable.
Next up: Mathias Sandorf
The 26th Extraordinary Voyage takes place in Greece and the Aegean Sea. While most of Verne's Voyages are set at the time they were written, this one tells of (fictional) events happening during the Greek War of Independence, around 60 years before the publication of the novel. It is the first out of four historical novels within the Extraordinary Voyages (the others, all of them written during the following five years after this one, are "North Against South", "The Flight to France" and "Family Without a Name").
First read or reread?: First read for me.
What is it about?: On the 18th of October, 1827, a small Levantine vessel piloted by Captain Nicholas Starcos returns home to Vitlyo, an ancient village in the Peloponnesus, only to be denied entry by his widowed mother. At the same time Lt. Henry d’Albaret, along with many other young men from France and the rest of Europe, has joined the cause of Greek freedom in the war against the Ottoman Empire. While he is recovering from a wound received in battle, d’Albaret meets Hadjine Elisundo, his banker’s lovely daughter. They fall in love and make plans to marry, but Starcos, who holds a devastating secret against the girl’s father, demands her hand in marriage.
Although a historical novel is a new side of Verne, the author had already told a war story in "Michael Strogoff". Also, "The Steam House", even though it does not take place during a war, was rooted in a previous war, and Verne showed his didactic nature there by telling the reader many details about the Indian Rebellion of 1857. "The Archipelago on Fire" is also like that, being a war story and also an opportunity for Verne to tell the reader about the Greek War of Independence. In a modern writer, these asides would be considered strange, but as we know for Verne this is a feature. Ideally, the reader goes along for the story and also to learn something.
I have noticed a certain tendency in this part of Verne's career to tell stories with more dramatic depth. For example, in "The Vanished Diamond" there were some tragic consequences of the disappearance of the fabulous jewel. Here there's also dramatic depth in the story of Nicholas Starcos and his conflict with Henry d’Albaret.
I can't say there's a similar depth in the characters. I like Verne's characters, but he is not one for character development. His characters tend to be static. There's usually no hero's journey in his novels that leaves the protagonist changed or transformed, except perhaps for younger heroes like Dick Sands from "A Captain at Fifteen", who necessarily matures as a result of the sudden responsibility placed in his hands and the adventures and privations he goes through. So, in this novel, d’Albaret and Starcos do not evolve and learn new things about themselves. This is one of Verne's limitations as a literary writer, although on the other hand it leaves him free to concentrate on what he is interested in, which is the plot and the documentary element. After all, you can tell good stories with static characters, see for example the Sherlock Holmes canon.
As an adventure novel I thought "The Archipelago on Fire" was successful. Although it's not action all the time, it has the pathos that the story requires and the pace is good. Some reviewers of course complain about the historical digressions, but well, this is Verne, not Tom Clancy. On the minus side, the ending was a bit easy, in the sense that the villain allowed a situation that he had under control to get out of his hands.
The twists are not very surprising here, you see them coming, but I still read it with pleasure and wanted to know what would happen next. I also got an overview of a war I knew almost nothing about, even though two centuries ago it captured the imagination of many Europeans, who had sympathy for Greece's struggle for freedom, as the cradle of western civilization. Lord Byron, for example, was one of the philhellenists who took up arms in support of the Greek revolutionaries, and he would die in the war some years before the start of this novel.
The novel is mostly set at sea, as the hero is given a ship with the task of cleaning the Aegean of pirates. It's not the first time we have pirates as villains in Verne's novels, but here there's more focus on piracy than in any other of the Extraordinary Voyages so far. There's also plenty of strong women featured here, even though their deeds are not the focus of the novel.
Enjoyment factor: I enjoyed it. It was an entertaining adventure with a historical setting. At this point in Verne's career his most popular novels were already a thing of the past, but he was still very readable.
Next up: Mathias Sandorf
Last edited:
farseer2
Registered User
- Joined
- Nov 24, 2006
- Messages
- 1,309
(27) Mathias Sandorf (Mathias Sandorf, 1885) (3 volumes) 154K words
The 27th Extraordinary Voyage takes place at several different locations along the shores of the Mediterranean. Verne dedicated the novel to the memory of Alexandre Dumas père, expressing his hope that Mathias Sandorf would be the Monte Cristo of his Extraordinary Voyages. After the dedication, the book also includes a warm response from Alexandre Dumas fils, calling Verne his brother and the true literary heir of his father.
First read or reread?: First read for me.
What is it about?: In Trieste, 1867, three Hungarian patriots (Count Mathias Sandorf, Stephen Bathory and Ladislas Zathmar) are conspiring to liberate their country from Habsburg-Austrian rule. A couple of petty criminals, with the help of a corrupt banker, discover the plot and form a plan to deliver the conspirators to the Austrian authorities in exchange for a rich reward. Fifteen years later, the renowned physician Dr. Antekirtt sets out to avenge his friends. Enlisting the aid of two resourceful French acrobats, Pescade and Matifou, he scours the Mediterranean seeking to reward the surviving relatives of the conspirators and punish those who planned the betrayal. Rich beyond all imagination and master of an island fortress filled with advanced weaponry, Dr. Antekirtt will not rest until justice is done.
Although the details are different, there's no doubt that the central conceit of this story is taken from Dumas' The Count of Monte Cristo. Since Verne openly acknowledged this, I will call it a homage rather than a rip-off.
Nevertheless, when one imitates a masterpiece one is open to comparisons. And I have to say, this Verne novel is inferior to Dumas' magnum opus. I don't mean this as a way to put down this story. It's just that The Count of Monte Cristo is such an excellent adventure tale.
Mathias Sandorf does not have the same epic weight as Dumas' novel. Its characters do not have the same psychological depth. This is a known limitation of Verne as a writer. He is into adventure, exploration and the wonders of human knowledge, but not into deep characterization.
Having said that, this novel is a lot of fun to read, despite its flaws. The first part, detailing the conspiration, the betrayal and the doomed efforts of the main characters to escape their execution, is almost perfect. We get several of Verne's typical techniques, like starting the story from the point of view of the villains or the use of cryptograms (decyphering a secret message is key for the villains to find proof of the conspiration).
After that, the plotting is not as tight as in some of Verne's best novels. The story becomes a bit rambling, which allows Verne to explore different locations on the Mediterranean shores, from Trieste down the Adriatic coast, to Sicily and the shores of North Africa. "I wish my readers to learn everything they should know about the Mediterranean," Verne wrote his editor," which is why the action transports them to twenty different places". Several of the settings come from Verne's own travels, and others from his reading and research.
Like its model, Mathias Sandorf is rather convoluted and melodramatic, perhaps too much so (I did not understand, for example, why the heroes had to simulate Pierre Bathory's death even to the point of driving his aged mother to dispair, it seems drama for drama's sake. Or why Sarcany couldn't force Sava to marry him already, given that she was in his power, even if the ceremony was just a sham).
The irony of how revenge can be self-defeating is explored here less than in Monte Cristo, another reason why this novel is inferior. Verne plays it straight, not stopping to wonder whether the revenge is justified in all cases (after all, even though they are undoubtedly villains, one could argue that the betrayers owed no loyalty and, although they committed other crimes, the main reason for the revenge was that they denounced a conspiration to the authorities, even if it was just for money). Don't spend too much time feeling sorry for the villains, though, they are very bad apples, particularly the ruthless and intelligent Sarcany.
As an example of Verne's signature technological wonders, we have Dr. Antekirtt's electric ships, which the heroes use to travel fast through the Mediterranean Sea, or some of the weapons used to defend his island. Nevertheless, the main reason for this novel to be called SF&F is the fact that Dr. Antekirtt is able to use something called "magnetic hypnotism". Basically he has a superpower, which occasionally enables him to enslave the mind of some weak-willed people. Apparently the concept was popular at the time the novel was written, and Verne treats it as a legitimate scientific effect.
Despite its flaws, the story is never boring, even though it's one of Verne's longest novels (only three of his Extraordinary Voyages were published in three volumes, the others being "In Search of the Castaways" and "The Mysterious Island", both of those longer in fact than "Mathias Sandorf"). Certainly this one is nowhere as long as The Count of Monte Cristo, which Dumas, publishing it as a serial, extended more than he should have.
I read it in Spanish, but for those reading in English, a reminder: Verne's contemporary English translations were not very good, so when possible seek a modern translation, in this case the 2011 translation by Edward Brumgnach.
Enjoyment factor: I enjoyed it, acknowledging that it's not in the same league as its model. The plot was a bit rambling and melodramatic at times, but the story is epic and Verne always entertains.
Next up: The Lottery Ticket, aka Ticket No. 9672
The 27th Extraordinary Voyage takes place at several different locations along the shores of the Mediterranean. Verne dedicated the novel to the memory of Alexandre Dumas père, expressing his hope that Mathias Sandorf would be the Monte Cristo of his Extraordinary Voyages. After the dedication, the book also includes a warm response from Alexandre Dumas fils, calling Verne his brother and the true literary heir of his father.
First read or reread?: First read for me.
What is it about?: In Trieste, 1867, three Hungarian patriots (Count Mathias Sandorf, Stephen Bathory and Ladislas Zathmar) are conspiring to liberate their country from Habsburg-Austrian rule. A couple of petty criminals, with the help of a corrupt banker, discover the plot and form a plan to deliver the conspirators to the Austrian authorities in exchange for a rich reward. Fifteen years later, the renowned physician Dr. Antekirtt sets out to avenge his friends. Enlisting the aid of two resourceful French acrobats, Pescade and Matifou, he scours the Mediterranean seeking to reward the surviving relatives of the conspirators and punish those who planned the betrayal. Rich beyond all imagination and master of an island fortress filled with advanced weaponry, Dr. Antekirtt will not rest until justice is done.
Although the details are different, there's no doubt that the central conceit of this story is taken from Dumas' The Count of Monte Cristo. Since Verne openly acknowledged this, I will call it a homage rather than a rip-off.
Nevertheless, when one imitates a masterpiece one is open to comparisons. And I have to say, this Verne novel is inferior to Dumas' magnum opus. I don't mean this as a way to put down this story. It's just that The Count of Monte Cristo is such an excellent adventure tale.
Mathias Sandorf does not have the same epic weight as Dumas' novel. Its characters do not have the same psychological depth. This is a known limitation of Verne as a writer. He is into adventure, exploration and the wonders of human knowledge, but not into deep characterization.
Having said that, this novel is a lot of fun to read, despite its flaws. The first part, detailing the conspiration, the betrayal and the doomed efforts of the main characters to escape their execution, is almost perfect. We get several of Verne's typical techniques, like starting the story from the point of view of the villains or the use of cryptograms (decyphering a secret message is key for the villains to find proof of the conspiration).
After that, the plotting is not as tight as in some of Verne's best novels. The story becomes a bit rambling, which allows Verne to explore different locations on the Mediterranean shores, from Trieste down the Adriatic coast, to Sicily and the shores of North Africa. "I wish my readers to learn everything they should know about the Mediterranean," Verne wrote his editor," which is why the action transports them to twenty different places". Several of the settings come from Verne's own travels, and others from his reading and research.
Like its model, Mathias Sandorf is rather convoluted and melodramatic, perhaps too much so (I did not understand, for example, why the heroes had to simulate Pierre Bathory's death even to the point of driving his aged mother to dispair, it seems drama for drama's sake. Or why Sarcany couldn't force Sava to marry him already, given that she was in his power, even if the ceremony was just a sham).
The irony of how revenge can be self-defeating is explored here less than in Monte Cristo, another reason why this novel is inferior. Verne plays it straight, not stopping to wonder whether the revenge is justified in all cases (after all, even though they are undoubtedly villains, one could argue that the betrayers owed no loyalty and, although they committed other crimes, the main reason for the revenge was that they denounced a conspiration to the authorities, even if it was just for money). Don't spend too much time feeling sorry for the villains, though, they are very bad apples, particularly the ruthless and intelligent Sarcany.
As an example of Verne's signature technological wonders, we have Dr. Antekirtt's electric ships, which the heroes use to travel fast through the Mediterranean Sea, or some of the weapons used to defend his island. Nevertheless, the main reason for this novel to be called SF&F is the fact that Dr. Antekirtt is able to use something called "magnetic hypnotism". Basically he has a superpower, which occasionally enables him to enslave the mind of some weak-willed people. Apparently the concept was popular at the time the novel was written, and Verne treats it as a legitimate scientific effect.
Despite its flaws, the story is never boring, even though it's one of Verne's longest novels (only three of his Extraordinary Voyages were published in three volumes, the others being "In Search of the Castaways" and "The Mysterious Island", both of those longer in fact than "Mathias Sandorf"). Certainly this one is nowhere as long as The Count of Monte Cristo, which Dumas, publishing it as a serial, extended more than he should have.
I read it in Spanish, but for those reading in English, a reminder: Verne's contemporary English translations were not very good, so when possible seek a modern translation, in this case the 2011 translation by Edward Brumgnach.
Enjoyment factor: I enjoyed it, acknowledging that it's not in the same league as its model. The plot was a bit rambling and melodramatic at times, but the story is epic and Verne always entertains.
Next up: The Lottery Ticket, aka Ticket No. 9672
Last edited:
farseer2
Registered User
- Joined
- Nov 24, 2006
- Messages
- 1,309
(28) Un billet de loterie (The Lottery Ticket, aka Ticket No. 9672, 1886) (1 volume) 48K words
The 28th Extraordinary Voyage takes us to a small village in the beautiful region of Telemark, in Norway. It's one of the least adventure-focused novels in the series. Some readers consider it one of the two romance novels Verne wrote (the other being "The Green Ray"), but I'd say this one is more connected to Romanticism as an art movement than to romance as a genre.
First read or reread?: This is a reread for me. I distinctly remembered the plot and the climax of the novel, but the slower first half was new to me. Maybe I forgot it, but I suspect the version I read as a kid may have been abridged. Anyway, without being among my favourite Verne novels then, the story made an impression on me and I did enjoy it.
What is it about?: Hulda Hansen of Dal, Norway anxiously awaits the return of her betrothed, Ole Kamp. Ole works on a fishing ship, which is scheduled to return soon from Terranova. However, the ship fails to return and is feared lost. While this is going on, Hulda and her brother Joel also worry about their mother, who hasn't been acting like herself since the visit from a man known as Sandgoist. A guest staying at the Hansen family inn is Sylvius Hogg, who is taken with Hulda's story and uses his position within the government to help out with the search. One trace of the ship is found, a bottle that contains a note for Hulda written by Ole on a lottery ticket, numbered 9672. News of the tragedy and the hope of the possible riches of the lottery ticket spread around the countryside, especially interested is the man Sandgoist.
Like "In Search of the Castaways" this is a novel about the search for the survivors of a shipwreck. However, the heroes of "In Search of the Castaways" were the ones physically doing the search, while the heroes in this story are the relatives and friends waiting at home. They are therefore very different stories. "In Search of the Castaways" is focused on adventure and exploration, while "The Lottery Ticket" involves very little traveling. A map is included, but while in other stories I enjoyed following the trip in the map, here there's little point.
I mentioned that I do not consider it a romance novel, and that's because the bridegroom is basically not present in the story. I think the novel is better for it. As I said in my review of "The Green Ray", Verne's skills were not well-suited for writing romance.
For this novel, Verne was inspired by his own trip to Scandinavia, and by some travellers' accounts that he had read. He includes some descriptions of the country and the characters do a bit of travelling inside Norway, having some minor adventures, but unlike most other novels in the series, these travels are not the A-plot. The center of the story is the uncertainty about the fate of the lost ship, the effect this loss has on the characters, and the question of the lottery ticket.
I found this story more compelling than the actual romance we got in "The Green Ray". It does involve some rather incredible coincidences, so I think of it as a fairy tale more than a realistic story, but it's memorable and feel-good, and I enjoyed it.
It's true that this novel might have been even shorter. A novella, perhaps. The first half of the story is quite uneventful, used mostly to introduce the characters. You could cut a lot of it without affecting the actual story. But the novel is quite short as it is, so it's a quick read anyway. But this is the main flaw: Verne's wish to tell us a bit about the country is not as well integrated in the story as in other novels of his.
Enjoyment factor: Not one of the most dynamic Verne novels and not very adventurous, but I enjoyed it as a feel-good fairy-tale. Certainly better than "The Green Ray", for my taste.
Next up: Robur the Conqueror, aka The Clipper of the Clouds
The 28th Extraordinary Voyage takes us to a small village in the beautiful region of Telemark, in Norway. It's one of the least adventure-focused novels in the series. Some readers consider it one of the two romance novels Verne wrote (the other being "The Green Ray"), but I'd say this one is more connected to Romanticism as an art movement than to romance as a genre.
First read or reread?: This is a reread for me. I distinctly remembered the plot and the climax of the novel, but the slower first half was new to me. Maybe I forgot it, but I suspect the version I read as a kid may have been abridged. Anyway, without being among my favourite Verne novels then, the story made an impression on me and I did enjoy it.
What is it about?: Hulda Hansen of Dal, Norway anxiously awaits the return of her betrothed, Ole Kamp. Ole works on a fishing ship, which is scheduled to return soon from Terranova. However, the ship fails to return and is feared lost. While this is going on, Hulda and her brother Joel also worry about their mother, who hasn't been acting like herself since the visit from a man known as Sandgoist. A guest staying at the Hansen family inn is Sylvius Hogg, who is taken with Hulda's story and uses his position within the government to help out with the search. One trace of the ship is found, a bottle that contains a note for Hulda written by Ole on a lottery ticket, numbered 9672. News of the tragedy and the hope of the possible riches of the lottery ticket spread around the countryside, especially interested is the man Sandgoist.
Like "In Search of the Castaways" this is a novel about the search for the survivors of a shipwreck. However, the heroes of "In Search of the Castaways" were the ones physically doing the search, while the heroes in this story are the relatives and friends waiting at home. They are therefore very different stories. "In Search of the Castaways" is focused on adventure and exploration, while "The Lottery Ticket" involves very little traveling. A map is included, but while in other stories I enjoyed following the trip in the map, here there's little point.
I mentioned that I do not consider it a romance novel, and that's because the bridegroom is basically not present in the story. I think the novel is better for it. As I said in my review of "The Green Ray", Verne's skills were not well-suited for writing romance.
For this novel, Verne was inspired by his own trip to Scandinavia, and by some travellers' accounts that he had read. He includes some descriptions of the country and the characters do a bit of travelling inside Norway, having some minor adventures, but unlike most other novels in the series, these travels are not the A-plot. The center of the story is the uncertainty about the fate of the lost ship, the effect this loss has on the characters, and the question of the lottery ticket.
I found this story more compelling than the actual romance we got in "The Green Ray". It does involve some rather incredible coincidences, so I think of it as a fairy tale more than a realistic story, but it's memorable and feel-good, and I enjoyed it.
It's true that this novel might have been even shorter. A novella, perhaps. The first half of the story is quite uneventful, used mostly to introduce the characters. You could cut a lot of it without affecting the actual story. But the novel is quite short as it is, so it's a quick read anyway. But this is the main flaw: Verne's wish to tell us a bit about the country is not as well integrated in the story as in other novels of his.
Enjoyment factor: Not one of the most dynamic Verne novels and not very adventurous, but I enjoyed it as a feel-good fairy-tale. Certainly better than "The Green Ray", for my taste.
Next up: Robur the Conqueror, aka The Clipper of the Clouds
Last edited:
farseer2
Registered User
- Joined
- Nov 24, 2006
- Messages
- 1,309
(29) Robur-le-Conquérant (Robur the Conqueror, aka The Clipper of the Clouds, 1886) (1 volume) 59K words
The 29th Extraordinary Voyage is the second one featuring air travel, after "Five Weeks in a Balloon" (I'm not counting the space travel ones here). It's a different kind of air vehicle, though: heavier than air. Much superior to a balloon, if the fierce members of the Weldon Institute will forgive me for saying so.
First read or reread?: First read for me, although many years ago I read the sequel (Master of the World).
What is it about?: Strange events are occurring around the world, involving lights, sounds and flags that are hung in seemingly impossible to get to locations. At the meeting of the Weldon Institute in Philadelphia, PA, Uncle Prudent (President) and Phil Evans (Secretary) and the membership debate about whether their balloon the Goahead, should have its directional screw located in the front or the back. A man called Robur interrupts and takes over their meeting; he insists that to master the skies, a flying vehicle must be heavier than air. His remarks infuriate the balloonists and after their meeting, Uncle Prudent and Phil are kidnapped and taken on an around the world trip in the Albatross, Robur's heavier than air "Clipper of the Clouds".
The first chapter sets up the mystery, and I was amused to see a mention to the events of "The Begum's Millions". Most of Verne's novels are standalones, and it's unusual, but not unknown, to find a reference to another of his stories.
Then we are introduced to the Weldon Institute, a boisterous club set up in Philadelphia by fans of balloons and other aerostats, who are obsessed with building a practical lighter-than-air craft that can be used for air travel without being subject to the whims of the wind. The club reminded me of the Baltimore Gun Club in "From the Earth to the Moon", filled with people who are so exceedingly devoted to their technological goals that they become a bit comical.
We also get one of those Vernian info dumps, this time about the history of the human efforts to conquer the air, going up to the 1880s when this novel was published.
The meeting of the Weldon Institute is interrupted by an arrogant stranger called Robur, who addresses the assembly, enraging the honorable members by ridiculing lighter-than-air crafts and claiming that the future of air travel is in heavier-than-air vehicles.
He is almost lynched by the crowd, and that night, in revenge, he kidnaps the president and the secretary of the Weldon Institute, along with the president's servant, and spirits them away on board the Albatross, a heavier-than-air ship that he has secretly built.
The Albatross is basically a ship where lift and thrust are supplied by a group of spinning rotors. A kind of very large proto-helicopter, one could say. Keeping the pair of irascible fans of lighter-than-air craft on board against their will, Robur takes them on a trip all over the world, taunting them as much as he can in the process.
Apparently, this lighter-than-air vs heavier-than-air debate was a real thing back then, and the fact that we have never heard about it is a testimony to how superior heavier-than-air craft turned out to be in the end, making any debate unnecessary. But, at the time, lighter-than-air craft had achieved more success. Once again, Verne was on the right side of the technological debate (ever the visionary). In fact, Verne was an active member of the Society for the Encouragement of Aerial Locomotion by Means of Heavier-Than-Air Machines, recently created in Paris.
This illustrates how, if Verne was a science fiction writer, he was a near-future kind of SF writer. He normally did not take big leaps of fancy, instead basing his ideas on technology that already existed or at least looked achievable based on current knowledge. He had a curious mind and looked ahead, but he was not a prophet. As a curiosity, a few years earlier Verne had been thinking about writing a novel where the heroes of several of his previous novels make an air trip in a heavier-than-air machine, but he abandoned it when another French writer, Alphonse Brown, who funnily enough was heavily influenced by Verne, published a novel with a similar premise (The Conquest of the Air, 1875).
I found this novel quite interesting from a proto-science-fiction point of view, but it's not one that you can normally find on any list of Verne's best novels. So... why is that?
Well, the novel has a few problems. For example, none of the characters are very sympathetic. The two kidnapped members of the Weldon Institute, who are the audience surrogates and discover the airship at the same time as the reader, are such fanatics about lighter-than-air crafts that they are unable to appreciate the wonders they are witnessing. They want to escape at any cost and, if possible, destroy the ship. Robur has his moments, but often he is not very sympathetic either. What, aside from his own arrogance and egotism, moves him to kidnap two fans of a technology that has been rendered obsolete by Robur's invention, just to rub their faces in it and gloat at them? It's implied that he does not intend to ever release them, too.
It is also fair to say that at times the novel becomes a travelogue. We are treated to descriptions of several parts of the world as the Albatross flies over them, and I can see how this may be boring for some readers. I think that the modern readers who complain about this are failing to put themselves in the place of a 19th century reader, though, and missing the sense of wonder of the whole thing. I didn't find it boring, and it was a short, quick read. There are also some adventures involved, related to the involuntary guests' attempts to escape and to other set pieces. These include the hunt of a whale for sport, which was probably thrilling to contemporary readers but now offends many readers.
Speaking of offending modern sensitivities, the servant of the president of the club is one of those comic-relief figures that Verne sometimes has. Cowardly, dumb and ridiculous. Add the fact that he is also black, and you can understand how this has aged like milk, as illustrated by the enraged reviews in Goodreads.
All this is valid criticism, but certainly not deal-breakers for me. Perhaps a bigger criticism is that it's too similar to another Verne novel. If you are familiar with "Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Seas", you'll recall that it involves three people (one of them a servant) taken more or less against their will on board a marvellous vehicle owned by a mysterious maverick engineer, who takes them on a trip all around the world. That describes this novel perfectly too, except with an airship instead of a submarine. Some of the details are different, yes, but this still feels a bit derivative because of the similitude with the earlier, more famous novel.
Having said all that, after reading this novel and the user reviews at Goodreads, I felt this was underrated. I'm not saying I would put it in a Verne top ten, but I found it worth reading. I enjoyed how ridiculous all the characters were, in their own ways, and I could appreciate some of the sheer joy and wonder of it, even though it's harder for us modern readers, for whom air travel is a matter of routine.
This novel has a darker and better-known sequel, "Master of The World", published nearly twenty years later, near the end of Verne's life. But there will be time to comment on that when I get to that one. For the moment it's enough to say that "Robur the Conqueror" tells a complete, standalone story.
By the way, this was published in 1886, a year that some Verne scholars mark as the start of the second part of his career, when he began publishing darker works (although this is just a trend, it does not mean that all his work became dark after this point). Two traumatic events affected Verne's life that year. While he was doing revisions for this novel, Verne was shot in the leg by a mentally-disturbed nephew, giving him a permanent limp. Also, Hetzel, the editor who had been so influential on his work, died that year, being succeeded by his son.
As I have mentioned in other reviews, I'm reading these in Spanish, but if you want to read it in English, it is worth seeking a modern translation when possible (in this case, Alex Kirstukas' 2017 translation for Wesleyan University Press), because many contemporary English translations are questionable.
Enjoyment factor: Yes, I enjoyed it. I found it more dynamic than many contemporary reviewers, and the concept is great, if you can put yourself in the place of these 19th century characters. The depiction of one of these characters, judged by modern standards, can only be called racist, but then again reading such old literature is a chance to discover how standards and social attitudes have changed throughout the centuries, a chance to travel in time, more authentic than anything offered by modern historical fiction.
Next up: North Against South, aka Texar's Revenge
The 29th Extraordinary Voyage is the second one featuring air travel, after "Five Weeks in a Balloon" (I'm not counting the space travel ones here). It's a different kind of air vehicle, though: heavier than air. Much superior to a balloon, if the fierce members of the Weldon Institute will forgive me for saying so.
First read or reread?: First read for me, although many years ago I read the sequel (Master of the World).
What is it about?: Strange events are occurring around the world, involving lights, sounds and flags that are hung in seemingly impossible to get to locations. At the meeting of the Weldon Institute in Philadelphia, PA, Uncle Prudent (President) and Phil Evans (Secretary) and the membership debate about whether their balloon the Goahead, should have its directional screw located in the front or the back. A man called Robur interrupts and takes over their meeting; he insists that to master the skies, a flying vehicle must be heavier than air. His remarks infuriate the balloonists and after their meeting, Uncle Prudent and Phil are kidnapped and taken on an around the world trip in the Albatross, Robur's heavier than air "Clipper of the Clouds".
The first chapter sets up the mystery, and I was amused to see a mention to the events of "The Begum's Millions". Most of Verne's novels are standalones, and it's unusual, but not unknown, to find a reference to another of his stories.
Then we are introduced to the Weldon Institute, a boisterous club set up in Philadelphia by fans of balloons and other aerostats, who are obsessed with building a practical lighter-than-air craft that can be used for air travel without being subject to the whims of the wind. The club reminded me of the Baltimore Gun Club in "From the Earth to the Moon", filled with people who are so exceedingly devoted to their technological goals that they become a bit comical.
We also get one of those Vernian info dumps, this time about the history of the human efforts to conquer the air, going up to the 1880s when this novel was published.
The meeting of the Weldon Institute is interrupted by an arrogant stranger called Robur, who addresses the assembly, enraging the honorable members by ridiculing lighter-than-air crafts and claiming that the future of air travel is in heavier-than-air vehicles.
He is almost lynched by the crowd, and that night, in revenge, he kidnaps the president and the secretary of the Weldon Institute, along with the president's servant, and spirits them away on board the Albatross, a heavier-than-air ship that he has secretly built.
The Albatross is basically a ship where lift and thrust are supplied by a group of spinning rotors. A kind of very large proto-helicopter, one could say. Keeping the pair of irascible fans of lighter-than-air craft on board against their will, Robur takes them on a trip all over the world, taunting them as much as he can in the process.
Apparently, this lighter-than-air vs heavier-than-air debate was a real thing back then, and the fact that we have never heard about it is a testimony to how superior heavier-than-air craft turned out to be in the end, making any debate unnecessary. But, at the time, lighter-than-air craft had achieved more success. Once again, Verne was on the right side of the technological debate (ever the visionary). In fact, Verne was an active member of the Society for the Encouragement of Aerial Locomotion by Means of Heavier-Than-Air Machines, recently created in Paris.
This illustrates how, if Verne was a science fiction writer, he was a near-future kind of SF writer. He normally did not take big leaps of fancy, instead basing his ideas on technology that already existed or at least looked achievable based on current knowledge. He had a curious mind and looked ahead, but he was not a prophet. As a curiosity, a few years earlier Verne had been thinking about writing a novel where the heroes of several of his previous novels make an air trip in a heavier-than-air machine, but he abandoned it when another French writer, Alphonse Brown, who funnily enough was heavily influenced by Verne, published a novel with a similar premise (The Conquest of the Air, 1875).
I found this novel quite interesting from a proto-science-fiction point of view, but it's not one that you can normally find on any list of Verne's best novels. So... why is that?
Well, the novel has a few problems. For example, none of the characters are very sympathetic. The two kidnapped members of the Weldon Institute, who are the audience surrogates and discover the airship at the same time as the reader, are such fanatics about lighter-than-air crafts that they are unable to appreciate the wonders they are witnessing. They want to escape at any cost and, if possible, destroy the ship. Robur has his moments, but often he is not very sympathetic either. What, aside from his own arrogance and egotism, moves him to kidnap two fans of a technology that has been rendered obsolete by Robur's invention, just to rub their faces in it and gloat at them? It's implied that he does not intend to ever release them, too.
It is also fair to say that at times the novel becomes a travelogue. We are treated to descriptions of several parts of the world as the Albatross flies over them, and I can see how this may be boring for some readers. I think that the modern readers who complain about this are failing to put themselves in the place of a 19th century reader, though, and missing the sense of wonder of the whole thing. I didn't find it boring, and it was a short, quick read. There are also some adventures involved, related to the involuntary guests' attempts to escape and to other set pieces. These include the hunt of a whale for sport, which was probably thrilling to contemporary readers but now offends many readers.
Speaking of offending modern sensitivities, the servant of the president of the club is one of those comic-relief figures that Verne sometimes has. Cowardly, dumb and ridiculous. Add the fact that he is also black, and you can understand how this has aged like milk, as illustrated by the enraged reviews in Goodreads.
All this is valid criticism, but certainly not deal-breakers for me. Perhaps a bigger criticism is that it's too similar to another Verne novel. If you are familiar with "Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Seas", you'll recall that it involves three people (one of them a servant) taken more or less against their will on board a marvellous vehicle owned by a mysterious maverick engineer, who takes them on a trip all around the world. That describes this novel perfectly too, except with an airship instead of a submarine. Some of the details are different, yes, but this still feels a bit derivative because of the similitude with the earlier, more famous novel.
Having said all that, after reading this novel and the user reviews at Goodreads, I felt this was underrated. I'm not saying I would put it in a Verne top ten, but I found it worth reading. I enjoyed how ridiculous all the characters were, in their own ways, and I could appreciate some of the sheer joy and wonder of it, even though it's harder for us modern readers, for whom air travel is a matter of routine.
This novel has a darker and better-known sequel, "Master of The World", published nearly twenty years later, near the end of Verne's life. But there will be time to comment on that when I get to that one. For the moment it's enough to say that "Robur the Conqueror" tells a complete, standalone story.
By the way, this was published in 1886, a year that some Verne scholars mark as the start of the second part of his career, when he began publishing darker works (although this is just a trend, it does not mean that all his work became dark after this point). Two traumatic events affected Verne's life that year. While he was doing revisions for this novel, Verne was shot in the leg by a mentally-disturbed nephew, giving him a permanent limp. Also, Hetzel, the editor who had been so influential on his work, died that year, being succeeded by his son.
As I have mentioned in other reviews, I'm reading these in Spanish, but if you want to read it in English, it is worth seeking a modern translation when possible (in this case, Alex Kirstukas' 2017 translation for Wesleyan University Press), because many contemporary English translations are questionable.
Enjoyment factor: Yes, I enjoyed it. I found it more dynamic than many contemporary reviewers, and the concept is great, if you can put yourself in the place of these 19th century characters. The depiction of one of these characters, judged by modern standards, can only be called racist, but then again reading such old literature is a chance to discover how standards and social attitudes have changed throughout the centuries, a chance to travel in time, more authentic than anything offered by modern historical fiction.
Next up: North Against South, aka Texar's Revenge
Last edited:
farseer2
Registered User
- Joined
- Nov 24, 2006
- Messages
- 1,309
(30) Nord contre Sud (North Against South, aka Texar's Revenge, 1887) (2 volumes) 115K words
The 30th Extraordinary Voyage takes us to the United States. It's not the first Voyage that takes place exclusively there, but this one is more grounded in American history than the previous ones, which included an optimistic science fiction tale ("From the Earth to the Moon") and a cautionary tale about evil scientists and politics involving two fictitious cities ("The Begum's Millions"). In this case, Verne tells a story about the American Civil War. This is the second of the four historical novels that Verne wrote at this stage of his career, within the span of five years. The first of those is "The Archipelago on Fire", and the other two would be "The Flight to France" and "Family Without a Name". Many American Verne readers will probably be unaware that the author wrote about their Civil War, and I can't blame them, because at this point Verne's huge success with his early novels was a thing of the past. He kept writing and publishing new novels every year, but one has to admit that "North Against South" is among his lesser-known works.
First read or reread?: First read for me.
What is it about?: In Florida, two men, Texar and Burbank, are bitter enemies. Burbank's northern views against slavery is an unpopular stance with Texar and the rest of the community, deep in the Confederate States of America. On top of this disagreement, though, Texar is angry for past legal troubles Burbank has brought upon him. Despite Texar having a seemingly perfect alibi that allows him to escape conviction, he feels the need for vengeance and eventually becomes a prominent and powerful member of the Jacksonville community, taking advantage of the chaos caused by the war. Using this newfound power, Texar turns the townsfolk against Burbank and leads a mob that destroys the Burbank plantation, known as Camdless Bay. Burbank's little daughter Dy and her caretaker Zermah are both kidnapped and are purportedly taken to a place in the Everglades called Carneral Island.
Verne has been accused of taking many historical liberties with this novel. I'm not enough of an expert to judge by myself, but I have no doubt that the accusations are true. Verne has clearly documented himself by reading a couple of books about the Civil War (which was a relatively recent event at that time, having ended little more than twenty years before the publication of this novel), and no doubt he has the military events and dates right but, beyond that, the details about what was going on with the society of Jacksonville and Florida in general are probably made up, as fictional as the characters.
I suspect, although again I'm no expert, that the same could be said about the other Verne historical novels. For example, I'm sure that in "The Archipelago on Fire" he takes many liberties with the historical details. He just gets more flak about "North Against South" because there are many more people knowledgeable about the American Civil War than about the Greek War of Independence. The impression I get is that the author documented himself but did not study the subject deeply enough to become an expert.
Leaving the matter of historical accuracy aside, what interests me more is how good "North Against South" is as a story. The answer is that it is a decent adventure story, with plenty of drama and action, although it's not one of Verne's most inspired works. It's still quite readable, though. My main criticism is that the novel is a bit on the slow side, although it speeds up in the second volume, particularly when we move to the Everglades. I also thought that the twist about how the villain Texar managed to always escape justice was easy to guess. Nevertheless, there's plenty of adventure to satisfy Verne's fans once the story starts going.
It is worth pointing out that this was a difficult period in Verne's life. Both his mother and his lifetime editor Hetzel had died the previous year, and he had been shot in the leg by a mentally unstable nephew, leaving him with physical aftereffects. It's difficult to know how these events affected this novel. Around this time the themes in Verne's work are supposed to turn a bit darker, as we saw in the previous novel "Robur the Conqueror". However, this is a tendency, far from a fixed rule, and this novel is not particularly cautionary or pessimistic. It's just a historical adventure.
An important theme here, of course, is slavery. Verne's strong anti-slavery beliefs are well-known. When it comes to race matters, as I have commented in other reviews, Verne was a person of his time. In other works, he does not shy away from sensational portrayals of indigenous cultures as savage and prone to cannibalism, for example. However, the criticism he gets for his portrayal of a black comic-relief character in Robur the Conqueror is a bit unfair. Sure, depicting a black character as a cowardly idiot is against modern standards, but he also has white characters who are idiots and cowards. And in other cases he has black characters who are brave and noble, for example in "Dick Sand, A Captain at Fifteen".
Here, too, black characters like Zermah or her husband, Mars, are portrayed as brave, noble, resourceful and smart. I certainly won't pretend Verne was enlightened from a 21st century perspective. One can still notice this is not a modern novel in details like, for example, the gratitude and loyalty that the liberated former slaves have towards their former master, or how some of Texar's slaves had been reduced to a brutish state. Verne was well-meaning, but his liberalism was convential and bourgeoisie. However, I do think this novel is enlightened for a 19th century European writer.
I enjoyed exploring Florida, the relatively civilized St. Johns River in the north and the wilderness of the Everglades in the south. I also found the villain interesting because, although he was evil and despicable, he did have one redeeming quality. Well, redeeming is going too far, let's same one praiseworthy quality lost among his many flaws.
Enjoyment factor: I enjoyed it, although the first part took longer to hook me than other Verne stories. Perhaps this should have been a bit shorter. At this point in Verne's career, despite these novels being relatively obscure, I'm still finding them quite enjoyable. They lack some of that energy and exhuberance of Verne's early works, which I liked a lot, but they are competent works by a great storyteller.
Next up: The Flight to France
The 30th Extraordinary Voyage takes us to the United States. It's not the first Voyage that takes place exclusively there, but this one is more grounded in American history than the previous ones, which included an optimistic science fiction tale ("From the Earth to the Moon") and a cautionary tale about evil scientists and politics involving two fictitious cities ("The Begum's Millions"). In this case, Verne tells a story about the American Civil War. This is the second of the four historical novels that Verne wrote at this stage of his career, within the span of five years. The first of those is "The Archipelago on Fire", and the other two would be "The Flight to France" and "Family Without a Name". Many American Verne readers will probably be unaware that the author wrote about their Civil War, and I can't blame them, because at this point Verne's huge success with his early novels was a thing of the past. He kept writing and publishing new novels every year, but one has to admit that "North Against South" is among his lesser-known works.
First read or reread?: First read for me.
What is it about?: In Florida, two men, Texar and Burbank, are bitter enemies. Burbank's northern views against slavery is an unpopular stance with Texar and the rest of the community, deep in the Confederate States of America. On top of this disagreement, though, Texar is angry for past legal troubles Burbank has brought upon him. Despite Texar having a seemingly perfect alibi that allows him to escape conviction, he feels the need for vengeance and eventually becomes a prominent and powerful member of the Jacksonville community, taking advantage of the chaos caused by the war. Using this newfound power, Texar turns the townsfolk against Burbank and leads a mob that destroys the Burbank plantation, known as Camdless Bay. Burbank's little daughter Dy and her caretaker Zermah are both kidnapped and are purportedly taken to a place in the Everglades called Carneral Island.
Verne has been accused of taking many historical liberties with this novel. I'm not enough of an expert to judge by myself, but I have no doubt that the accusations are true. Verne has clearly documented himself by reading a couple of books about the Civil War (which was a relatively recent event at that time, having ended little more than twenty years before the publication of this novel), and no doubt he has the military events and dates right but, beyond that, the details about what was going on with the society of Jacksonville and Florida in general are probably made up, as fictional as the characters.
I suspect, although again I'm no expert, that the same could be said about the other Verne historical novels. For example, I'm sure that in "The Archipelago on Fire" he takes many liberties with the historical details. He just gets more flak about "North Against South" because there are many more people knowledgeable about the American Civil War than about the Greek War of Independence. The impression I get is that the author documented himself but did not study the subject deeply enough to become an expert.
Leaving the matter of historical accuracy aside, what interests me more is how good "North Against South" is as a story. The answer is that it is a decent adventure story, with plenty of drama and action, although it's not one of Verne's most inspired works. It's still quite readable, though. My main criticism is that the novel is a bit on the slow side, although it speeds up in the second volume, particularly when we move to the Everglades. I also thought that the twist about how the villain Texar managed to always escape justice was easy to guess. Nevertheless, there's plenty of adventure to satisfy Verne's fans once the story starts going.
It is worth pointing out that this was a difficult period in Verne's life. Both his mother and his lifetime editor Hetzel had died the previous year, and he had been shot in the leg by a mentally unstable nephew, leaving him with physical aftereffects. It's difficult to know how these events affected this novel. Around this time the themes in Verne's work are supposed to turn a bit darker, as we saw in the previous novel "Robur the Conqueror". However, this is a tendency, far from a fixed rule, and this novel is not particularly cautionary or pessimistic. It's just a historical adventure.
An important theme here, of course, is slavery. Verne's strong anti-slavery beliefs are well-known. When it comes to race matters, as I have commented in other reviews, Verne was a person of his time. In other works, he does not shy away from sensational portrayals of indigenous cultures as savage and prone to cannibalism, for example. However, the criticism he gets for his portrayal of a black comic-relief character in Robur the Conqueror is a bit unfair. Sure, depicting a black character as a cowardly idiot is against modern standards, but he also has white characters who are idiots and cowards. And in other cases he has black characters who are brave and noble, for example in "Dick Sand, A Captain at Fifteen".
Here, too, black characters like Zermah or her husband, Mars, are portrayed as brave, noble, resourceful and smart. I certainly won't pretend Verne was enlightened from a 21st century perspective. One can still notice this is not a modern novel in details like, for example, the gratitude and loyalty that the liberated former slaves have towards their former master, or how some of Texar's slaves had been reduced to a brutish state. Verne was well-meaning, but his liberalism was convential and bourgeoisie. However, I do think this novel is enlightened for a 19th century European writer.
I enjoyed exploring Florida, the relatively civilized St. Johns River in the north and the wilderness of the Everglades in the south. I also found the villain interesting because, although he was evil and despicable, he did have one redeeming quality. Well, redeeming is going too far, let's same one praiseworthy quality lost among his many flaws.
Enjoyment factor: I enjoyed it, although the first part took longer to hook me than other Verne stories. Perhaps this should have been a bit shorter. At this point in Verne's career, despite these novels being relatively obscure, I'm still finding them quite enjoyable. They lack some of that energy and exhuberance of Verne's early works, which I liked a lot, but they are competent works by a great storyteller.
Next up: The Flight to France
Last edited:
farseer2
Registered User
- Joined
- Nov 24, 2006
- Messages
- 1,309
(31) Le Chemin de France (The Flight to France, 1887) (1 volume) 57K words
With the 31st novel we reach the middle of the Extraordinary Voyages (there are sixty-two novels in the series, counting the eight posthumous ones). This is the third of the four historical novels that Verne wrote, the others being "The Archipelago on Fire", "North Against South" and "Family Without a Name". In this case, we travel to Prussia, from where the heroes will have to escape back to France.
First read or reread?: First read for me.
What is it about?: Natalis Delpierre, a Captain in the French Army, recounts his adventures in the summer of 1792 when he went to visit his sister, Irma, who was living in Prussia in the service of Madame Keller and her son Jean. The time of his visit coincides with rumors of France and Germany going to war. When war does break out, Jean Keller is forced to join the Prussian Army and serve under the man who is his rival for the attention of Mademoiselle Martha de Lauranay, a man he was scheduled to duel. Due to a decree expelling French nationals, Martha, her father, Irma and Natalis are forced to leave Prussia and go back to France. Meanwhile, Jean strikes his rival and superior officer, and becomes a fugitive.
Although the vast majority of Verne's novels are told in third person, from time to one he wrote one in first person, to good effect. As I have commented before, I enjoy Verne's characters, always kind of proper and Victorian, but I would be the first to admit that character work is not his focus or his strongest point. Therefore, a narrative resource that brings the reader closer to the main character can be helpful. "The Survivors of the Chancellor" is an example of a novel that I think is improved by being told in first person.
In this case, I enjoyed the voice of the narrator, who is quite idiosyncratic. He is a soldier of very humble origins, a patriot but not a militarist. His language is simple but sympathetic and full of common sense, using a lot of interjections and idioms.
The story takes place in 1792, during the French Revolution, at the time of the proclamation of the First Republic and the start of the French Revolutionary Wars. When Louis XVI was deposed and the constitutional monarchy ended, war broke out between France and several European powers (the First Coalition). Although these historical events in France are quite interesting, it's not really what the novel is about, and we only hear of them from what the narrator tells us.
Instead the action takes place in Prussia, where several French expatriates are left in a precarious situation when the war starts. Expelled from Prussia, they are given a short time to leave. One of them is wanted by the Prussian justice, and condemned to death in absentia.
Verne has always been patriotic in his writing. He often has one French character and speaks of French people with sympathy, but it's unusual for him to have a mostly-French cast, and this novel is more patriotic than any of his previous ones. Most of the action takes place in Prussia, but France is the objective to be reached, representing safety and freedom. I commented in my review of "The Begum's Millions" that although the heroes of an early Verne novel ("Journey to the Center of the Earth") were German, Verne became bitter about Germany after the Franco-Prussian War of 1870, which had resulted in the defeat of France, the unification of Germany and the establishment of the Second Reich. We see that bitterness here, since the author gives a mostly negative image of Prussian people, although admitting some of their good qualities (as the narrator says in the novel, it was not in courage where the Prussian soldiers were lacking).
With the momentous events going on at the time the novel is set, the adventure is relatively low-key. The first half does not have much action, and it's mostly a family story about a Prussian officer who interferes with a young couple who are in love with each other. Then the flight to France we are promised in the title starts, and it becomes more eventful, culminating with the Battle of Valmy.
But, even during the slower first half, I thought the pace was fine, better in that sense than the first part of the previous novel ("North Against South"). This is a rather short novel and I found it readable and entertaining.
Enjoyment factor: I enjoyed it. This is one of those shorter Verne novels that maintain a good pace. This was less epic than the previous two Verne historical novels, in the sense that it tells a smaller story, affecting only a few characters and separate from the grand scheme of things, but I did not perceive that as a negative. I appreciate these historical novels, even though the Verne stories I enjoy more are the ones that involve faraway journeys and unknown lands.
Next up: Two Years' Vacation
With the 31st novel we reach the middle of the Extraordinary Voyages (there are sixty-two novels in the series, counting the eight posthumous ones). This is the third of the four historical novels that Verne wrote, the others being "The Archipelago on Fire", "North Against South" and "Family Without a Name". In this case, we travel to Prussia, from where the heroes will have to escape back to France.
First read or reread?: First read for me.
What is it about?: Natalis Delpierre, a Captain in the French Army, recounts his adventures in the summer of 1792 when he went to visit his sister, Irma, who was living in Prussia in the service of Madame Keller and her son Jean. The time of his visit coincides with rumors of France and Germany going to war. When war does break out, Jean Keller is forced to join the Prussian Army and serve under the man who is his rival for the attention of Mademoiselle Martha de Lauranay, a man he was scheduled to duel. Due to a decree expelling French nationals, Martha, her father, Irma and Natalis are forced to leave Prussia and go back to France. Meanwhile, Jean strikes his rival and superior officer, and becomes a fugitive.
Although the vast majority of Verne's novels are told in third person, from time to one he wrote one in first person, to good effect. As I have commented before, I enjoy Verne's characters, always kind of proper and Victorian, but I would be the first to admit that character work is not his focus or his strongest point. Therefore, a narrative resource that brings the reader closer to the main character can be helpful. "The Survivors of the Chancellor" is an example of a novel that I think is improved by being told in first person.
In this case, I enjoyed the voice of the narrator, who is quite idiosyncratic. He is a soldier of very humble origins, a patriot but not a militarist. His language is simple but sympathetic and full of common sense, using a lot of interjections and idioms.
The story takes place in 1792, during the French Revolution, at the time of the proclamation of the First Republic and the start of the French Revolutionary Wars. When Louis XVI was deposed and the constitutional monarchy ended, war broke out between France and several European powers (the First Coalition). Although these historical events in France are quite interesting, it's not really what the novel is about, and we only hear of them from what the narrator tells us.
Instead the action takes place in Prussia, where several French expatriates are left in a precarious situation when the war starts. Expelled from Prussia, they are given a short time to leave. One of them is wanted by the Prussian justice, and condemned to death in absentia.
Verne has always been patriotic in his writing. He often has one French character and speaks of French people with sympathy, but it's unusual for him to have a mostly-French cast, and this novel is more patriotic than any of his previous ones. Most of the action takes place in Prussia, but France is the objective to be reached, representing safety and freedom. I commented in my review of "The Begum's Millions" that although the heroes of an early Verne novel ("Journey to the Center of the Earth") were German, Verne became bitter about Germany after the Franco-Prussian War of 1870, which had resulted in the defeat of France, the unification of Germany and the establishment of the Second Reich. We see that bitterness here, since the author gives a mostly negative image of Prussian people, although admitting some of their good qualities (as the narrator says in the novel, it was not in courage where the Prussian soldiers were lacking).
With the momentous events going on at the time the novel is set, the adventure is relatively low-key. The first half does not have much action, and it's mostly a family story about a Prussian officer who interferes with a young couple who are in love with each other. Then the flight to France we are promised in the title starts, and it becomes more eventful, culminating with the Battle of Valmy.
But, even during the slower first half, I thought the pace was fine, better in that sense than the first part of the previous novel ("North Against South"). This is a rather short novel and I found it readable and entertaining.
Enjoyment factor: I enjoyed it. This is one of those shorter Verne novels that maintain a good pace. This was less epic than the previous two Verne historical novels, in the sense that it tells a smaller story, affecting only a few characters and separate from the grand scheme of things, but I did not perceive that as a negative. I appreciate these historical novels, even though the Verne stories I enjoy more are the ones that involve faraway journeys and unknown lands.
Next up: Two Years' Vacation
Last edited:
farseer2
Registered User
- Joined
- Nov 24, 2006
- Messages
- 1,309
(32) Deux Ans de vacances (Two Years' Vacation, aka Adrift in the Pacific, 1888) (2 volumes) 105K words
The 32nd Extraordinary Voyage takes us back to the South Pacific Ocean for a robinsonade, the third book by Verne in this genre (after the epic "The Mysterious Island" and the more light-hearted "Godfrey Morgan"). It is also the second out of four Verne novels with children as main characters (the others are "Dick Sand, A Captain at Fifteen", "Foundling Mick" and "Travel Scholarships").
In English, it has also been published in two volumes with the individual titles of Adrift in the Pacific, and Second Year Ashore. So be careful if you see a book called Adrift in the Pacific, because it could be either an (abridged) edition of the complete novel, or the first half of the novel.
First read or reread?: This is a reread for me. I loved it when I read it as a kid, being one of my favorites in the series.
What is it about?: Fourteen boys of three different nationalities, aged between eight and fourteen, all boarders at a New Zealand school, were about to start a six-week summer trip by sea. Unfortunately, the night before their departure, while the schooner's crew were still ashore, the moorings unfastened under unknown circumstances and the ship drifted to sea. Caught by a terrible storm, they are cast upon a deserted land, where they must try to get along together despite their internal rivalries in order to survive.
When rereading a childhood favorite there's always some concern that the magic may be lost, that it might be better not to spoil the memories by revisiting these books. On the other hand, given that I'm enjoying this project of reading all the Extraordinary Voyages, why shouldn't that be the case with this one?
I'm happy to report that the magic was still there for me. Yes, I'm no longer the same age as the characters of this novel, an ideal age to marvel at the adventures and resourcefulness of this group of kids, but this is still a genuinely good adventure novel, and it awakened many memories of different passages that I hadn't thought about for decades but that, it turns out, I still remembered well, so deep an impression they made on me at the time.
Unlike the partly satirical and light-hearted "Godfrey Morgan" this is a serious robinsonade, in the vein of "The Mysterious Island". One problem with this genre is that, after so many novels, it tends to tread familiar ground. You know how it goes: the shipwreck, getting to an unknown land, the problem of finding fresh water, food and refuge, taking stock of the resources that have been saved, exploring the surroundings, trying to find a mean of leaving or being rescued...
Verne, however, succeeds in keeping this story fresh and giving it individuality, first by having a group of boys, between 14 and 8 years old, as the castaways, without any adult to lead them. Their inexperience and the need to take care of the younger ones add a level of tension to the story, and makes their triumphs more meritorious. Because of the age of the characters, it has a certain additional young adult flavor.
Another tool that Verne uses to good effect here is the internal conflict and personality clashes within the group, exacerbated by the difference in nationalities (most of the boys are British, with a couple of French brothers and one American). The struggles of the young castaways to govern themselves and decide who among them should lead becomes an important theme. Very different, for example, from "The Mysterious Island", where the group of adult characters did not really have internal struggles and had a clear leader in the uber-competent engineer Cyrus Smith. Having these conflicts among the main group of characters who share the same objective is unusual in Verne, although he did it for example in "The Adventures of Three Englishmen and Three Russians in South Africa".
In this sense, we could compare this book, perhaps, to other two classic novels that feature a group of schoolboys shipwrecked on a desert island: "The Coral Island" (1857) by R. M. Ballantyne and "Lord of the Flies" (1954) by William Golding. The boys in "The Coral Island", although their group is much smaller, have a mostly idyllic relationship, with no infighting. In "Lord of the Flies", of course, the opposite is true, to a catastrophic extent. "Two Years' Vacation" avoids both extremes, and it feels the more real for it. The boys in this novel are never in any danger of murdering each other, and yet their disputes represent a real threat to their cooperation. Without this being in any way a deep psychological study, I think this internal conflict makes the characters seem more real and helps the readers care about them. Even the boys who are in the wrong are not villains: they may be flawed, but they have their good qualities and are admirable in some ways, which is a subtlety that I think serves the story well.
As a curiosity, there was actually a real-life situation in 1965 where a group of schoolboys were shipwrecked on a desert island for more than a year. Civilization and the human tendency to cooperate won out, and it was very different from "Lord of the Flies" (https://www.theguardian.com/books/2...-when-six-boys-were-shipwrecked-for-15-months)
Coming back to this novel, the pacing is good. Verne was playing to his strengths here, except for the fact that we have no science fiction elements and no fabulous vehicles. (Although, Verne being Verne, at one point we have the characters building a giant kite to raise one of them in the air in order to reach a higher observation point.) It feels very classic Verne, at a time when the author was writing a bunch of historical novels which are quite competent, but which probably do not capture the imagination as much as his best-known works. This one could have been written at the beginning of his career, which is why I say that any attempt to divide Verne's work in two different periods has to be seen just as a tendency and not as a fixed rule.
I could see some of the defects in this book that I was too inexperienced to notice when I first read it. For example, the unrealistic fauna, too diverse for such an isolated environment with such extreme winter weather. But then, this is a very Vernian thing. What the author did not know, he invented, and with our 21st century knowledge we sometimes notice unrealistic elements that Verne's contemporary readers probably would miss. Not that this prevented me in any way from enjoying the story, though.
This one is also interesting as an example of race issues in Verne's work. One of the characters, Moko, is a black child, a ship's boy who is the only member of the crew who was in the ship at the time it got unmoored. He is depicted in a positive manner, sensible, brave, resourceful, loyal... But at the same time, when it comes to voting for a leader there's never any question of him taking part in the process. There's a class difference here, but I have no doubt that it's because of his race that everyone (including himself) takes it for granted that he doesn't vote. I have seen Goodreads reviewers bemoaning this implicit racism, and if this were a historical novel written today it would go differently, but, you know, it's how things were, and if we rewrite history to make it seem that this was not the case, we are only fooling ourselves.
According to Verne scholars, the writer based the character of Briant, a French boy who is one of the leaders of the shipwrecked boys, on Aristide Briand, a charismatic school friend of his son Michel who would much later go on to serve eleven terms as Prime Minister of France during the French Third Republic and receive the 1926 Nobel Peace Prize. Michel Verne, meanwhile, would serve as the inspiration for Gordon, the American boy who is less brilliant than the rivals Briant and Doniphan but who is quite sensible and practical, trying to maintain peace between the two factions (I guess by this point the relationship between Jules Verne and his son had already improved).
Enjoyment factor: Very high. Still one of my favorite Vernes. I think this story deserves to be better known, and it would be if it were written by a different author, but Verne has so many famous novels that some good ones get lost in the group. Being a straightforward adventure story with no science fiction elements probably does not help it get noticed. Funnily enough, this one is very popular in Japan, of all places, and, to be fair, it is one of the most popular among Verne's lesser-known novels.
Next up: Family Without a Name
The 32nd Extraordinary Voyage takes us back to the South Pacific Ocean for a robinsonade, the third book by Verne in this genre (after the epic "The Mysterious Island" and the more light-hearted "Godfrey Morgan"). It is also the second out of four Verne novels with children as main characters (the others are "Dick Sand, A Captain at Fifteen", "Foundling Mick" and "Travel Scholarships").
In English, it has also been published in two volumes with the individual titles of Adrift in the Pacific, and Second Year Ashore. So be careful if you see a book called Adrift in the Pacific, because it could be either an (abridged) edition of the complete novel, or the first half of the novel.
First read or reread?: This is a reread for me. I loved it when I read it as a kid, being one of my favorites in the series.
What is it about?: Fourteen boys of three different nationalities, aged between eight and fourteen, all boarders at a New Zealand school, were about to start a six-week summer trip by sea. Unfortunately, the night before their departure, while the schooner's crew were still ashore, the moorings unfastened under unknown circumstances and the ship drifted to sea. Caught by a terrible storm, they are cast upon a deserted land, where they must try to get along together despite their internal rivalries in order to survive.
When rereading a childhood favorite there's always some concern that the magic may be lost, that it might be better not to spoil the memories by revisiting these books. On the other hand, given that I'm enjoying this project of reading all the Extraordinary Voyages, why shouldn't that be the case with this one?
I'm happy to report that the magic was still there for me. Yes, I'm no longer the same age as the characters of this novel, an ideal age to marvel at the adventures and resourcefulness of this group of kids, but this is still a genuinely good adventure novel, and it awakened many memories of different passages that I hadn't thought about for decades but that, it turns out, I still remembered well, so deep an impression they made on me at the time.
Unlike the partly satirical and light-hearted "Godfrey Morgan" this is a serious robinsonade, in the vein of "The Mysterious Island". One problem with this genre is that, after so many novels, it tends to tread familiar ground. You know how it goes: the shipwreck, getting to an unknown land, the problem of finding fresh water, food and refuge, taking stock of the resources that have been saved, exploring the surroundings, trying to find a mean of leaving or being rescued...
Verne, however, succeeds in keeping this story fresh and giving it individuality, first by having a group of boys, between 14 and 8 years old, as the castaways, without any adult to lead them. Their inexperience and the need to take care of the younger ones add a level of tension to the story, and makes their triumphs more meritorious. Because of the age of the characters, it has a certain additional young adult flavor.
Another tool that Verne uses to good effect here is the internal conflict and personality clashes within the group, exacerbated by the difference in nationalities (most of the boys are British, with a couple of French brothers and one American). The struggles of the young castaways to govern themselves and decide who among them should lead becomes an important theme. Very different, for example, from "The Mysterious Island", where the group of adult characters did not really have internal struggles and had a clear leader in the uber-competent engineer Cyrus Smith. Having these conflicts among the main group of characters who share the same objective is unusual in Verne, although he did it for example in "The Adventures of Three Englishmen and Three Russians in South Africa".
In this sense, we could compare this book, perhaps, to other two classic novels that feature a group of schoolboys shipwrecked on a desert island: "The Coral Island" (1857) by R. M. Ballantyne and "Lord of the Flies" (1954) by William Golding. The boys in "The Coral Island", although their group is much smaller, have a mostly idyllic relationship, with no infighting. In "Lord of the Flies", of course, the opposite is true, to a catastrophic extent. "Two Years' Vacation" avoids both extremes, and it feels the more real for it. The boys in this novel are never in any danger of murdering each other, and yet their disputes represent a real threat to their cooperation. Without this being in any way a deep psychological study, I think this internal conflict makes the characters seem more real and helps the readers care about them. Even the boys who are in the wrong are not villains: they may be flawed, but they have their good qualities and are admirable in some ways, which is a subtlety that I think serves the story well.
As a curiosity, there was actually a real-life situation in 1965 where a group of schoolboys were shipwrecked on a desert island for more than a year. Civilization and the human tendency to cooperate won out, and it was very different from "Lord of the Flies" (https://www.theguardian.com/books/2...-when-six-boys-were-shipwrecked-for-15-months)
Coming back to this novel, the pacing is good. Verne was playing to his strengths here, except for the fact that we have no science fiction elements and no fabulous vehicles. (Although, Verne being Verne, at one point we have the characters building a giant kite to raise one of them in the air in order to reach a higher observation point.) It feels very classic Verne, at a time when the author was writing a bunch of historical novels which are quite competent, but which probably do not capture the imagination as much as his best-known works. This one could have been written at the beginning of his career, which is why I say that any attempt to divide Verne's work in two different periods has to be seen just as a tendency and not as a fixed rule.
I could see some of the defects in this book that I was too inexperienced to notice when I first read it. For example, the unrealistic fauna, too diverse for such an isolated environment with such extreme winter weather. But then, this is a very Vernian thing. What the author did not know, he invented, and with our 21st century knowledge we sometimes notice unrealistic elements that Verne's contemporary readers probably would miss. Not that this prevented me in any way from enjoying the story, though.
This one is also interesting as an example of race issues in Verne's work. One of the characters, Moko, is a black child, a ship's boy who is the only member of the crew who was in the ship at the time it got unmoored. He is depicted in a positive manner, sensible, brave, resourceful, loyal... But at the same time, when it comes to voting for a leader there's never any question of him taking part in the process. There's a class difference here, but I have no doubt that it's because of his race that everyone (including himself) takes it for granted that he doesn't vote. I have seen Goodreads reviewers bemoaning this implicit racism, and if this were a historical novel written today it would go differently, but, you know, it's how things were, and if we rewrite history to make it seem that this was not the case, we are only fooling ourselves.
According to Verne scholars, the writer based the character of Briant, a French boy who is one of the leaders of the shipwrecked boys, on Aristide Briand, a charismatic school friend of his son Michel who would much later go on to serve eleven terms as Prime Minister of France during the French Third Republic and receive the 1926 Nobel Peace Prize. Michel Verne, meanwhile, would serve as the inspiration for Gordon, the American boy who is less brilliant than the rivals Briant and Doniphan but who is quite sensible and practical, trying to maintain peace between the two factions (I guess by this point the relationship between Jules Verne and his son had already improved).
Enjoyment factor: Very high. Still one of my favorite Vernes. I think this story deserves to be better known, and it would be if it were written by a different author, but Verne has so many famous novels that some good ones get lost in the group. Being a straightforward adventure story with no science fiction elements probably does not help it get noticed. Funnily enough, this one is very popular in Japan, of all places, and, to be fair, it is one of the most popular among Verne's lesser-known novels.
Next up: Family Without a Name
Last edited:
farseer2
Registered User
- Joined
- Nov 24, 2006
- Messages
- 1,309
(33) Famille-sans-nom (Family Without a Name, 1889) (2 volumes) 107K words
The 33rd Extraordinary Voyage is the second to take place in Canada (after "The Fur Country"). Unlike that previous novel, however, "Family Without a Name" is not an adventure story in the frozen wilderness of the Arctic regions, but a historical tale about the struggle of the French Canadians along the St. Lawrence River to gain their freedom from British domination. This is the fourth and last of the historical novels that Verne wrote around this time, the previous ones being "The Archipelago on Fire", "North Against South" and "The Flight to France".
First read or reread?: First read for me.
What is it about?: Simon Morgaz is a traitor hated by all French Canadians: in exchange for money, he betrayed the leaders who were planning a rebellion against the British colonial government, leading to their execution. During the trial, his confused statements revealed his treachery to the whole of Canada. He and his family are scorned by the populace and he had to flee, taking his wife Bridget and his two sons, Jean and Joann with him, before eventually committing suicide. Years later, a new rebellion is brewing, and one of its leaders is an enigmatic young man who calls himself Jean Without a Name.
While the previous book in the series ("Two Years' Vacation") was a return to the adventurous, optimistic tales that we associate with the first part of Verne's career, this one has a darker and more tragic tone. I don't enjoy this darker side of Verne quite as much, because it doesn't capture my imagination in the same way, but in fairness I also have to say that it gives this story some dramatic depth and emotional impact that most of his novels do not have.
The suffering of a family marked by an act of villainy committed by the father, even though the rest of the family were not accomplice, is painted vividly. Verne did not particularly shy away from depicting suffering, see for example the privations the characters of a much earlier novel, "The Survivors of the Chancellor", go through. But here the tone is also less optimistic. The wife and the sons of the traitor have devoted their angst-filled lives to compensating the shameful betrayal, but despite their heroism and their lack of guilt they seem unavoidably marked. Their suffering is mirrored by the suffering of the population as the British army takes revenge against the rebels.
This darkness may be a reflection of the trouble in the author's own life, or maybe it's just a consequence of Pierre-Jules Hetzel's death. Hetzel, who was Verne's editor and publisher, had always pushed him towards more commercial fiction. After his death, Hetzel's son, who took over his father's business, did not have as much influence over Verne.
Even though Verne occasionally had British characters, and in fact many of the protagonists of "The Steam House" were British officers in India, the author had never been very sympathetic towards British imperialism. Also, he had often shown sympathy in his novels for nations struggling against foreign domination. Here, he sides unequivocally with the oppressed French Canadians. As I read this novel, I had mixed feelings about that because nationalism, while it can be a noble sentiment under certain conditions, also leads to much fanaticism and suffering. For the purposes of this story, however, the British were oppressors and the people of the Lower Canada were only right in rising in arms against them.
The pace of the story was perhaps a bit too slow in the first half of the novel, but as is usually the case with Verne, it improves later. His stories are never uneventful, even when they start slow. In this sense, it reminded me of Verne's other two-volume historical novel ("North Against South"), which also had a slow beginning, while the other two historical novels, being only one volume each, do not really have this problem.
Given how serious and dark the novel is, some comic relief is in order. It is provided by Mr. Nick, the placid and conciliatory notary who also happens to be descendant of the Native American Sagamores and is, very much against his will, elected chief of his tribe. In spite of his desire to resume his profession, he has to accept this responsibility and join the tribe of his ancestors to avoid being arrested by the British, due to a misunderstanding. This leads to some funny situations, but the whole thing is so absurd that it belongs to a farce, and doesn't really suit this otherwise somber story.
Like in "Mathias Sandorf", the main characters here are political leaders in a revolution, which is something that was not the case in other Verne novels, except perhaps, to a lesser extent, in "The Archipelago on Fire". The plot is still action-oriented, though, with a romantic subplot also.
The bond between brothers, like Jean and Joann Morgaz in this novel, is a theme here and would also appear in some of Verne's latest works, particularly "The Kip Brothers" and "The Secret of Wilhelm Storitz". This may be a reflection of Jules Verne's close bond with his younger brother Paul. In fact, "The Kip Brothers", published shortly before Jules' own death, was dedicated to the memory of his brother Paul, who had just died.
Enjoyment factor: The darkness of this one took me by surprise, but I did enjoy it, although I have already commented that I prefer the optimistic, adventure-oriented side of Verne. Despite enjoying them, I'm not sorry that we are done with this mini-series of historical novels. Let's see where Verne takes us next.
Next up: The Purchase of the North Pole, aka Topsy-Turvy
The 33rd Extraordinary Voyage is the second to take place in Canada (after "The Fur Country"). Unlike that previous novel, however, "Family Without a Name" is not an adventure story in the frozen wilderness of the Arctic regions, but a historical tale about the struggle of the French Canadians along the St. Lawrence River to gain their freedom from British domination. This is the fourth and last of the historical novels that Verne wrote around this time, the previous ones being "The Archipelago on Fire", "North Against South" and "The Flight to France".
First read or reread?: First read for me.
What is it about?: Simon Morgaz is a traitor hated by all French Canadians: in exchange for money, he betrayed the leaders who were planning a rebellion against the British colonial government, leading to their execution. During the trial, his confused statements revealed his treachery to the whole of Canada. He and his family are scorned by the populace and he had to flee, taking his wife Bridget and his two sons, Jean and Joann with him, before eventually committing suicide. Years later, a new rebellion is brewing, and one of its leaders is an enigmatic young man who calls himself Jean Without a Name.
While the previous book in the series ("Two Years' Vacation") was a return to the adventurous, optimistic tales that we associate with the first part of Verne's career, this one has a darker and more tragic tone. I don't enjoy this darker side of Verne quite as much, because it doesn't capture my imagination in the same way, but in fairness I also have to say that it gives this story some dramatic depth and emotional impact that most of his novels do not have.
The suffering of a family marked by an act of villainy committed by the father, even though the rest of the family were not accomplice, is painted vividly. Verne did not particularly shy away from depicting suffering, see for example the privations the characters of a much earlier novel, "The Survivors of the Chancellor", go through. But here the tone is also less optimistic. The wife and the sons of the traitor have devoted their angst-filled lives to compensating the shameful betrayal, but despite their heroism and their lack of guilt they seem unavoidably marked. Their suffering is mirrored by the suffering of the population as the British army takes revenge against the rebels.
This darkness may be a reflection of the trouble in the author's own life, or maybe it's just a consequence of Pierre-Jules Hetzel's death. Hetzel, who was Verne's editor and publisher, had always pushed him towards more commercial fiction. After his death, Hetzel's son, who took over his father's business, did not have as much influence over Verne.
Even though Verne occasionally had British characters, and in fact many of the protagonists of "The Steam House" were British officers in India, the author had never been very sympathetic towards British imperialism. Also, he had often shown sympathy in his novels for nations struggling against foreign domination. Here, he sides unequivocally with the oppressed French Canadians. As I read this novel, I had mixed feelings about that because nationalism, while it can be a noble sentiment under certain conditions, also leads to much fanaticism and suffering. For the purposes of this story, however, the British were oppressors and the people of the Lower Canada were only right in rising in arms against them.
The pace of the story was perhaps a bit too slow in the first half of the novel, but as is usually the case with Verne, it improves later. His stories are never uneventful, even when they start slow. In this sense, it reminded me of Verne's other two-volume historical novel ("North Against South"), which also had a slow beginning, while the other two historical novels, being only one volume each, do not really have this problem.
Given how serious and dark the novel is, some comic relief is in order. It is provided by Mr. Nick, the placid and conciliatory notary who also happens to be descendant of the Native American Sagamores and is, very much against his will, elected chief of his tribe. In spite of his desire to resume his profession, he has to accept this responsibility and join the tribe of his ancestors to avoid being arrested by the British, due to a misunderstanding. This leads to some funny situations, but the whole thing is so absurd that it belongs to a farce, and doesn't really suit this otherwise somber story.
Like in "Mathias Sandorf", the main characters here are political leaders in a revolution, which is something that was not the case in other Verne novels, except perhaps, to a lesser extent, in "The Archipelago on Fire". The plot is still action-oriented, though, with a romantic subplot also.
The bond between brothers, like Jean and Joann Morgaz in this novel, is a theme here and would also appear in some of Verne's latest works, particularly "The Kip Brothers" and "The Secret of Wilhelm Storitz". This may be a reflection of Jules Verne's close bond with his younger brother Paul. In fact, "The Kip Brothers", published shortly before Jules' own death, was dedicated to the memory of his brother Paul, who had just died.
Enjoyment factor: The darkness of this one took me by surprise, but I did enjoy it, although I have already commented that I prefer the optimistic, adventure-oriented side of Verne. Despite enjoying them, I'm not sorry that we are done with this mini-series of historical novels. Let's see where Verne takes us next.
Next up: The Purchase of the North Pole, aka Topsy-Turvy
Ray McCarthy
Writer of SF&F
- Joined
- May 9, 2017
- Messages
- 971
Windshadow
need more dried frog pills
- Joined
- Oct 25, 2015
- Messages
- 3,156
Do you have links to good translations of all these? I tried back in the late 50s to early 60s to read what I could find on the interlibrary loan of his works past the big 3 or 4 and I was very disappointed at what I found and gave up on the few I found after a few chapters
farseer2
Registered User
- Joined
- Nov 24, 2006
- Messages
- 1,309
I'm reading these in Spanish, where the original, now public domain translations tend to be decent (because of that, publishers tend not to bother with new translations, they just reprint the public domain ones, perhaps with slight corrections). In English, modern translations tend to be better than the old, public domain ones, and the famous ones tend to have modern translations. As most readers will not embark in a project such as mine, they'll probably want to read the most famous ones, and you can find good translations of those if you are willing to spend some money instead of getting the free or dirt cheap ebooks with public domain content. Even when it comes to older translations, some are much worse than others (a few are shockingly bad, as if the translator had no access to the original French text and had to invent it from a vague description of the plot). In the first post of the threads, at the end, I have some links that should be of help. Paradoxically, some of the most obscure works also have good, modern English translations, because there were no contemporary English translations. Some of the latest Verne novels were only translated to English recently.
Verne has a Victorian kind of style that is a bit different from modern writing. For example, he sometimes asks himself questions in the middle of the narration and answers them, which is something that I don't think modern writers do, but I found it quite easy to get used to the style. His characters tend to be quite formal and polite when they talk to each other, but that I think is normal in the literature of the period (and I actually enjoy it, although I'm sure it might sound stilted to other readers). He also has the occasional info-dump, which is a no-no in manuals of modern writing, but that in Verne can have a certain charm, take into account that his books were a combination of adventure story with a bit of documentary in them. I don't find any of that an obstacle to enjoying the story, but I suppose it's something that might take a bit of getting used to, just like when you start reading 19th century literature when you are only used to modern books.
Here's the relevant info from the first post. Hope it helps!:
Last edited:
farseer2
Registered User
- Joined
- Nov 24, 2006
- Messages
- 1,309
Ray McCarthy
Writer of SF&F
- Joined
- May 9, 2017
- Messages
- 971
Are or were there many authors sympathetic to colonialism done by other countries?Why the grin, Ray?
farseer2
Registered User
- Joined
- Nov 24, 2006
- Messages
- 1,309
Good point! Of course, beyond national rivalries, at the time there were many European thinkers who considered that colonialism had a beneficial influence on the countries being colonized, bringing civilization and Christianity to places that lacked them. Colonialism at the time didn't have the same reputation that it has now, and people took for granted that Western civilization was superior to native civilizations, although they could still be critical of obvious exploitation and atrocities. But you are right that it was easier to be against colonialism done by rival countries.
In general, Verne, although he was patriotic, was a fan of knowledge and civilization, and although he often had a French character in his books, most of his heroes were from other European countries or from North America (with a few exceptions like Tribulations of a Chinaman in China or Keraban the Inflexible).
He also had a good number of sympathetic British heroes, and seems to me a bit anglophile, even if not particularly a fan of British colonialism. It's different to his attitude towards Germany, which soured after the Franco-Prussian War (although, before it, he had had German heroes in Journey to the Center of the Earth). In The Steam House, Verne had heroes who were British officers in India, and he wrote about the struggle for Indian independence in a rather neutral way, meaning that he wasn't clearly in favor or against, and depicted both sides as having committed war atrocities, although his villain was an Indian leader who had committed awful war crimes.
That's why I remarked about the British being the clear-cut villains in Family without a name. Of course, the ones fighting against the British there were not natives, but French Americans (the descendants of immigrants from another colonial power), so it makes sense for Verne to be on their side.
In general, Verne was sympathetic towards nations fighting for their freedom, but I can't really think of him as an anti-colonialism writer because those nations whose freedom he defended in his stories weren't usually non-Western natives.
Windshadow
need more dried frog pills
- Joined
- Oct 25, 2015
- Messages
- 3,156
Thanks, Farseer that Is great info... Your reviews of these less famous of his works have been a wonderful window into these stories
farseer2
Registered User
- Joined
- Nov 24, 2006
- Messages
- 1,309
(34) Sans dessus dessous (The Purchase of the North Pole, aka Topsy-Turvy, 1889) (1 volume) 48K words
The 34th Extraordinary Voyage brings us another science fiction tale. The members of the Baltimore Gun Club (who previously appeared in "From the Earth to the Moon" and "Around The Moon") make their third and last appearance. This time, twenty years after their famous trip to the Moon, they are back with an even more ambitious scheme.
First read or reread?: First read for me.
What is it about?: Through a public auction that captures the attention of the world, the North Polar Practical Association intends to purchases all the territory north of the 84th parallel. It turns out that the members of the Baltimore Gun Club are the ones behind this enigmatic society, including Secretary J.T. Maston, President Impy Barbicane and Captain Nicholl. Thanks to the generosity of Mrs. Angelina Scorbitt, the association is successful in its bid for this region of the globe. The world wonders why they have paid so much for this inhospitable region, given that no human being has ever succeeded in reaching that far north. With the property secure, the association makes their plans known: they intend on altering the axis of the earth, so that this Artic region will obtain a more temperate climate, allowing them access to the large coal deposits they expect to find there.
Even though many of the characters are the same, this novel tells a standalone story and can be read independently. However, there are many references to the trip to the Moon, so it would make sense to read "From the Earth to the Moon" and "Around the Moon" before this one. A couple of other Verne novels are also mentioned (the auction in "Godfrey Morgan" and Hector Servadac's journey in "Off on a Comet").
This book resembles "From the Earth to the Moon" in many ways. It is written with irony and humor. Verne clearly was having a good time in both cases. Both the artillery-obsessed members of the club and the reactions from the different countries of the world are satirized. Besides, there's not a lot of action. Like in "From the Earth to the Moon", most of this novel is in the build-up to the big moment, the scientific calculations, the interaction of the characters, the changes in the public opinion... The moment when the plans are carried out comes right at the end.
However, there are also important differences. The members of the Gun Club have always been eccentric, but in "From the Earth to the Moon" they were eccentric in a heroic way, the recipients of public admiration. Here, the novel starts in the same way. However, as the world gradually becomes aware of the likely catastrophic consequences of the scheme, they become something like supervillains, their scientific obsession bordering the criminally insane, to the point that they have to escape and go into hiding so as not to be stopped by the authorities and the enraged masses.
This is representative of a certain change in tone in the second half of Verne's career. The interest in science persists, but it's often accompanied by an awareness of its potential abuse and the dangers of unchecked technological progress.
The Gun Club's plot is quite outlandish, but Verne keeps it relatively grounded in science, despite taking some liberties like the invention of a fictitious explosive more powerful than the ones known at the time. This realism is also shown in the novel's final twist. This is a lightweight story, but the themes feel relevant from the point of view of the 21st century: an attempt to modify the climate of the Earth, and all of it motivated by the demand for coal.
Another prescient technological element in the novel is the use of the recently-invented telephone for trivial everyday purposes, like the mostly one-sided flirting between Mrs. Angelina Scorbitt and J.T. Maston.
The novel is quite short, and if the author didn't dwell so much on the buildup it might have been a short story, but it's precisely the building up that makes it fun to read.
Enjoyment factor: I enjoyed it, although not as much as From the Earth to the Moon/Around the Moon. A nice chance of pace after the gloomy "Family Without a Name". One of the reasons "From the Earth to the Moon" is so successful is that it sounds plausible enough to suspend disbelief and go along for the amazing ride. Compared to that, this novel suffers because the plot is more outlandish, although Verne still tries to keep it somewhat scientifically grounded, as opposed to the more fantastic "Off on a Comet".
Next up: César Cascabel
The 34th Extraordinary Voyage brings us another science fiction tale. The members of the Baltimore Gun Club (who previously appeared in "From the Earth to the Moon" and "Around The Moon") make their third and last appearance. This time, twenty years after their famous trip to the Moon, they are back with an even more ambitious scheme.
First read or reread?: First read for me.
What is it about?: Through a public auction that captures the attention of the world, the North Polar Practical Association intends to purchases all the territory north of the 84th parallel. It turns out that the members of the Baltimore Gun Club are the ones behind this enigmatic society, including Secretary J.T. Maston, President Impy Barbicane and Captain Nicholl. Thanks to the generosity of Mrs. Angelina Scorbitt, the association is successful in its bid for this region of the globe. The world wonders why they have paid so much for this inhospitable region, given that no human being has ever succeeded in reaching that far north. With the property secure, the association makes their plans known: they intend on altering the axis of the earth, so that this Artic region will obtain a more temperate climate, allowing them access to the large coal deposits they expect to find there.
Even though many of the characters are the same, this novel tells a standalone story and can be read independently. However, there are many references to the trip to the Moon, so it would make sense to read "From the Earth to the Moon" and "Around the Moon" before this one. A couple of other Verne novels are also mentioned (the auction in "Godfrey Morgan" and Hector Servadac's journey in "Off on a Comet").
This book resembles "From the Earth to the Moon" in many ways. It is written with irony and humor. Verne clearly was having a good time in both cases. Both the artillery-obsessed members of the club and the reactions from the different countries of the world are satirized. Besides, there's not a lot of action. Like in "From the Earth to the Moon", most of this novel is in the build-up to the big moment, the scientific calculations, the interaction of the characters, the changes in the public opinion... The moment when the plans are carried out comes right at the end.
However, there are also important differences. The members of the Gun Club have always been eccentric, but in "From the Earth to the Moon" they were eccentric in a heroic way, the recipients of public admiration. Here, the novel starts in the same way. However, as the world gradually becomes aware of the likely catastrophic consequences of the scheme, they become something like supervillains, their scientific obsession bordering the criminally insane, to the point that they have to escape and go into hiding so as not to be stopped by the authorities and the enraged masses.
This is representative of a certain change in tone in the second half of Verne's career. The interest in science persists, but it's often accompanied by an awareness of its potential abuse and the dangers of unchecked technological progress.
The Gun Club's plot is quite outlandish, but Verne keeps it relatively grounded in science, despite taking some liberties like the invention of a fictitious explosive more powerful than the ones known at the time. This realism is also shown in the novel's final twist. This is a lightweight story, but the themes feel relevant from the point of view of the 21st century: an attempt to modify the climate of the Earth, and all of it motivated by the demand for coal.
Another prescient technological element in the novel is the use of the recently-invented telephone for trivial everyday purposes, like the mostly one-sided flirting between Mrs. Angelina Scorbitt and J.T. Maston.
The novel is quite short, and if the author didn't dwell so much on the buildup it might have been a short story, but it's precisely the building up that makes it fun to read.
Enjoyment factor: I enjoyed it, although not as much as From the Earth to the Moon/Around the Moon. A nice chance of pace after the gloomy "Family Without a Name". One of the reasons "From the Earth to the Moon" is so successful is that it sounds plausible enough to suspend disbelief and go along for the amazing ride. Compared to that, this novel suffers because the plot is more outlandish, although Verne still tries to keep it somewhat scientifically grounded, as opposed to the more fantastic "Off on a Comet".
Next up: César Cascabel
Last edited:
farseer2
Registered User
- Joined
- Nov 24, 2006
- Messages
- 1,309
(35) César Cascabel (César Cascabel, 1890) (2 volumes) 107K words
The 35th Extraordinary Voyage takes us on an epic trip from California to France... only, the long way around, along the west coast of North America, Alaska, the Behring Strait and Siberia. It's the second time we cross Siberia in this series, although in "Michael Strogoff: The Courier of the Czar" it was from west to east and here it's in the opposite direction, and farther north.
First read or reread?: First read for me.
What is it about?: The Cascabels are a French family of circus artists who plan to return home after many years touring the United States. Unfortunately their trip east is cut short when their money, all their lifetime savings, is stolen. With no money to pay for their passage across the Atlantic, they decide to return to France traveling west, via Alaska, the Behring Strait and Siberia. It's a longer, harsher, more uncertain journey, but cheaper, because they intend to travel on their horse-drawn carriage all the way. Even the Behring Strait can be crossed without the help of a ship, since it's frozen during the winter. Along the way, they encounter a Mr. Sergius (a Russian) with his companion Kayette (an Alaskan native) both of whom join the band on their trip west. However, Mr. Sergius has a secret which may jeopardize the safety of the family when they reach Russian lands.
We are in the second half of Verne's career (the author was 62 years old when he published this) but this is another book which is completely in the style of his early novels. All of it is a travelogue (after several historical novels, interspersed with some science fiction and robinsonades, we hadn't really had a travelogue since "Kéraban the Inflexible"). There are no flashy vehicles and no science fiction here. Just a large horse-drawn carriage which serves as the family's home, good humor, optimism and grit.
Part of the charm of this novel is sharing the journey with the Cascabel family, who are humble but salt-of-the-earth type of characters, almost always in high spirits and always caring for each other. We have Cesar, the father and supposed head of the family, Anglophobe but a good-natured dreamer and strongman who can be counted upon to get a bright idea when the family is in difficulties. His wife Cornelia, strong both physically (she is a prize fighter) and in character, whose practical common sense complements her husband's impetuosity. The children, starting with 19-year-old Jean, a juggler, who aspires to a better education and whose love story with Kayette, the Indian orphan who joins them, provides the romance. Then we have the young ones, 12-year-old contortionist Sander, often planning some childish mischief, and 8-year-old Napoléone, a tightrope dancer, the daughter and baby of the family.
The first volume of the story, narrating the American part of the journey, is quite cosy and relaxed, with the family having some adventures as they travel but no deadlines and no particular hurry (after all, they won't be able to cross the Behring Strait till the winter when it's frozen). This part may seem lacking in tension to some readers, since there's no overarching storyline apart from the incidents of the trip, but I enjoyed it. I always like these travelling stories where you can follow the character's progress on the map. As a curiosity, the purchase of Alaska from Russia by the united States plays a part in the story, as it directly affects the trip.
The second volume begins with the party attempting to cross the Behring Strait, and right away the stakes become much higher, with epic natural dangers and some intrigue involving one of their travelling companions, the Russian authorities and a band of bandits.
For such a long journey, the author can't describe every part of it in detail, but I think Verne finds a good balance, describing some parts more in passing and others in more detail when the adventure requires it. It's the kind of book that we could call geographical adventures, since the description of regions which were not unexplored but certainly little-known at the time plays a large role.
On the minus side, we have some of the traditional Verne implausibilities, like native tribes who are gullible to the point of stupidity or wild animals who behave in a too aggressive and coordinated way to be believable. This doesn't really ring true now, although probably it did at the time it was written.
Perhaps this novel has little to surprise a reader familiar with Verne's style. There are elements of "The Fur Country" and other Verne novels here, but those who are fans of the author will find a lot to enjoy.
Enjoyment factor: I enjoyed it. It's another very little-known Verne novel, but I found it funny and a well-paced adventure. It's not free from some of Verne's usual flaws but, despite the privations the heroes suffer in some parts of the journey, it has that optimistic charm that I always appreciate in this author.
Next up: Mistress Branican
The 35th Extraordinary Voyage takes us on an epic trip from California to France... only, the long way around, along the west coast of North America, Alaska, the Behring Strait and Siberia. It's the second time we cross Siberia in this series, although in "Michael Strogoff: The Courier of the Czar" it was from west to east and here it's in the opposite direction, and farther north.
First read or reread?: First read for me.
What is it about?: The Cascabels are a French family of circus artists who plan to return home after many years touring the United States. Unfortunately their trip east is cut short when their money, all their lifetime savings, is stolen. With no money to pay for their passage across the Atlantic, they decide to return to France traveling west, via Alaska, the Behring Strait and Siberia. It's a longer, harsher, more uncertain journey, but cheaper, because they intend to travel on their horse-drawn carriage all the way. Even the Behring Strait can be crossed without the help of a ship, since it's frozen during the winter. Along the way, they encounter a Mr. Sergius (a Russian) with his companion Kayette (an Alaskan native) both of whom join the band on their trip west. However, Mr. Sergius has a secret which may jeopardize the safety of the family when they reach Russian lands.
We are in the second half of Verne's career (the author was 62 years old when he published this) but this is another book which is completely in the style of his early novels. All of it is a travelogue (after several historical novels, interspersed with some science fiction and robinsonades, we hadn't really had a travelogue since "Kéraban the Inflexible"). There are no flashy vehicles and no science fiction here. Just a large horse-drawn carriage which serves as the family's home, good humor, optimism and grit.
Part of the charm of this novel is sharing the journey with the Cascabel family, who are humble but salt-of-the-earth type of characters, almost always in high spirits and always caring for each other. We have Cesar, the father and supposed head of the family, Anglophobe but a good-natured dreamer and strongman who can be counted upon to get a bright idea when the family is in difficulties. His wife Cornelia, strong both physically (she is a prize fighter) and in character, whose practical common sense complements her husband's impetuosity. The children, starting with 19-year-old Jean, a juggler, who aspires to a better education and whose love story with Kayette, the Indian orphan who joins them, provides the romance. Then we have the young ones, 12-year-old contortionist Sander, often planning some childish mischief, and 8-year-old Napoléone, a tightrope dancer, the daughter and baby of the family.
The first volume of the story, narrating the American part of the journey, is quite cosy and relaxed, with the family having some adventures as they travel but no deadlines and no particular hurry (after all, they won't be able to cross the Behring Strait till the winter when it's frozen). This part may seem lacking in tension to some readers, since there's no overarching storyline apart from the incidents of the trip, but I enjoyed it. I always like these travelling stories where you can follow the character's progress on the map. As a curiosity, the purchase of Alaska from Russia by the united States plays a part in the story, as it directly affects the trip.
The second volume begins with the party attempting to cross the Behring Strait, and right away the stakes become much higher, with epic natural dangers and some intrigue involving one of their travelling companions, the Russian authorities and a band of bandits.
For such a long journey, the author can't describe every part of it in detail, but I think Verne finds a good balance, describing some parts more in passing and others in more detail when the adventure requires it. It's the kind of book that we could call geographical adventures, since the description of regions which were not unexplored but certainly little-known at the time plays a large role.
On the minus side, we have some of the traditional Verne implausibilities, like native tribes who are gullible to the point of stupidity or wild animals who behave in a too aggressive and coordinated way to be believable. This doesn't really ring true now, although probably it did at the time it was written.
Perhaps this novel has little to surprise a reader familiar with Verne's style. There are elements of "The Fur Country" and other Verne novels here, but those who are fans of the author will find a lot to enjoy.
Enjoyment factor: I enjoyed it. It's another very little-known Verne novel, but I found it funny and a well-paced adventure. It's not free from some of Verne's usual flaws but, despite the privations the heroes suffer in some parts of the journey, it has that optimistic charm that I always appreciate in this author.
Next up: Mistress Branican
farseer2
Registered User
- Joined
- Nov 24, 2006
- Messages
- 1,309
(36) Mistress Branican (Mistress Branican, 1891) (2 volumes) 114K words
The 36th Extraordinary Voyage takes us to several parts of Oceania, particularly to Australia. We had been in Australia in the second volume of "In Search of the Castaways", but here we explore it more deeply, penetrating into the scorching deserts of western Australia. Although most of Verne's characters are male, we have had strong female characters before, like Paulina Barnett from "The Fur Country" and Lady Glenarvan from "In Search of the Castaways", but this is the only Extraordinary Voyage where a woman is the undisputed main character. The theme of searching for the survivors of a lost ship was also the basis of "In Search of the Castaways".
First read or reread?: First read for me.
What is it about?: The story begins in San Diego, California, where the heroine, Mistress Branican, suffers a mental breakdown after the death by drowning of her young son while her husband, a sea captain, is absent. On recovering, she learns that her husband's ship, the Franklin, never returned and is considered lost at sea. Having inherited a large sum of money during her illness, she decides to search for her husband, since she is firmly convinced that he still lives. Years later, a clue to the fate of the Franklin is discovered in Australia.
At this point in his career, 28 years after publishing "Five Weeks in a Balloon", Verne is still publishing novels with a classic adventure feel. If there is a complete break with his early style in the second half of his career, we have not really reached it yet. Although these are less well-known than his earlier works, novels like "Mistress Branican" or "Cesar Cascabel" could have been written in the first part of his career.
Nevertheless, this adventure has a different, grittier feel than "Cesar Cascabel". "Cesar Cascabel" was a happy, upbeat story, due to the personalities of the characters. The first part of "Mistress Branican", on the other hand, is rather bleak. We have a slow start with a chapter about the history of San Diego and another about Mistress Branican's family, but soon misfortunes pile up on the main character, taking her to the breaking point until she goes mad. This part, rather than an adventure novel, is a psychological story, with family intrigues and tragedies. The subject of madness has been treated in other Verne novels, but never in so much detail as it is here.
This part was interesting and unusual for the author, but I want a Verne novel to be optimistic, so I was happy when Mistress Branican recovered and his heartless relative Len Burker (one of Verne's most despicable villains) was temporarily pushed out of the picture.
Then the adventure starts, when Mistress Branican, against all evidence, is convinced that her husband is alive and, having the means to look for him, proceeds to do so. The first expeditions she organizes are enjoyable to follow, but they suffer for her absence (Mistress Branican is just the funder and organizer but remains at home in this part). Because of that, they are narrated more in passing, and for someone who is less of a fan of Verne's style this part may seem drier. Things get heated up when clues to the fate of the Franklin and its crew start to be found, culminating with the final clue that leads Mistress Branican to travel to Australia to personally lead the search.
The character of Mistress Branican, by the way, was inspired by Lady Franklin, whose search for her husband Sir John Franklin, lost with his expedition to the Northwest Passage, gained the admiration and sympathy of the world. In a certain way, this novel is Verne's homage to that woman. Lady Franklin never found her husband, but perhaps Mistress Branican can be luckier. You can feel how people respect Mistress Branican, half sorry for her and half admiring.
The second half of the novel, in Australia, is a good adventure story, and Verne's most vivid description so far of a subtropical desert (we were in the Sahara in "Five Weeks in a Balloon", but only for a short period).
Verne is quite critical here of British treatment of aboriginal Australians, which appear to be leading to their extermination, but at the same time modern readers may be shocked at how he describes some of those aboriginal tribes, with savage and uncivilized customs.
Another example of psychological themes here is the way Jane Burker, a cousin and friend of Mistress Branican and wife of the villain Len Burke, is psychologically suppressed by her husband. Other characters include the comic relief pair formed by the eccentric British explorer Jos Meritt and his Chinese servant, who have a Don Quixote and Sancho Panza dynamic; Godfrey, the teenage boy who reminds Mistress Branican of her drowned son; the loyal Zach Fren, who is the only one apart from Mistress Branican who truly shares her faith that her husband is alive; Mr. William Andrew, Captain Branican's employer, who doesn't believe but is nevertheless a true and supporting friend...
Of course, as in many Verne adventures, geography is a main protagonist here, accompanied by maps to follow the voyage. The author takes us to a region that was little-known at the time, inspired by Colonel Peter Egerton-Warburton's and Ernest Giles' accounts of their journeys across the deserts of Western Australia.
Enjoyment factor: I found it very enjoyable. There was plenty of variety in this story. Verne's lesser-known novels have a lot to offer to those who enjoy his style. The first two chapters were a bit boring, but we soon got started first with a bleak psychological story and then with a far-ranging adventure.
Next up: The Carpathian Castle
The 36th Extraordinary Voyage takes us to several parts of Oceania, particularly to Australia. We had been in Australia in the second volume of "In Search of the Castaways", but here we explore it more deeply, penetrating into the scorching deserts of western Australia. Although most of Verne's characters are male, we have had strong female characters before, like Paulina Barnett from "The Fur Country" and Lady Glenarvan from "In Search of the Castaways", but this is the only Extraordinary Voyage where a woman is the undisputed main character. The theme of searching for the survivors of a lost ship was also the basis of "In Search of the Castaways".
First read or reread?: First read for me.
What is it about?: The story begins in San Diego, California, where the heroine, Mistress Branican, suffers a mental breakdown after the death by drowning of her young son while her husband, a sea captain, is absent. On recovering, she learns that her husband's ship, the Franklin, never returned and is considered lost at sea. Having inherited a large sum of money during her illness, she decides to search for her husband, since she is firmly convinced that he still lives. Years later, a clue to the fate of the Franklin is discovered in Australia.
At this point in his career, 28 years after publishing "Five Weeks in a Balloon", Verne is still publishing novels with a classic adventure feel. If there is a complete break with his early style in the second half of his career, we have not really reached it yet. Although these are less well-known than his earlier works, novels like "Mistress Branican" or "Cesar Cascabel" could have been written in the first part of his career.
Nevertheless, this adventure has a different, grittier feel than "Cesar Cascabel". "Cesar Cascabel" was a happy, upbeat story, due to the personalities of the characters. The first part of "Mistress Branican", on the other hand, is rather bleak. We have a slow start with a chapter about the history of San Diego and another about Mistress Branican's family, but soon misfortunes pile up on the main character, taking her to the breaking point until she goes mad. This part, rather than an adventure novel, is a psychological story, with family intrigues and tragedies. The subject of madness has been treated in other Verne novels, but never in so much detail as it is here.
This part was interesting and unusual for the author, but I want a Verne novel to be optimistic, so I was happy when Mistress Branican recovered and his heartless relative Len Burker (one of Verne's most despicable villains) was temporarily pushed out of the picture.
Then the adventure starts, when Mistress Branican, against all evidence, is convinced that her husband is alive and, having the means to look for him, proceeds to do so. The first expeditions she organizes are enjoyable to follow, but they suffer for her absence (Mistress Branican is just the funder and organizer but remains at home in this part). Because of that, they are narrated more in passing, and for someone who is less of a fan of Verne's style this part may seem drier. Things get heated up when clues to the fate of the Franklin and its crew start to be found, culminating with the final clue that leads Mistress Branican to travel to Australia to personally lead the search.
The character of Mistress Branican, by the way, was inspired by Lady Franklin, whose search for her husband Sir John Franklin, lost with his expedition to the Northwest Passage, gained the admiration and sympathy of the world. In a certain way, this novel is Verne's homage to that woman. Lady Franklin never found her husband, but perhaps Mistress Branican can be luckier. You can feel how people respect Mistress Branican, half sorry for her and half admiring.
The second half of the novel, in Australia, is a good adventure story, and Verne's most vivid description so far of a subtropical desert (we were in the Sahara in "Five Weeks in a Balloon", but only for a short period).
Verne is quite critical here of British treatment of aboriginal Australians, which appear to be leading to their extermination, but at the same time modern readers may be shocked at how he describes some of those aboriginal tribes, with savage and uncivilized customs.
Another example of psychological themes here is the way Jane Burker, a cousin and friend of Mistress Branican and wife of the villain Len Burke, is psychologically suppressed by her husband. Other characters include the comic relief pair formed by the eccentric British explorer Jos Meritt and his Chinese servant, who have a Don Quixote and Sancho Panza dynamic; Godfrey, the teenage boy who reminds Mistress Branican of her drowned son; the loyal Zach Fren, who is the only one apart from Mistress Branican who truly shares her faith that her husband is alive; Mr. William Andrew, Captain Branican's employer, who doesn't believe but is nevertheless a true and supporting friend...
Of course, as in many Verne adventures, geography is a main protagonist here, accompanied by maps to follow the voyage. The author takes us to a region that was little-known at the time, inspired by Colonel Peter Egerton-Warburton's and Ernest Giles' accounts of their journeys across the deserts of Western Australia.
Enjoyment factor: I found it very enjoyable. There was plenty of variety in this story. Verne's lesser-known novels have a lot to offer to those who enjoy his style. The first two chapters were a bit boring, but we soon got started first with a bleak psychological story and then with a far-ranging adventure.
Next up: The Carpathian Castle
Sponsors
We try to keep the forum as free of ads as possible, please consider supporting SFFWorld on Patreon
Your ad here.