The Literary Discover of the Century
Jules Verne was born in France in 1828 and died in 1905. His collaboration with the publisher Pierre-Jules Hetzel was wildly successful, producing many brilliant novels in the burgeoning genre of science fiction: 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, Journey to the Center of the Earth, and Around the World in 80 Days, among others. Verne is the second most translated author in the world, after Agatha Christie and before Shakespeare.
“Jules Verne was the Michael Crichton of the 19th century.”—The New
York Times
“For anyone interested in the history of speculative fiction . . .
this book is an absolute necessity.”—Ray Bradbury
“Verne's Paris is a bustling, overcrowded metropolis teeming with
starving homeless and ‘vehicles that passed on paved roads and
moved without horses.’ Years before they would be invented, Verne
has imagined elevators and faxmachines. It was a vision Verne's
editor flatly rejected. Contemporary readers know
better.”—People
“An excellent extrapolation, founded on 19th-century technical
novelties, of a future culture.”—The Washington Post Book World
“Verne published nearly seventy books, many of them now
considered classics. But this little jewel catches him just
reaching stride as a writer of science fiction, a genre that he, of
course, helped put on the literary map.”—The Denver Post
Verne is well known as an early science fiction writer; this novel, which was lost for 125 years, is remarkably prescient in its predictions about the technology that is omnipresent now. Set in the 1960s, though written a century earlier, the novel depicts Michel Dufrenoy as a poet and humanities scholar at sea in a crass commercial world that has strong overtones of Soviet realism. He befriends a young musician with whom he works; reconnects with his long-lost uncle, a literature professor; and even falls in love with the professor's granddaughter. But despite the kindnesses of his friends, Michel fails to succeed with the technological culture around him. Notable are the predictions about the subway, electric lights, and electronic music. A curiosity; recommended for public and academic libraries.‘Ann Irvine, Montgomery Cty. P.L., Md.
"Jules Verne was the Michael Crichton of the 19th
century."-The New York Times
"For anyone interested in the history of speculative fiction . . .
this book is an absolute necessity."-Ray Bradbury
"Verne's Paris is a bustling, overcrowded metropolis teeming with
starving homeless and 'vehicles that passed on paved roads and
moved without horses.' Years before they would be invented, Verne
has imagined elevators and faxmachines. It was a vision Verne's
editor flatly rejected. Contemporary readers know
better."-People
"An excellent extrapolation, founded on 19th-century technical
novelties, of a future culture."-The Washington Post Book
World
"Verne published nearly seventy books, many of them now considered
classics. But this little jewel catches him just reaching stride as
a writer of science fiction, a genre that he, of course, helped put
on the literary map."-The Denver
Post
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