Happy 185th Birthday To Jules Gabriel Verne
Born February 8 , 1828 – Jules Verne, France, pioneered sci-fi (From the Earth to the Moon)
February 8, 1828 – March 24, 1905
“Jules Gabriel Verne (February 8, 1828 – March 24, 1905) was a French author who pioneered the science fiction genre in Europe.[1] He is best known for his novels Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea (1870), Journey to the Center of the Earth (1864), and Around the World in Eighty Days (1873). Many of his novels involve elements of technology that were fantastic for the day but later became commonplace. He is the second most translated author in the world (after Agatha Christie).[2] Some of his books have also been made into live-action and animated films and television shows. Verne is often referred to as the “Father of Science Fiction”, a title sometimes shared with Hugo Gernsback and H. G. Wells.[3]“
Biography
Jules Verne (1828-1905), noted French scientific author wrote Around the World in Eighty Days (1873), Journey to the Center of the Earth (1864), and Twenty Thousand Leagues Under The Sea (1869);
“You like the sea, Captain?”“Yes; I love it! The sea is everything. It covers seven tenths of the terrestrial globe. Its breath is pure and healthy. It is an immense desert, where man is never lonely, for he feels life stirring on all sides. The sea is only the embodiment of a supernatural and wonderful existence. It is nothing but love and emotion; it is the ‘Living Infinite,’ as one of your poets has said. In fact, Professor, Nature manifests herself in it by her three kingdoms–mineral, vegetable, and animal. The sea is the vast reservoir of Nature. The globe began with sea, so to speak; and who knows if it will not end with it? In it is supreme tranquillity. The sea does not belong to despots. Upon its surface men can still exercise unjust laws, fight, tear one another to pieces, and be carried away with terrestrial horrors. But at thirty feet below its level, their reign ceases, their influence is quenched, and their power disappears. Ah! sir, live–live in the bosom of the waters! There only is independence! There I recognise no masters! There I am free!”–Ch. 10
Through his series of Les Voyages Extraordinaires and the fantastic and detailed illustrations which accompanied them, Verne predicted the use of hydrogen as an energy source (in From the Earth to the Moon) and many future modern conveniences and technological inventions such as skyscrapers, submarines, helicopters, and airplanes. The pioneering ways of travel and exploration which he wrote so much about are now common-place for us, such as exploration of the moon, the north and south poles, and the use of hot air balloons for long-distance voyages. In his time Verne was a true inventor and visionary; the names of his inventions and characters such as Captain Nemo, Phileas Fogg, and the submarine Nautilus have entered, and remain, a part of our popular culture. Verne’s works have been translated from the French to numerous languages but unfortunately in the earlier English editions much of his scientific detail is lost; they are often abridged, sometimes censored. Because of this, there is much mis-perception about Verne, and claims of racism and anti-semitism. Scholars continue to study Verne’s life and works to bring to light the authentic man and his extraordinary vision of the future.
Jules Gabriel Verne was born on 8 February 1828 in Nantes, Pays de la Loire, France, the first of five children born to Sophie Henriette Allotte de la Fuye (d. 1887) and Pierre Verne (1799-1871), attorney. In the busy maritime port city and summers spent on the Loire River, Verne was exposed to the comings and goings of schooners and ships that sparked his imagination for travel and adventure. After attending boarding school during which he started to write short stories and poetry, Verne settled in Paris to study law, as his father had done. However, upon obtaining his degree in 1850, he was much more interested in theatre, to his father’s disappointment. Living a bohemian life, he wrote and collaborated on numerous plays, dramas, and operettas including Blind Man’s Bluff (1852), often collaborating with his friend and musician Jean Louis Aristide Hignard (1822-1897).”
Jules Verne’s Home
Jules Verne – Prophet Of Science Fiction
8 Jules Verne Inventions That Came True
Photograph by Emory Kristof and Alvin Chandler, National Geographic
Electric Submarines
” As made interactively evident by a retro-futuristic Google doodle, Tuesday would have been the 183rd birthday of Jules Verne. Had he lived to see 2011, the French science fiction writer also would have seen many of his fanciful inventions made real—more or less.
In perhaps his most famous novel, Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea,Verne’s Captain Nemo travels the world’s oceans in a giant electric submarine, the Nautilus—the inspiration for the portholed Jules Verne Google doodle.
Aside from its organ, formal dining room, and other luxuries, the Nautilus isn’t all that different from some modern subs, such as the circa-1964, three-passengerAlvin (pictured), which is powered by lead-acid batteries.
Like Alvin, the Nautilus was fully powered by electricity, “which at that time had a kind of magical aura,” said Rosalind Williams, a historian of technology at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).
In the book Captain Nemo describes electricity as “a powerful agent, obedient, rapid, easy, which conforms to every use, and reigns supreme on board my vessel.” “
Trivia
” Criticized H.G. Wells for inventing cavourite, a substance impervious to gravity, for his 1865 novel “The First Men in the Moon“. Verne thought Wells violated a cardinal rule that the logic of the story must not contradict contemporary scientific knowledge: “I sent my characters to the moon with gunpowder, a thing one may see every day. Where does Mr. Wells find his cavourite? Let him show it to me!”.
On 9 March 1886, as Verne was coming home, his nephew, Gaston, charged at him with a gun. As the two wrestled for it, it went off. The second bullet entered Verne’s left shin. He never fully recovered. Gaston spent the rest of his life in an asylum.
Son, Michel Jean Pierre (4 August 1861-1925). A classic enfant terrible, he married an actress over Verne’s objections, and had two children by his underage mistress. It seemed to take his father’s death for Michel to finally grow up. He oversaw publication of Verne’s last novels, “Invasion of the Sea” and “The Lighthouse at the End of the World” (both 1905).
His father was so outraged when he learned Jules was not going to continue law (both he and his father were lawyers), he cut off all financial support. Verne eventually became a stockbroker.
In 1863, he wrote “Paris in the 20th Century” about a young man who lives in a world of skyscrapers, high-speed trains, gas-powered automobiles, calculators, and a worldwide communications network, yet cannot find happiness, and comes to a tragic end. His publisher thought the novel’s pessimism would damage Verne’s career, and declined to publish it. Verne put the manuscript in a safe, where it was discovered by his great-grandson in 1989.
Had two stepchildren.
His novel “The Mysterious Island” is a sequel to both “In Search of the Castaways” and “20,000 Leagues Under the Sea“. “
Bibliography
| This Bibliography Short List only includes 1 title listing per book/story |
| Please refer to the Complete Listing of Jules Verne Titles or the Bibliographic Reference to find ANY Jules Verne book, story, play etc. |
| Please refer to the Jules Verne Who’s Who for information on the characters in Jules Verne’s works. |
His Home Is Now A Museum
His Final Resting Place
” Author . One of the most energetic and innovative writers of the 19th century, pioneer of both science-fiction and the adventure story (‘20,000 Leagues Under the Sea’, ‘Around the World in 80 Days’, ‘Journey to the Centre of the Earth’, ‘Five Weeks in a Balloon’, ‘ Michael Strogoff’, etc.). Many of his works are now better -known as the films they inspired. From 1888 until 1904 he was also a town councilor of Amiens. His extraordinary tomb was sculpted by Albert Roze and shows him bursting out of the grave bound for resurrection. “
Cause of death: illness following diabetes
Burial:
La Madeleine Cemetery
Amiens
Departement de la Somme
Picardie, France
Plot: Section N
Related articles
- 20000 leagues under the sea – Book (evanescentthoughts.wordpress.com)
- Around the World in Eighty Days by Jules Verne (sarahsaysread.com)
- Ultra-Massive Acceleration, Jules Verne, and Making Human Jelly. A Romance of 22,000 gs (longstreet.typepad.com)
- Travel Around the World in 80 Plays with New Jules Verne-Inspired Game (prweb.com)
- Jules Verne Takes On the American Civil War (devilofhistory.wordpress.com)
- Off the Shelf: The Secret of Wilhelm Storitz by Jules Verne (nebraskapress.typepad.com)
- 10 of the World’s Greatest Hotels Inspired by Literature (flavorwire.com)
YouViewed/Editorial 