From the Earth to the Moon - Jules Verne's literature inspired
From The Earth To The Moon
an 1865 novel by Jules Verne.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/From_the_Earth_to_the_Moon
"The story opens some time after the end of the American Civil War. The Baltimore Gun Club, a society dedicated to the design of weapons of all kinds (especially cannons), comes together when Impey Barbicane, its president, calls them to support his latest idea. He's done some calculations, and believes that they could construct a cannon capable of shooting a projectile to the Moon."
Around The Moon
The sequel to Jules Verne's 1865 novel, From the Earth to the Moon.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Around_the_Moon
['"Around the Moon" drawn by Émile-Antoine Bayard and Alphonse de Neuville.' Wiki]
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"Having been fired out of the giant Columbiad space gun, the Baltimore Gun Club's bullet-shaped projectile, along with its three passengers, Barbicane, Nicholl and Michel Ardan, begins the five-day trip to the Moon. A few minutes into the journey, a small, bright asteroid passes within a few hundred yards of them, but does not collide with the projectile. The asteroid had been captured by the Earth's gravity and had become a second moon."
Prelude to Brave New World
https://peakd.com/hive-engine/@darkflame/prelude-to-brave-new-world
"Huxley said that Brave New World was inspired by the utopian novels of H. G. Wells. Another inspiration of theirs was Born in February 8 1828 and Died in March 24 1905.
Jules Gabriel Verne. (Portrait c. 1884)
Bibliography lists them all but let's see what I recognize first of all.
Journey to the Center of the Earth is popular, 1864. I just discovered From the Earth to the Moon, 1865. Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas, 1869. Those I have heard about or seen a little. I have not read them, so I will. The others, Five weeks in a Balloon, 1863. The Adventures of Captain Hatteras, 1866. In Search of the Castaways, 1867, these sound interesting.
Next the Sequel aforementioned above, Around the Moon, 1870. I should read A Floating City, 1871. The Adventures of Three Englishmen and Three Russians in South Africa, 1872. The Fur Country, 1873. Around the World in Eighty Days, 1873.
The Mysterious Island, 1874.
"In 1865, during the American Civil War, five Northern prisoners of war escape", "After flying in a great storm for several days, the group crash-lands on a cliff-bound, volcanic, unknown island ","There is a series of mysterious events on the island, suggestive of some unseen deus ex machina,"
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Mysterious_Island
"The group finds a message in a bottle directing them to rescue a castaway on nearby Tabor Island, who turns out to be none other than Tom Ayrton (from In Search of the Castaways)."
"There, they find a former quartermaster of the Britannia, Ayrton, who proposes to lead them to the site of the wreckage. However, Ayrton is a traitor, who was not present during the loss of the Britannia, but was abandoned in Australia after a failed attempt to seize control of the ship to practise piracy.", "Ayrton, made a prisoner, offers to trade his knowledge of Captain Grant in exchange for being abandoned on a desert island instead of being surrendered to the British authorities. The Duncan sets sail for Tabor Island, which, by sheer luck, turns out to be Captain Grant's shelter. They leave Ayrton in his place to live among the beasts and regain his humanity."
The Survivors of the Chancellor, 1875. Michael Strogoff, 1876. Off on a Comet, 1877. There must be a 'complete works of Jules Verne' somewhere. The Child of the Cavern, 1877. Dick Sand: A Captain at Fifteen, 1878.
The Begum's Fortune, 1879. Tribulations of a Chinaman in China, 1879.
"The story is about a rich Chinese man, Kin-Fo, who is bored with life, and after some business misfortune decides to die."
['Title page of the French original edition' Wiki]
Found in the Jules Vern library, in English
Chapter 1
The First Watch Of The Night
"It must be admitted that life has some good in it," said one of the
guests, leaning his elbow on the arm of his marble-backed chair,
while he sat biting the root of a sugar water-lily.
"And some bad also," answered another, between fits of coughing,
occasioned by having swallowed the prickly part of the delicate fin of a
shark which had nearly choked him.
"Be philosophical," said an older man, who wore on his nose an
enormous pair of wooden spectacles with large glasses. "To-day, one
runs the risk of strangling, and tomorrow everything flows as smoothly
as the sweet draughts of this nectar-- such is life."
After saying these words, this easy-going epicure swallowed a glass
of warm wine, the steam of which slowly escaped from a metal
teapot.
"For my part," said a fourth guest, "life appears to be very acceptable
when one does nothing, and has the means to afford to do nothing."
"That is a mistake," answered the fifth. "Happiness is to be found in
study and work. To acquire the greatest amount of knowledge is the
way to be happy."
"And to learn at last that one knows nothing."
"Is not that the commencement of wisdom?"
"What, then, is the end?"
"Wisdom has no end," philosophically answered the man with the
spectacles. "To have common sense should be supreme
satisfaction."
Fascinating, just half a page in and already deep wisdom emerges.
Continuing with the Bibliography of Jules Verne,
The Steam House, 1880. ("The travels of a group of British colonists in the Raj in a wheeled house pulled by a steam-powered mechanical elephant.") The Giant Raft, 1881. Godfrey Morgan, 1882. The Green Ray, 1882. There's also The Green Ray 1986 film. Keraban the Inflexible, 1883. The Vanished Diamond, 1884. The Archipelago on Fire, 1884. ("taking place during the Greek War of Independence.")
Mathias Sandorf, 1885. The Lottery Ticket, 1886. Robur the Conqueror, 1886. North Against South, 1887. The Flight To France, 1887. Two Years Vacation, 1888. Family Without a Name, 1899. The Purchase of the North Pole, 1889. This list is extensive as you can see because he was publishing multiple books every year. How did Jules Vern write, in Pencil or Pen?
Ceasar Cascabel, 1890. Mistress Brancian, 1891. Carpathian Castle, 1892. Claudius Bombarnac, 1893. I have never heard of most of these, let's see if I can find them all. Foundling Mick, 1893. Captain Antifer, 1894. Propeller Island, 1895. Facing the Flag, 1896. An Antarctic Mystery, 1897.
How many stories we have heard are retellings of these old tales? The Mighty Orinoco, 1898. The Will of an Eccentric, 1899. The Castaways of the Flag, 1900. ("The story is a sequel to the 1812 book The Swiss Family Robinson by Johann Wyss, picking up where that novel leaves off."
The Village in the Treetops, 1901. The Sea Serpent, 1901. The Kip Brothers, 1902. Travel Scholarships, 1903. A Drama in Livonia, 1904. Master of the World, 1904. Invasion of the Sea, 1905.
Wow we made it! The end of the Bibliography, but where are you going to begin? Which story interests you the most of all these works of Jules Verne? Choose a story and read it, then let me know what you think about it. Which of Jules Vernes books are the most fascinating? Which are overrated? What tales of the world did Jules Vern tell?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jules_Verne_bibliography
The Adventures of Captain Hatteras
'The novel, set in 1861, described adventures of a British expedition led by Captain John Hatteras to the North Pole.'
"“Tomorrow, at the turn of the tide, the brig Forward, K. Z., captain, Richard Shandon, mate, will clear from New Prince’s Docks; destination unknown.”
This announcement appeared in the Liverpool Herald of April 5, 1860.
The sailing of a brig is not a matter of great importance for the chief commercial city of England. Who would take notice of it in so great a throng of ships of all sizes and of every country, that dry-docks covering two leagues scarcely contain them?"
!! Read along with me.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jules_Verne#Works
