PARIS: One hundred years after the death of French writer Jules Verne, known worldwide for his fantastic tales of undersea exploration and space travel, technology may have far eclipsed his own experiences, but not what he saw in his imagination. “He was fascinated by progress and he depicted it in his works,” says Didier Fremond, the curator of an exhibition celebrating Verne’s life at the Maritime Museum in Paris, one of a series of events marking the centenary of his death. From Paris to the western city of Nantes, where Verne was born on February 8, 1828, to the northern town of Amiens, where he died on March 24, 1905, fans will be treated to exhibits, concerts, films and shows in his honour.
Verne ranks among the world’s ten most translated authors, along with William Shakespeare and Vladimir Lenin, according to Unesco, and is revered by fans who have launched clubs around the world.
Many of Verne’s works, like his famed “20,000 Leagues Under The Sea”, revolve around water and voyages to far-off islands. The boat enthusiast, who owned three yachts in his lifetime, once said, “The need to sail consumed me.”
“Half of his novels feature the sea in a significant way,” explains Jean-Paul Dekiss, director of the International Jules Verne Centre in Amiens. “The sea is the principal metaphor for freedom and the possibility of judging groups of human beings in microcosms. The sea, for him, is infinity, infinite freedom.”
Verne was first inspired to write his tales of adventure and exotic lands during his childhood in Nantes, when he spent countless hours watching boats go up and down the Loire.
In 1848, Verne left for Paris, where his father hoped he would study law. But he instead was quickly drawn into the literary world, going to the theatre to applaud the works of Alexandre Dumas, Victor Hugo and Alfred de Musset.
Two years later, he made his writing debut and never looked back, describing his work as the “source of the only true happiness”. He wrote novels, plays, news articles, poems, essays and short stories. He met Dumas and explorer Jacques Arago, but it was his encounter with publisher Pierre-Jules Hetzel that transformed his life.
Verne, who had accepted a job at the Paris stock exchange, resigned in 1863 to focus on his “Extraordinary Journeys”, a series that included the tales of Captain Nemo and Phileas Fogg, as well as “A Journey to the Centre of the Earth” and “From the Earth to the Moon”.
The technological boom in the second half of the 19th century provided Verne with material for many of his works. His ability to combine reality and fiction in exotic settings earned him great success among readers.
Verne spent the last 30 years of his life in Amiens, the hometown of his wife Honorine. The couple had one son, Michel.
In 1886, the French author endured two tragedies — he was shot in the foot by his nephew Gaston for unclear reasons, and Hetzel died.
Six years later, cataracts weakened Verne’s sight. He died in Amiens on March 24, 1905, suffering from diabetes and paralysis. Ten of his novels were published posthumously, the last being “Paris in the 20th Century” in 1994.
Amiens will host the main Verne centenary event, a week-long celebration of his life that began Saturday and will run through Thursday, the anniversary of the writer’s death. France is not the only country celebrating Verne’s life — exhibitions have been planned in Italy, Mexico, Norway and the United States.—AFP
