February 15, 2009

b. February 8, 1828

TO the modern reader the notion of travelling around the world in 80 days is not a big deal. Even a trip to the moon is no longer just a dream. But transport yourself about 150 years in the past, a time before airplanes, spacecraft and submarines were even thought of and you will appreciate the genius of a French writer who took his readers on a Series of Extraordinary Voyages over a span of half a century.

Born in Nantes, France, Jules Verne published his first book Five Weeks in a Balloon in 1863. An account of the adventures of a group of explorers who travel to Africa in a hot air balloon, the book is so remarkable for its attention to detail that a reviewer in the Paris daily Le Figaro was moved to exclaim, ‘Is Dr Fergusson’s journey a reality or is it not? All we can say is that it is bewitching as a novel and as instructive as a book of science.’

From then on Verne averaged a book a year, taking his readers on one adventurous trip after another — from Journey to the Centre of the Earth to Journey to the North Pole and even From the Earth to the Moon to Around the World in 80 Days and 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea there was not a single place that was beyond the reach of the author’s unbounded imagination.

While Verne quickly achieved fame in his native country, it was many years before his popularity spread to England — due mainly to the poor quality of his earlier English translations. However, according to the Index Translationum, Verne is today the third most translated author and his books are read around the world (though perhaps not in 80 days as the sum total of his books number over 70 of which 50 are novels).

He is often referred to as the Father of Science Fiction, a title he holds jointly with H.G. Wells. Verne himself claimed that, ‘Wells looked centuries ahead, and out of pure imagination embodied the unknowable that some day might perchance appear, while I base my inventions on a groundwork of actual fact.’

In other words, while Wells gave us a picture of the future based purely on his own imagination, Verne had the foresight to recognise the trends and technology that would one day become reality. So while we still wait for Wells’ time machine, Verne’s vision of the submarine and his predictions about air and space travel are a testament to his vision.