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Fact File

Saturday, November 27, 1999

Jules Verne
By Illa Vij

THE French writer who made a prediction, with amazing accuracy, over a century ago, was Jules Verne. Through his books From The Earth to The Moon and Around the Moon published in 1865, he predicted that America would launch and send a space craft to the moon, from and back to Florida. Verne’s space craft contained three men, and the dimensions were amazingly close to that of the Apollo and even the launch sites were almost identical. Verne’s initial velocity was 11,000 metres per second and Apollo’s third stage engine moved at a velocity of 10,830 metres per second. Feelings of weightlessness, making observations and taking photographs was again common for the fact as well as the fiction. Even the conclusions of both the trips were similar — both teams splashed down in the Pacific and were picked up by an American warship, and were received by an upheaval of applause. Verne was neither a mystic nor a clairvoyant — he was an author of science fiction possessing a realistic imagination and an outstanding skill in writing.

Verne was born in 1828 in Nantes. His father insisted that Verne should study law. He did study law at Paris but he was more interested in writing poetry and plays. One evening when he playfully slid down the banister in a public building, he landed on the paunch of Alexander Dumas, the author of The Three Musketeers!.

Strangely, they became friends and wrote a play together. Encouraged by Dumas,Verne made up his mind to study geography and use his knowledge for his writings. Aided by his father, he became a stock broker. Even when he had enough money, Verne preferred living and writing in the attic. At six o’clock, he would be at his desk bringing out articles; and at ten o’clock the would dress up formally and attend his office in the stock exchange. He had a deep interest in science and was well informed regarding laws of physics and astronomy. His initial literary works included plays and scripts for operas. His first novel titled Five Weeks in a Balloon was brought out in 1863, and was a major success. But before Verne could get the pleasure of seeing the success of the book, he went through a period of great discouragement. He went to 15 publishers to get his book published but each of them sent it back. In a state of fury, he flung the manuscript into the fire! His wife rescued the book and asked him to make yet another attempt. The 16th publisher took it for publishing. The book became a bestseller and was translated in almost every civilised language! What followed was a never-ending journey with success. Verne stopped going to the stock exchange and at the age of 34, he became a full-fledged writer. When he had enough money, he moved with his wife and son to Amiens. He built a house with a tower which had a room like a skipper’s cabin. It was this cabin where he spent the rest of his life writing profusely. In 1864, the world received his A Journey to the Centre of the Earth and then came From the Earth to the Moon in 1865 and Around the Moon in 1870. His vast knowledge of geography and history made his works exceptionally realistic. His novel North Against South is about the American civil War. In 1870 came the Twenty Thousand Leagues Under The Sea and this war written before the submarine was invented! Around the World in 80 Days was published in 1873.

The last years of Verne were quite unhappy. Despite his intellectual works, many people sneered at him. He suffered from diabetes and his eyes failed. Soon his hearing also got impaired. He died on March 24, 1905, having completed his last story The Eternal Adam.

Verne’s writings forecast the inventions of air craft, television, submarines, missiles and artificial satellites much before they were even thought of.

He also loved theatre

THE following is an excerpt from an article by Marie A. Belloc, published in Strand Magazine, February, 1895. She met Jules Verne at his home in the Amiens, a quiet, French provincial town situated on the direct route from Calais and Boulogne to Paris.

"Jules Verne, in his personal appearance, does not fulfil the popular idea of a great author. Rather does he give one the impression of being a cultured country gentleman, and this notwithstanding the fact that he always dresses in the sombre black affected by most Frenchmen belonging to the professional classes. His coat is decorated with the tiny red button denoting that the wearer possesses the high distinction of being an officer of the Legion of Honour, As he sat talking he didn’t look his seventy eight years, and, indeed, appeared but little changed since the large portrait, hanging opposite that of his wife, was painted some twenty odd years ago.

M. Verne is singularly modest about his work, and showed no desire to talk about either his books or himself. Had it not been for kindly assistance of his wife, whose pride in her husband’s genius is delightful to witness, I should have found it difficult to persuade him to give me any particulars about his literary career or his methods of work.

‘I cannot remember the time,’ he observed, in answer to a question, "when I did not write, or intend to be an author; and as you will soon see, many things conspired to that end. You know, I am a Breton by birth— my native town being Nantes —but my father was a Parisian by education and taste, devoted to literature, and, although he was too modest to make any effort to popularise his work, a line poet. Perhaps this is why I myself began my literary career by writing poetry, which—for I followed the example of most budding French litterateurs—took the form of five-act tragedy,’ he concluded, with half-sigh—half-smile.

‘My first real piece of work, however,’ he added, after a pause, ‘was a little comedy written in collaboration with Dumas Fils, who was, and has remained, one of my best friends. Our play was called Pailles Rompues (Split Straws), and was acted at the Gymnase Theatre in Paris; but, although I much enjoyed light dramatic work, I did not find that it brought me anything in the way of substance of fortune.

‘And yet,’ he continued, slowly, ‘I have never lost my love for the stage and everything connected with theatrical life. One of the keenest joys my story-writing has brought me has been the successful staging of some of my novels, notably Michel Strogoff.

‘I have often been asked what first gave me the idea of writing what, for the want of a better name, may be styled scientific romances.

‘Well, I had always been devoted to the study of geography, much as some people delight in history and historical research. I really think that my love for maps and the great explorers led to my composing the first of my long series of geographical stories.

‘When writing my first book, Five Weeks in a Balloon, I chose Africa as the scene of action, for the simple reason that less was, and is, known about that continent than any other; and it struck me that the most ingenious way in which this portion of the world’s surface could be explored would be from a balloon. I thoroughly enjoyed writing the story, and, even more, I may add, the researches which it made necessary; for then, as now, I always tried to make even the wildest of my romances as realistic and true to life as possible'."