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Re: Lost Pages from 80 days

From: Tim Unwin <tunwin~at~mersinet.co.uk>
Date: Thu, 23 Apr 1998 09:35:52 +0100
To: "Jules Verne Forum" <jvf~at~math.technion.ac.il>

Do you really think such a procedure (retranslating Verne back into his own
language) would pass muster with serious scholars? Unless the original
document is presented, the whole thing will be condemned as the hoax it
almost certainly is. The attic of an old house in Amiens and the "temporary
mislaying" of the precious original do not exactly inspire confidence. Since
literary history is littered with sham and fakes, the first thing that any
find has to be accompanied by is 100% authentification. Sorry, but this just
won't do!

>M. Hudson informs me that he has temporarily mislaid the french pages
>(unintentionaly I am sure), so for the moment all that remains is for some
>artisan to reconstruct the french original from his undoubtedly excellent
>translation.
>
>----------
>> From: BUTCHER, Charles William <wbutcher~at~eng.ied.edu.hk>
>> To: 'Jules Verne Forum' <jvf~at~math.technion.ac.il>
>> Subject: RE: Lost Pages from 80 days
>> Date: Wednesday, April 08, 1998 1:31 AM
>>
>> This is an important find, since this material isn't in either of the
>> manuscripts. Do you have any more information about the present location
>> of the material, whether this information has been published in print
>> form, its contents in French, what point in the book it was cut from?
>>
>> Thanks.
>>
>> Bill Butcher
>>
>> > ----------
>> > From: Norman Wolcott[SMTP:nwolcott~at~kreative.net]
>> > Reply To: Jules Verne Forum
>> > Sent: Tuesday, April 07, 1998 12:59AM
>> > To: jvf
>> > Subject: Lost Pages from 80 days
>> >
>> > 01-Apr-98
>> > The following pages were found in the attic of an old house in Amiens.
>> > They
>> > have kindly been translated for us by M. Hudson of the
>> > Franco-Britannic
>> > Institute, 47 Russell Square. The conversation apparently took place
>> > at the
>> > whist table near the beginning of "Around the World in Eighty Days".
>> >
>> > "But", interjected Andrew Stuart, "how are you to keep track of all
>> > the
>> > different modes of transport you will need to employ. You certainly
>> > will
>> > need a 'social secretary' to accomplish that purpose."
>> >
>> > "Not at all", replied Phileas Fogg, "for those most enterprising
>> > individuals at 'Bradshaws' each have each month compiled such a
>> > compendium
>> > of rail and steam ship routes that the traveller is immediately
>> > aprised of
>> > the departure of every train in the world to the nearest minute, and
>> > every
>> > steamer or paquet-boat to the nearest quarter-hour."
>> >
>> > "And the timekeeping?" added John Sullivan. "Travelling so rapidly
>> > across
>> > countries and continents, you will be hard pressed to know the time of
>> > day,
>> > for as you know each place in the world prefers to keep its own time,
>> > and
>> > you will hardly know even when it is time to take your dinner."
>> >
>> > "The problem is as you describe", responded Phileas Fogg. "For
>> > although
>> > Omar the Tentmaker resolved the problem of timekeeping some centuries
>> > ago,
>> > every place in the world considers itself the most important, and
>> > therefore
>> > considers noon to be that time at which the sun is nearest overhead.
>> > The
>> > problem is not less with the origin of our degrees of longitude which
>> > the
>> > British consider to commence at their observatory at Greenwich and the
>> > French, with their observatory at Sevres, naturally choose Paris for
>> > their
>> > origin of longitude. Not to mention the other cities such as Rome,
>> > Copenhagen, Jerusalem, St. Petersburg, Philadelphia which have also
>> > claimed
>> > the distinction.
>> >
>> > "However, for the practical problem of keeping time as we traverse the
>> > globe, there is a very simple solution. Our London watchmakers, since
>> > the
>> > invention of M. John Harrison a century ago has liberated them from
>> > the
>> > pendulum, are now able to construct pocket chronometers of such
>> > accuracy
>> > that they do not deviate from true time more than a minute in the
>> > month.
>> > And as our Messers. Bradshaw have kindly provided us with a table of
>> > time
>> > adjustments for the various parts of the world, it is only necessary
>> > that
>> > we maintain two timepieces to have the most accurate information
>> > available.
>> > I shall carry one set to our time at Greenwich, and Passepartout shall
>> > carry one which he shall adjust periodically to our local time. As to
>> > when
>> > it is time for dinner, then, I have only to ask Passepartout to inform
>> > me!
>> >
>> > "And if such accuracy is not enough, we shall, thanks to the
>> > enterprise of
>> > the American, Mr. Cyrus Field, who with the assistance of that
>> > floating
>> > village the 'Great Eastern' has connected the shores of the Atlantic
>> > by
>> > telegraph, be able to synchronize our watches with London to the
>> > nearest
>> > fraction of a second once we reach the North American continent, for a
>> > signal sent from London will reach the west coast of America with a
>> > velocity so rapid that it has not proved possible to measure.
>> >
>> > "We shall therefore be able to register our arrival in London at the
>> > Reform
>> > Club to the merest fraction of a minute. And now Monsieur Stuart, it
>> > is
>> > your deal"
>> >
>> >
>> > N M Wolcott nwolcott~at~post.harvard.edu (primary mail forwarding
>> > 2 meg max); nwolcott~at~capaccess.org (2ndary forwarder,?max)
>> > nwolcott~at~kreative.net (current ISP, system max)
>> >
>
Received on Thu 23 Apr 1998 - 13:34:40 IDT

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