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Re: Religion

From: Ralf Tauchmann <ralf.tauchmann~at~t-online.de>
Date: Thu, 02 Mar 2000 15:17:41 +0100
To: Jules Verne Forum <jvf~at~math.technion.ac.il>

oc0u5004 schrieb:
>
> If anyone out there would like to share their opinions on the religion
> in the works of Jules Verne listed below, I'd be very interested to
> hear.
> De la terre a la lune
> Le tour du monde en 80 jours
> L'ile mysterieuse
> 20 000 lieues sous les mers
> Voyage au centre de la terre
>
> Thanks, Leigh Thompson.

Dear Leigh,

The question certainly has some interest. But, as has already been said
in this mailing list, it would of course be necessary to rely on the
French wording, because Jules Verne does not actually treat religion and
one would have to focus on interpretation.

Another problem is how to understand religion. I guess you mean the
catholic religion of the 19th century. On the other hand, you will find
a lot about other religions (of African tribes etc.).

Several approaches are possible to this question:

Direct linguistic method: searching the e-texts for words like
"religion", "god" etc. I just tried a short run, and it is interesting
to see that e.g. the word "religion" is often used in a metaphoric way,
e.g. "religieusement timide"..., whereas other words take up
religious-like meanings, such as "puissance"...

Indirect linguistic method: reading Jules Verne while trying to find
biblic and religious allusions.

But what I think offers more interest is the content-oriented method
against the social background. To give an example: In Voyage au centre
de la Terre, Chapter XXXIX, Professor Lidenbrock and his nephew Axel see
or believe they see a human-like creature, a shepherd tending mastodons.
Darwin's Origin of Species was published in 1859 (in France, if I
remember well, in 1861) raising a big discussion, because it was in
contradiction with the Bible (Adam and Eve). Jules Verne does not avoid
this topic. His conclusion is: "J'aime mieux admettre l'existence de
quelque animal dont la structure se rapproche de la structure humaine...
Mais un homme, un homme vivant, et avec lui tout une génération enfouie
dans les entrailles de la terre! Jamais!" Jules Verne says or lets Axel
say: "Nos yeux n'ont pas vu ce qu'ils voyaient!" "C'est insensé,
profondément insensé!", "J'aime mieux admettre..." etc. This is a very
true picture of the pro and con Darwin discussion, which is one of the
major points (with Dreyfus later) leading up to the scission between
Church and State in 1905.

Best regards,

Ralf Tauchmann
(Radebeul, Germany)
Received on Thu 02 Mar 2000 - 16:18:30 IST

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