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Re: Religion

From: Jean-Pierre Boutin <boutin~at~versailles.inra.fr>
Date: Thu, 2 Mar 2000 17:39:47 +0500
To: Jules Verne Forum <jvf~at~math.technion.ac.il>

I would like to had some ideas to the Ralf message. All what I know about
religion in JV's novels comes from the excellent JV biography by Olivier
Dumas (La manufacture). In summary, JV received a very strict religious
education but he did not speak about religion in the manuscripts of his
first novels (with the notable exception of "Maitre Zacharius"). Strong
evidences indicate that most Got invocations, allusion to the divine
providence ...etc... were added by P. J. Hetzel, the editor of the Voyages
extraordinaires, for commercial reasons only because he was absolutely
atheistic. The best, and the most scandalous, example is the last word of
Nemo when he was dying in the cave of the Mysterious Island :
"Independance" in the JV manuscript which became something like (I have not
the text presently in my hand) "Dieu et Patrie" (God and motherland), a
nonsense for the Nemo character !!!
Later, by the end of his life, JV became more and more religious, a common
behaviour in many old people that thing about death and a possible very
soon meeting with God. He introduced some very religious characters in the
manuscripts of his last novels ... that were cancelled in the printed
version by his son, Michel, who was as atheistic as Hetzel but a poor
businessman ŠŠ one of life's little ironiesŠ
I can send you a copy of the chapter of the Dumas's book which deal with JV
and the religion. If you are interested, please, inquire.
Enjoy,
Jean-Pierre


-------------------------------------------------------
Jean-Pierre Boutin <boutin~at~versailles.inra.fr>
Lab. de Biologie des Semences (Seed Biology Lab.), INRA
F-78026 Versailles cedex, France
Tel 33 (0)1 30 83 33 39 Fax 33 (0)1 30 83 30 96
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Received on Thu 02 Mar 2000 - 18:36:23 IST

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