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Re: Around the World with Jackie Chan?

From: Tim Unwin <tunwin~at~onetel.net.uk>
Date: Tue, 17 Sep 2002 09:28:47 +0100
To: "Jules Verne Forum" <jvf~at~math.technion.ac.il>

> opening Fogg
> to new cultures and perspectives on the journey is the subtext of the
> novel. That is what changes his character, and certainly his encounter
> and love for Aouda are key in that regard.

I've always read it rather the opposite way myself. What strikes me is
Fogg's abject failure to engage with any new culture, or indeed with anyone
or anything. Passepartout is the one who changes. Fogg returns to London
much the same man as he was when he left. Unlike Passepartout, he finds
whist a much safer option than intellectual or social interaction. He'd
rather be achieving a grand slam as the liner arrives in Bombay than make
conversation or look out through the porthole and actually see the country
he arrives in. He belongs, after all, 'to that breed of Englishmen who send
their servants out to do their sightseeing for them' -- hardly a promise of
open-mindedness or curiosity. The sub-text is surely the challenge Verne
lays down (knowingly? unwittingly? who can say?) to his own reader to do
better.

As for love for Aouda, admittedly Fogg does nearly lose his composure on one
occasion, but it's hardly Racinian turmoil. Aouda does a much better job of
showing her feelings.

Tim Unwin
Received on Tue 17 Sep 2002 - 11:28:10 IDT

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