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Re: A Plunge into space

From: Art Evans <aevans2~at~tds.net>
Date: Sun, 21 Sep 2003 10:49:58 -0700
To: "Jules Verne Forum" <jvf~at~Gilead.org.il>

Dear friends,

Here's the actual text of this introduction supposedly written by Verne:

TO MY ENGLISH READERS
Especially to those who have followed me on my far journeys, I have pleasure
in introducting a pupil. With him I have just made a voyage, weird and
wild. He pointed out many interesting things on the way. For myself, I
should perhaps have preferred more details, more facts and figures in
connection with the stupendous phenomena we encountered. But the pace at
which we travelled was not favourable to minute inquiry--one does not reckon
the wavelets when on estimates the strength of tides.
   With this brief introduction I must leave the voyage in the Steel Globe
to those who choose to make it. Certainly, it is a "terrible venture," but
they need not fear; their guide is skilful and bold. They may trust
themselves in his hands. He will serve them well.
Amiens JULES VERNE

I am of the opinion that Verne did not write these words and that they were,
in fact, written for publicity purposes either by Robert Cromie himself, by
his publisher Frederick Warne, or maybe even by Verne's son, Michel. It
simply does not make sense that Verne would write such an intro: this novel
features a spacecraft that is an anti-gravitation sphere--exactly the same
sort of device for which Verne (famously) criticized H.G. Wells in the
latter's novel _The First Men in the Moon_ several years later.

In any event, here's what I said about this question a decade ago (_Science
Fiction Studies_ 20.1 [March 1993]: 138-39):
----------
   First, it is virtually certain that Jules Verne did not read Cromie's
first edition of _A Plunge Into Space_ (1890): Verne was not sufficiently
fluent in English to read such a novel-despite the myth to the contrary
perpetrated by his great niece and first "official" biographer, Allotte de
la Füye. I offer as proof Verne's own comments on the question in a
(translated) interview taking place in 1895: "Unhappily, I can read only
those works which have been translated into French" (Marie A. Belloc, "Jules
Verne at Home," _Strand Magazine_ [Feb. 1895]: 212). And no French
translation of this text seems to have existed at the time.
   Second, I have found no mention of either Robert Cromie, his publisher
Frederick Warne & Co., or _A Plunge Into Space_ in any of Verne's available
correspondence from the period, in the general catalogue of the Jules Verne
Archives in Nantes, nor in any of the comprehensive bibliographies of
Verne's writings (other than those of Anglo-American origin). Of course,
French bibliographies are sometimes very sketchy when it comes to
English-language materials; but one would nevertheless think that any
preface (even to a foreign novel) which had been supposedly written by Verne
himself would have been noted and listed by French biographers at some point
during the past century. But, then again, to my knowledge, no preface to any
fictional work (other than to his own) has ever been attributed to Jules
Verne, except this one.
   Third, although Cromie and/or his publisher would seem to be the most
likely source(s) for this preface, it is possible that there may more to
this story than meets the eye. Consider the following: Vernian scholars now
know that-in addition to his (at least) partial authorship of many of
Verne's posthumous Voyages Extraordinaires-Verne's son Michel wrote and
published (in England) at least two short SF stories (in English) around
this same time, signing his father's name to both of them: "In the Year
2889" (_The Forum_, 1889) and "An Express of the Future" (_Strand Magazine_,
1895). Although I have argued elsewhere that Michel himself had a very poor
knowledge of English ("Le Franglais vernien [père et fils]," _Modernités de
Jules Verne_ [Paris: PUF, 1988]: 87-105), he nonetheless might have been a
very active conspirator in this little literary crime.
----------

All best wishes,
Art
Received on Sun 21 Sep 2003 - 20:53:27 IDT

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