Jules Verne Forum

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Re: Reading Jules Verne--any takers?

From: Brian Taves <btav~at~loc.gov>
Date: Mon, 20 Sep 2004 19:34:45 -0400 (EDT)
To: Jules Verne Forum <jvf~at~Gilead.org.il>

On Thu, 16 Sep 2004 Rfbagby~at~aol.com wrote:

> In a message dated 9/16/04 12:33:12 AM, nwolcott2~at~kreative.net writes:
>
> << I would like to know if anyone has any solid evidence of an English
> speaking person under age 30 who has ever read a book in English by Jules Verne.
> Perhaps we could offer a prize.
>
>
> nwolcott2~at~post.harvard.edu Friar Wolcott, Gutenberg Abbey, Sherwood Forrest
>
> >>
> REPLY: I myself before adolescence not merely read Verne but collected him in
> paperback (the I.O. Evans translations, of course, but that's where youth is
> by definition foolish) -- my renewed interest in recent years, including
> joining this Forum, is this an ember stirred back to flame rather than anything
> truly novel.
> Ross

Like Ross, I began to read and collect Verne by age 9, in 1968. The
second text I picked up was Walter James Miller's first 20K, with its
article on JV translations--which I credit with making me more than a
passive reader of Verne. My classmates were also into the man they (not
I) called "Julius Verne" through the Scholastic editions. I'll never
forget my 6th grade teacher disapproving my reading of Mysterious
Island--shouldn't I be reading a children's book instead of one so long?
And my high school teacher who gave me a C for writing about the
importance of Phileas Fogg's character. I still have 6th grade book
reports I wrote on Verne, and had read all the available texts by age 16,
when I wrote my first term paper--on JV, heavily footntoted, about 30 pp,
inspired by Chesneaux's analysis. Later, as I gained access to a
university library and had more than my lawn-mowing analysis to spend on
Verne, I was able to pursue the more esoteric texts and analyses.

Does this qualify, Norm? But I must confess I don't understand your
drift. Go to any big bookstore and you'll find plenty of weighty
Verne--not just picture books--in the children's section. Verne could
hardly have been an incentive for school prizes in the late 19th and early
20th century if the children did not want his books. And don't forget
that the first JV society, in any country, complete with its own journal,
was founded by the boys of a British naval college whose Verne fellowship
was only interrupted when they became officers at sea--in their mid teens.

Brian Taves
110 D Street, S.E. #515
Washington, D.C. 20003-1815
202-675-4525 (h)
202-707-9930 (w)
202-707-2371 (work fax)
email: <btav~at~loc.gov>


Disclaimer--All opinions expressed are my own.
Received on Tue 21 Sep 2004 - 02:35:04 IDT

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