Jules Verne Forum

<jvf@Gilead.org.il>

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec 19961997199819992000200120022003200420052006200720082009

Re: Reading Jules Verne--any takers? (Geography)

From: boutin <boutin~at~versailles.inra.fr>
Date: Tue, 21 Sep 2004 11:36:17 +0200
To: Jules Verne Forum <jvf~at~gilead.org.il>

I totally share the opinions of Garmt about the "Géographie". It is a
rather boring compilation of geographical data that JV (helped by his
wife) made only for money. It would be completely forgotten ifnot
signed JV. It is interesting for its illustrations, especially its
strange frontispiece. For those who are interested by the state of
France before the WW1, I would suggest the "Géographie Universelle" by
Conrad Malte-Brun (a source of inspiration for the geographical novels
by JV ; many editions between ca.1820 and 1870, some with fine
illustrations and maps, the atlas is very expensive), and the volume 2
(“France”) of the "Géographie Universelle" by Elysée Reclus (1883, easy
to find alone).
Elysée Reclus was also, beside his position of geographer, a famous
anarchist and was a very prolific author in this domain. He was not
really a novelist but his texts are interesting piece of literature.

Jean-Pierre

Le mardi, 21 sep 2004, à 09:28 Europe/Paris, Garmt de Vries a écrit :

> On Mon, 20 Sep 2004 ithompson~at~geog.gla.ac.uk wrote:
>
>> Garmt doubts whether anyone could read the entire Verne's
>> "Géographie" without falling asleep. Before complaining too
>> much about the aridity of the work I think it is important to
>> remember the context of its publication.
>
> Of course I'm not complaining about the lack of plot in the
> Geographie; I just wanted to point out that it's a very different kind
> of book than the series of the Decouverte de la Terre, and to warn
> people who, like Mark, have read Decouverte de la Terre, but don't
> know the Geographie, that they shouldn't keep their hopes up for a
> similar experience. As you say, Ian, the Geographie was never intended
> as such.
>
> This thread makes me wonder: are there any other novelists who also
> published works of reference like Verne's Geopgraphie?
>
> Cheers,
> Garmt.
>
Received on Tue 21 Sep 2004 - 12:36:21 IDT

JV.Gilead.org.il
Copyright © Zvi Har’El
$Date: 2009/02/01 22:36:11 $$