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Re: Jules V. sex life

From: Peter Harold <haroldmania~at~yahoo.se>
Date: Mon, 17 Jan 2005 14:49:50 +0100 (CET)
To: Jules Verne Forum <jvf~at~Gilead.org.il>

Merci!

The question seems to be how much sexuality Jules
Verne wrote in it when he described the Columbiade and
how much the projectile looks like a phallos, etc etc.
I can judge by myself — because I am a man — that it
is justa a matter of symbols that we have in our
minds; I can't see anything how my sex could have any
similar design like the large canon used by the Gun
Club.

I had to admit I read "Michel Strogoff" for the first
time last year. But I did read a complete translation
for the sake. I think it could be a subject to study;
I guess Verne wanted to put lights on this kind of
innocent tension between Strogoff and the young lady
(16 years old) who was in his company. If you read a
modern novel, or watch any kind of a modern movie,
they should have "jumped into bed" long time before
crossing the mountains of Ural.

It is interesting to see how Jules Verne described
love, how he explained the ways how people show their
love and affection to the other sex. "The Green Ray"
in example, is solved by a warm kind of humour - but
it is far from a love-story. Put this to the question
(as I suspect was the original question of this
article in this french magazine; I can't read French)
of how Verne was thinking about sex. I guess he was
thinking about it (more or less) but I doubt he always
use it for the novels. Or at least, I can't really see
it with my modern eyes. Maybe it is quite different if
I read the novels from the perspective of sexual
behaviour of the 19th Century. Maybe one can choose
good example to prove that Verne could be read in that
ways.

When it comes to the suspected homosexuel connection
to Aristide Briand, I have been told that there are no
documents that can indicate anything like this. Is
that correct? Can someone explain to me where/how this
rumour started?

Of course there are many good reasons to discuss the
"sex life" of Jules Verne, but I wonder how long could
anyone go with it? As it is said Verne destroyed a lot
of letters in the late years of his life, I suspect he
did it becuse he never wanted to leave too much
private information. Of course it leaves us to guess
how it was, but it doesn't feel comfortable to
penetrate into this subject — even if it is very
interesting.

I think the more we konow about his "sex life", the
more we know about him as a human. But I can't agree
it would lead us to understand his novels better.
Maybe if we find sources from his youth, there was a
large conflict in his life between religion and his
style of bohemian living (in Paris 1849-). I wish I
knew more about it.

Best regards
Peter

PS
I hope my posting doesn't offend anyone. I have tried
to choose my words with care, but if something is
offending you, I am much sorry for it.
DS
Received on Mon 17 Jan 2005 - 15:49:59 IST

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