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Re: From the Earth to the Moon--Does it require a sequel?

From: volker dehs <volker.dehs~at~web.de>
Date: Tue, 07 Feb 2006 11:04:29 +0100
To: JulesVerneForum <jvf~at~Gilead.org.il>

Dear all,

the letter Garmt quoted is not related to FEM, but to Hatteras, FEM has only been written in automn/winter 1864/65. The manuscript of FEM (the second and only existing of probably two manuscripts) has the two titles: "De la terre à la lune / - / Autour de la lune", so it is quite clear, I think, that Verne thought tu write two vols. from the beginning.
We should not forget the different contexts of the book:
- satire on America, on war etc. as Brian descibed it
- the tradition of moon hoaxes (eminently american),
- the Nadar enterprises (the speeches of Barbicane and Ardan reflect the Nadar foundation of the Société des plus léger que l'air de juillet 1863, the depart of the projectile the first depart of the "Géant" on oct., 4, 1863 (remember the first Barbicane speech is on oct. 5!)
- the other space novels apperaring in France around 1864/65 (see the book of Costello, pp. 87-88.
Recently an excellent book (unfortunately in german) pointed out the relations and differences of Verne's book to the contemporary space novels:

Stephan Edinger: Literarische Reisen zu fernen Planeten. Eine ideengeschichtliche Untersuchung zur französischen Literatur de 19. Jahrhunderts
Marburg: Tectum 2005, 303 p., ISBN 3-8288-8944-1

Cheers,
Volker


Jules Verne Forum <jvf~at~Gilead.org.il> schrieb am 07.02.06 08:01:37:
>
> Brian,
>
> I agree with you on the change in tone between De la Terre a la Lune and
> Autour de la Lune. But it seems that Verne really planned a two-part story
> from the start. In a letter to Hetzel of 4 Sep, 1863, the first letter in
> which De la Terre a la Lune is even mentioned, he writes: "I'm working on
> the second volume, but what I'm really anxious about, is to see the first
> one in print. Are you giving orders to continue it? I would especially
> like to hear your opinion on the end of the first: that's the important
> point."
>
> Cheers,
> Garmt.
>
> On Mon, 6 Feb 2006, Brian Taves wrote:
>
> >
> > The cartoon image of the lightbulb appearing above a character's head is
> > familiar to all of us, and is in fact to my mind a rather amusing but also
> > accurate portrayal of how a fresh idea may suddenly illuminate our thinking.
> >
> > Such occurred to me, a few days ago, and I'd like to share it with the Forum
> > for the reactions of others.
> >
> > I first read a (no doubt watered-down) Scholastic Press version of From the
> > Earth to the Moon as my first Verne book, in the fifth grade, age ten, in the
> > spring of 1969. I found it singularly unsatisfying; nowhere in the little
> > paperback was there any mention of a sequel. Nonetheless, some months later, I
> > had entered my own lifelong thrall to Verne and discovered Around the Moon,
> > discovering that the story of FEM had a more satisfactory conclusion.
> >
> > Yet, in subsequently realizing the five year span between the composition
> > of the two stories, something has always remained unsatisfactory about the
> > relationship between the two works. And it may be linked to that need for
> > closure, for "a happy ending" that AM offers. Judged purely as a literary
> > achievement, FEM outweighs AM, when the two are measured as separate
> > novels.
> >
> > Much has been written on this Forum about Verne's choice of a cannon, and
> > whether he was indeed likely aware that his solution to the problem of lunar
> > travel was ultimately no more practical than that of Poe's Hans Pfaal.
> >
> > That, however, seems to me a matter of secondary interest. More to the
> > point, as highlighted in Walter James Miller's Annotated JV translation of
> > FEM (the fabulous version I have just been rereading), is the fact that
> > the whole background of artillery serves as a perfect launch pad for
> > Verne's own ironic commentaries on militarism, nationalism, capitalism,
> > and sectionalism. FEM may be best understood as satire, rather than, more
> > conventionally, a scientific novel.
> >
> > And it is with that in mind that it seems to me it is quite possible to
> > read FEM, not as the first part of the story of a lunar journey that it
> > became, but a stand-alone volume. One which is open-ended, yet seems to
> > indicate that nature has intervened and the ambition of man has been
> > thwarted. Just as Herr Schultz sought the destruction of Franceville and
> > instead launched a satellite, so too did the Gun Club fail in their aim,
> > instead creating yet another satellite. The Club has failed, just as they
> > will again in the ultimate volume of the trilogy, which returns to the
> > tone of FEM. A later team of American astronomers hunting for a
> > meteor--whether or not having the help of an interfering French
> > scientist--similarly find nature overwhelming their dreams. Thanks to
> > modern literary reappraisals of Verne, we can recognize in him a writer of
> > much greater depth, and the seemingly sudden, "surprise ending" of FEM is
> > indeed inevitable, and the implied death of all the protagonists (despite
> > the hopes of Maston, who has been foolish throughout the novel), an
> > experiment with a different type of ending. So too were such other early
> > Verne novels as Hatteras and Paris au XX Siecle intended to end in the
> > death of the protagonist.
> >
> > Vernian sequels don't always merge together easily Indeed, the addition of
> > Around the Moon rather distorts FEM, losing the materialist view of
> > American culture that formed the first volume. The futher adventures of
> > the Gun Club to change the Earth's axis lacks the lightness of FEM, or
> > Around the Moon. Reading FEM and AM together results in emphasizing the
> > science, just as making the background of Captain Nemo concrete in L'Ile
> > mysterieuse robs 20K of its ambiguity and universality of experience.
> > Maitre du monde does not answer the questions raised by Robur le
> > conquerant; instead it multiplies them, and if it ends the life of Robur,
> > it leaves his true motivations and background never to be known.
> >
> > Perhaps, then, it is not so unfortunate that at least in English, FEM has
> > often appeared separately, far more times than its sequel has, and indeed
> > the two are surprisingly rarely published together.
> >
> > Given the above, I see that my own one-time belief that FEM demanded a
> > sequel may have been a result of an incorrect reading, or only one way of
> > reading of FEM. Perhaps a sequel was possible, but certainly not
> > essential, from a literary standpoint, any more than L'Ile mys. had to
> > resolve the open ends of 20K and Les Enfants du Capitaine Grant. My
> > assumption has always been that Verne always planned FEM to have a sequel,
> > but I open the question to our expert biographers on that more practical
> > point. And, I would suggest the notion that FEM is indeed a singular
> > volume, able to stand alone.
> >
> >
> > Brian Taves
> > Motion Picture/Broadcasting/Recorded Sound Division
> > Library of Congress
> > 101 Independence Avenue, S.E. Washington, D.C. 20540-4692
> > Telephone: 202-707-9930; 202-707-2371 (fax)
> > Email: btav~at~loc.gov
> >
> >
> > Disclaimer--All opinions expressed are my own.
> >
> >
> >
> >

-- 
Volker Dehs, Eisenbahnstr. 9, D-37073 Göttingen. Tel.: 0551 / 38 13 088, 0162 / 47 38 630
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Received on Tue 07 Feb 2006 - 12:04:41 IST

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