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

From: thomas mccormick <tom_amity~at~hotmail.com>
Date: Tue, 07 Feb 2006 18:46:40 +0000
To: jvf~at~Gilead.org.il


Brian is right, of course - Verne's knew perfectly well that it was
physically impossible for a cannon to launch Barbicane & Co. on their moon
voyage. On the other hand, he was probably aware that bunsen cells couldn't
have powered the Nautilus. In neither case, methinks, should we attach too
much importance to the impossibilities. The important thing for Verne was
that he knew perfectly well that someday humanity would discover a source of
power that was capable of propelling us to the moon and driving giant
submarines. He didn't know what kind of source it would be, but he knew it
was going to happen. His description of a power source is of less importance
than his description of his voyagers' adventures and their response thereto.

Ergo, I don't think From the Earth to the Moon is a satire, and I think it
incommensurable with Poe's Hans Pfall which obviously IS a satire.

Tom McCormick


>From: Garmt de Vries <G.deVries~at~phys.uu.nl>
>Reply-To: Jules Verne Forum <jvf~at~Gilead.org.il>
>To: Jules Verne Forum <jvf~at~Gilead.org.il>
>Subject: Re: From the Earth to the Moon--Does it require a sequel?
>Date: Tue, 7 Feb 2006 07:52:32 +0100 (CET)
>
>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.
>>
>>
>>
>>

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Received on Tue 07 Feb 2006 - 20:46:53 IST

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