Jules Verne Forum

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Re: The Wikipedia entry for Jules Verne

From: thomas mccormick <tom_amity~at~hotmail.com>
Date: Sun, 12 Feb 2006 21:31:11 +0000
To: jvf~at~Gilead.org.il

I feel that this article is too uncritical on the subject of Hetzel's
contributions to Verne's novels. I don't see the questions of happy vs. sad
endings, or of optimism vs. pessimism, to be the real point of Hetzel's
changes in Verne's novels and especially of his alterations of their
endings.

The article opines that Hetzel's alteration of the ending of Mysterious
Island, for example, had the effect of changing a nostalgic ending to a
happy ending. I think this misses the point. Actually, in Verne's original
MS., as in the published version as altered by Hetzel, the only rather
faintly nostalgic detail is the remark (in identical language in both
versions) "et jamais ils ne devaient oublier cette ile". Since the colonists
return home safely to America in both versions, one ending would seem as
happy as the other, unless one rather arbitrarily assumes with Hetzel that
the colonists' future happiness requires them to rebuild Lincoln Island in
Iowa.

Something similar could be said regarding Hetzel's tinkering with the
conclusion of The Adventures of Captain Hatteras: which is the "happier"
ending for the Captain: A quick death at his moment of triumph (Verne's
intended ending) or a descent into permanent insanity (Hetzel's imposed
ending)?

I believe a better case could be made for the idea that Hetzel often acted
out of sheer hubris, imagining that he knew how to end Verne's novels better
than Verne did, which in my view he didn't. I think the article is
insufficiently critical on this issue.


>From: "Harry Hayfield" <welshliberaldemocrat~at~yahoo.co.uk>
>Reply-To: Jules Verne Forum <jvf~at~Gilead.org.il>
>To: "Jules Verne Forum" <jvf~at~Gilead.org.il>
>Subject: The Wikipedia entry for Jules Verne
>Date: Sun, 12 Feb 2006 19:37:33 -0000
>
>Blankhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jules_Verne
>
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Received on Sun 12 Feb 2006 - 23:31:24 IST

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