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Re: Resolving Alleged Chronological Discrepancies In L'Ile Mysterieuse

From: Garmt de Vries <G.deVries~at~phys.uu.nl>
Date: Fri, 9 Jun 2006 10:00:45 +0200 (CEST)
To: Jules Verne Forum <jvf~at~Gilead.org.il>

On Fri, 9 Jun 2006, Ralf Tauchmann wrote:

> [...] introducing a kind of "chronological sliding scale" made up of a
> "large-scale TIME line" (intervals, backgrounds, tendencies, "flow of
> time") with one or several "small-scale TIME lines" (made up of exact
> dates and "fixed points of time") shiftable against the "flow of time".
>
> This could be an interesting story telling and plot building approach
> or may even have been the approach of Dumas and Verne?

Indeed, many of Dumas' novels give that impression. Just to take the
"Comtesse de Charny" cycle as an example: we see the storming of the
Bastille, which is a very specific point in time. Than things happen,
characters interact, time passes, without it being clear how much time. No
dates are mentioned, and not enough clues are provided to figure out on
which date each event happens. There are some "Le lendemain" or "Deux
jours apres", but they don't help much. Then all of a sudden, it's 5
October, and the attack on the Versailles palace takes place.

It seems Dumas only gives us real dates when the characters (historical or
imaginary) are involved in some real history event.

It is noteworthy that just like Jules Verne sometimes tinkers with
geographic accuracy (e.g. putting Kolyvan on the wrong side of the river),
so Dumas tinkers with chronology (e.g. Henri III returning from Poland
before Charles IX's death), if the story needs it.

Cheers,
Garmt.
Received on Fri 09 Jun 2006 - 11:00:54 IDT

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