Jules Verne Forum

<jvf@Gilead.org.il>

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec 19961997199819992000200120022003200420052006200720082009

Re: Resolving Alleged Chronological Discrepancies In L'Ile Mysterieuse

From: thomas mccormick <tom_amity~at~hotmail.com>
Date: Mon, 12 Jun 2006 00:22:11 +0000
To: jvf~at~Gilead.org.il

Indeed, Dumas and Verne both sometimes employ the technique descrbed.

But in the novel Ralf and I were discussing - L'Ile Mysterieuse - this
"sliding scale" is not employed very often. Almost every incident subsequent
to Smith's and Pencroff's initial conversation (chapter I:ii) has a date
assigned to it, although there are at least seven slips in time -- times
when Verne omits a day of the month, calls a Sunday what really was a Friday
during the year in question, etc.

Verne deals with the conflicting chronologies in Captain Grant and 20,000
Leagues by telling us that the dates given in these two previous novels are
"wrong" and that we must substitute the new chronology of L'Ile Mysterieuse.
Thus, to enter the world of Mysterious Island, and to accept the artistic
convention that it's a factual story, we must make those chronological
corrections in the respective narratives of Ayrton and Nemo.

In the case of Ayrton's narrative, we are invited simply to accept a new set
of dates in place of the old.

In the case of Nemo, we are presented with two long-term chronologies
interwoven into the narrative. Each of the chronologies is consistent with
itself and inconsistent with the other. The first chronology consists of
specific dates and years that either occur in 20,000 Leagues or are
extrapolated therefrom - dates and years which Verne tells us to disregard
even while he cites them in the narrative. The other chronology cites no
dates but prefers instead to use such expressions as "X years ago," "It has
been X years since. . .", and so on. The "old" (20,000 Leagues) chronology
is wildly out of synch with the events of Mysterious Island; the second
chronology is quite consistent with those events although it requires an odd
re-dating of 20,000 Leagues.


>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: Resolving Alleged Chronological Discrepancies In L'Ile
>Mysterieuse
>Date: Fri, 9 Jun 2006 10:00:45 +0200 (CEST)
>
>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.

_________________________________________________________________
FREE pop-up blocking with the new MSN Toolbar – get it now!
http://toolbar.msn.click-url.com/go/onm00200415ave/direct/01/
Received on Mon 12 Jun 2006 - 03:22:29 IDT

JV.Gilead.org.il
Copyright © Zvi Har’El
$Date: 2009/02/01 22:36:11 $$