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Re: An early interview

From: Jan Rychlík <jan.rychlik~at~seznam.cz>
Date: Mon, 05 Feb 2007 00:16:01 +0100 (CET)
To: Jules Verne Forum <jvf~at~Gilead.org.il>

> I think this interview was not yet known, at least I couldn't find
> anything about it...
But the final remark "Paris Cor. New York Mail and Express" suggests that the interview might be a kind of agency news. Judging upon the contents of the newspaper I wonder that Quincy Whig itself had a Paris Correspondent. Hence a possible earlier publication of this interview should now be sougt for, most probably in National or at least New York newspapers.
Best regards
Jan
>
>
>
> mail from:
>
> Bernhard Krauth
>
> have a look at:
>
> www.jules-verne.eu
>
> www.jules-verne-club.de
>
> www.bernhard-krauth.de
>
> www.bremerhavenpilot.de
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: Jan Rychlík
> To: Jules Verne Forum
> Sent: Sunday, February 04, 2007 6:48 PM
> Subject: Re: An early interview
>
>
> Dear Bernhard,
> Quincy Daily Whig was published in Quincy, Illinois.
> You can find the issue in the library of Quincy at:
>
> http://archive.quincylibrary.org/Archive/skins/QPL/navigator.asp?BP=OK&AW=1170611266656
> Christian Sánchez did a good job!
> Best regards
> Jan
> > ------------ Původní zpráva ------------
> > Od: BGYKrauth <BGYKrauth~at~t-online.de>
> > Předmět: Re: An early interview
> > Datum: 04.2.2007 10:33:39
> > ----------------------------------------
> > Interesting. Can you give more detail about the publication as where did
> this
> > Quincy Daily Whig appeared, what page of the paper and maybe - if you found
> it
> > online - where? Or does anybody else knows about this text? On a fast look
> I
> > couldn't find any text like that in this period.
> >
> > Brgds
> >
> > Bernhard
> >
> >
> >
> > mail from:
> >
> > Bernhard Krauth
> >
> > have a look at:
> >
> > www.jules-verne.eu
> >
> > www.jules-verne-club.de
> >
> > www.bernhard-krauth.de
> >
> > www.bremerhavenpilot.de
> >
> > ----- Original Message -----
> > From: Christian Sánchez
> > To: Jules Verne Forum
> > Sent: Sunday, February 04, 2007 6:27 AM
> > Subject: An early interview
> >
> >
> > This interview appeared in The Quincy Daily Whig (Date: Aug 13, 1887).
> >
> > Highlights:
> >
> > "Ah! the dates! they give more trouble than you can imagine."
> >
> > "I regret my ignorance of the English language."
> >
> > "I always give the Americans my best parts."
> >
> > ...a planisphere upon which M. Verne has traced in lines of different
> colors
> > the voyages of his heroes.
> >
> > ------
> >
> > JULES VERNE AT HOME
> >
> > THE BEGINNING OF HIS CAREER AS A WRITER OF ADVENTURE
> >
> > He Owes a Great Deal to Poe and to Cooper - How He Writes a Story - A
> Terror
> > to the Proof Reader - His New Novel.
> >
> > Jules Verne was born at Nantes, in 1828; to be precise, Feb. 8. He wears
> > lightly his 59 years of life. His hair and beard are white, but his face is
> > young, unfurrowed, and there is an expression of frankness in it, and in
> his
> > clear, calm blue eyes, that always won a heart. Being a Breton, he was born
> with
> > a profound admiration for the sea; at 12 he had read "Robinson Crusoe", and
> had
> > begun to think of writing stories of shipwrecks.
> >
> > He studied law, was graduated at the law school, went into the stock
> exchange,
> > not as one of the venerable institution created by an ordinance of Philippe
> le
> > Bel, but behind the scenes, in it but not of it, like the gulf stream in
> the
> > ocean.
> >
> > It had flashed his mind that he might go to California and seek a gold
> mine
> > and find it, and then devote himself to literature; but as he was writing
> > constantly, the Gymnase playhouse found something to accept in his mass of
> > manuscripts. It was a comedy in verse, in one act, "Les Pailles Rompues",
> and it
> > had been written with Alexandre Dumas fils as a co-laborer. Dumas is his
> friend.
> > Mark this, for Dumas is not a prodigal of his friendship, and is a perfect
> miser
> > at praising the work of others. I have heard him say of Jules Verne that if
> he
> > were a foreigner there would be nothing too good for him in France. Jules
> Verne
> > says that he has been fortunate in the friendship of Dumas and of an
> editor,
> > Hetzel, who coached him, kept him in line, prevented him from making
> excursions
> > in the domain of Balzac, ever since the day of his first novel, "Five Weeks
> in a
> > Balloon", made him able to live by his pen. That was in 1862. Since then he
> has
> > written fifty volumes, two every year.
> >
> > SOURCES OF INSPIRATION
> >
> > Had he caught his inspiration from Edgar Poe, whose influence, in the
> vivid
> > translations of Baudelaire, has been great on French men of letters? Were
> the
> > impressions of the brothers de Goncourt in 1856 similar to his own? M.
> Verne
> > said yes, that he owed much to Edgar Poe and much to Fenimore Cooper, of
> whom he
> > is an ardent admirer.
> >
> > His object was to write books that the young could read with profit. He
> had no
> > pretensions to being a savant, a man of science. He read incessantly.
> Whenever
> > he was in doubt he went to town to one he knew. Joseph Bertrand, of the
> > institute, had been his adviser on many occasions. He would make errors,
> > perhaps, but not very grave ones. I asked him if his stories were not
> worked
> > backward, like Gobelin tapestry. He said that he never commenced to write a
> > story without knowing how it was going to end. He writes the plot, then
> studies
> > the details. The results of his studies are in notes of one word in columns,
> on
> > sheets of paper, letter size. These words refer to books on his library or
> to
> > other notes of ideas or facts. When he has become familiar with his notes,
> he
> > writes the story. His manuscript is remarkably neat, on the left of a
> letter
> > page, leaving a wide margin at the right for the dates. "Ah! the dates!
> they
> > give more trouble than you can imagine." And the names? His proof reading
> costs
> > a good deal of money to the editor, he says. He sends the original
> manuscript to
> > the printer without an erasure, and there are eight successive proofs to be
> > corrected by him. He is fastidious in the extreme with regard to style; that
> has
> > to be absolutely faultless.
> >
> > HIS NEW NOVEL
> >
> > He goes to bed at 8 o'clock, gets up early and is at work until midday in
> his
> > cozy workshop on the second floor, from which we saw a parade and review by
> the
> > division general of the whole garrison. The men march with a swing of the
> arm
> > that gives them dash and light airiness, something that makes you feel that
> > their heart is in it or that they would throw it over an obstacle as a
> rider
> > does to make the horse leap.
> >
> > "What made you write 'North and South'" I asked.
> >
> > "Fifty lines out of a few pages of the Comte de Paris' history of the
> civil
> > war in America. The Comte de Paris and I have always entertained pleasant,
> > friendly relations, and I was in sympathy with the north at the time of the
> > war.
> >
> > "What material did I use? Everything and anything that I could find. I
> regret
> > my ignorance of the English language. I have to use translations and
> > translators. The story is interesting because it rests upon alibis and the
> key
> > is at the end of the story. I have another work under way. I have thought
> that
> > there was room for another Robinson. There is 'Robinson Crusoe', 'Swiss
> Family
> > Robinson', the 'Mysterious Island'. The first Robinson is alone, the second
> has
> > a family, the third is a company of engineers, men of learning. I am writing
> the
> > story of a boarding school for boys. There are eighteen of them; fifteen of
> them
> > are English, two French and one American. I shall place them upon a well
> fitted
> > yacht, that shall be shipwrecked upon an island that is not well known, but
> > exists. The eldest boy 14 years of age, the youngest 8. They shall have all
> the
> > necessary tools to take care of themselves."
> >
> > "I trust you will make the American boy a fine fellow."
> >
> > "I always give the Americans my best parts. I have a profound veneration
> for
> > the American people. I wanted to see it landed as it deserves to be. The
> > American is to be the practical, progressive boy of the party."
> >
> > In the hall that leads from the stairway to the work room is a large chart
> of
> > the world, a planisphere upon which M. Verne has traced in lines of
> different
> > colors the voyages of his heroes.
> >
> > His entire work, when completed, is to be the amusing description of the
> > earth's geography. - Paris Cor. New York Mail and Express.
> >
> >
>
>
>
Received on Mon 05 Feb 2007 - 01:23:28 IST

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