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Undersea Science Fiction Predating Verne

From: Alex Michael Bonnici <albonnici~at~vol.net.mt>
Date: Thu, 26 Apr 2007 19:21:40 +0200
To: "Jules Verne Forum" <jvf~at~Gilead.org.il>

Hello One and All,
                       Does anyone on this list know of any Undersea Science Fiction predating Jules Verne's "Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea". In "Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea" Jules Verne hints at the possibility of building undersea towns and cities. I am referring to the following passage:


CHAPTER XVII. FOUR THOUSAND LEAGUES UNDER THE PACIFIC

  "Yes, the ocean has indeed circulation, and to promote it, the Creator has caused things to multiply in it--caloric, salt, and animalculae."

  When Captain Nemo spoke thus, he seemed altogether changed, and aroused an extraordinary emotion in me.

  "Also," he added, "true existence is there; and I can imagine the foundations of nautical towns, clusters of submarine houses, which, like the Nautilus, would ascend every morning to breathe at the surface of the water, free towns, independent cities. Yet who knows whether some despot----"

  Captain Nemo finished his sentence with a violent gesture. Then, addressing me as if to chase away some sorrowful thought:

  "M. Aronnax," he asked. "do you know the depth of the ocean?"

Did Verne or anyone else in the Nineteenth or early Twentieth centuries develop the idea of Undersea Cities or Colonies in either science fiction or non fiction science articles or books?


I beforehand thank you for your help,


Yours truly,


Alex Michael Bonnici
Received on Thu 26 Apr 2007 - 20:22:05 IDT

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