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Re: Luis Senarens and Verne

From: James Keeline <keeline~at~yahoo.com>
Date: Tue, 4 Sep 2007 06:04:41 -0700 (PDT)
To: Jules Verne Forum <jvf~at~gilead.org.il>

--- Cristian Tello <destro777~at~hotmail.com> wrote:

> Luis Senares, a young autor of Science Fiction of century XIX in United
> States was the creator of the airship similar to Albatros. We can see the
> issue of this story for the magazine Frank Reade, here:
>
> http://www.centennialofflight.gov/essay/Social/pulps/SH12G1.htm
>
> Some sources say that Verne and Linares wrote each other, this is true?,
> really the Linares' airship was used as inspiration by Verne to create his
> Albatros?
>
> On the other hand, what is the meaning of ROBUR, maybe some word in latin
> similar to NEMO=NOBODY?
>
> Best regards from Peru
>
> Ing. Cristian Tello

Lu Senarens is closely associated with the "Noname" author of the Frank Reade
Jr. stories. These were often classed as "dime novels" in the United States
(comparable to the British "penny dreadful") even though they frequently sold
for 5 cents instead of 10 cents. The earliest dime novels sold for ten cents,
of course.

Many dime novels, and their close cousin the story paper, came out on a weekly
basis. There was a great deal of pressure to produce new and novel stories all
the time. The most prolific writers were prized by the publishers, of course.

Prior the Frank Reade, Jr. stories which appeared in a very long series, there
were a handful of Frank Reade [Sr.] stories. These earlier tales tend to
center on steam-powered inventions. The first was a mechanical steam man.
Prior to this story was another steam man story by Edward S. Ellis. These
steam man stories were inspired by a variety of claims in newspapers by
inventors who said they had constructed devices along this line.

The Frank Reade, Jr. stories have a number of Vernian themes and there are long
sequences of stories with electric submarines, fantastic land vehicles and
airships. The story which is most similar to Verne's Clipper of the Clouds is
"Frank Reade, Jr., and His Queen Clipper of the Clouds." My copy is a
facsimile reprint of an 1893 reissue of the story in the Frank Reade Library.
The main story spans two issues. Even this facsimile is on cheap pulp paper so
it is brittle and I have not read this copy.

I've corresponded with J. Randolph Cox, the editor of the DIME NOVEL ROUND-UP
and author of the DIME NOVEL COMPANION, about this topic. He found that
several of the illustrations for the Verne story were used in the Frank Reade
story. Of course, since the plot is different, there are many new
illustrations.

It is my understanding that Jules Verne didn't read English so unless Senarens
corresponded in French (possible though not known to be true), it would be hard
for them to communicate.

I would imagine that Verne's story was serialized prior to the French book
publication. Comparing the date and illustrations in this with the Senarens
story would be helpful in establishing which story (or simply illustrations)
inspired the other.

The writers of stories for dime novels and story papers routinely took material
from other publications, especially newspapers. In a number of cases long
passages are lifted directly from these sources. Some years back I wrote about
the similarities in plot between Verne's TWENTY THOUSAND LEAGUES UNDER THE SEAS
and Bracebridge Hemyng's DICK LIGHTHEART AT SEA. The latter story was copied
very closely in a story owned by Edward Stratemeyer called "The Wizard of the
Deep" by "Roy Rockwood" and published in book form as THE WIZARD OF THE SEA.

Was Verne's "Clipper of the Clouds" serialized?
If so, where and when and did it have the same illustrations seen in the book?
Is there any known correspondence between Luis Senarens and Jules Verne?
Does the publisher correspondence indicate any source of inspiration for
Verne's story?

James


James D. Keeline
http://www.Keeline.com http://www.Keeline.com/articles
http://Stratemeyer.org http://www.Keeline.com/TSCollection
Received on Tue 04 Sep 2007 - 16:04:47 IDT

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