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Re: Another vehicular omission in Verne?

From: Garmt de Vries-Uiterweerd <g.devries~at~phys.uu.nl>
Date: Fri, 25 Jan 2008 15:32:16 +0100
To: "Jules Verne Forum" <jvf~at~gilead.org.il>

Jules Verne mostly used electricity for the wonderful machines of his own
invention: the Nautilus, the Albatros, the Epouvante, Standard-Island,
even the Victoria are all powered by electricity. The Steam House is the
one exception to this. Of course, steam is heavily used in trains and
ships.

In addition to Maitre du Monde, automobiles are featured in Testament d'un
excentrique (Hodge Urrican in Death Valley) and L'Eternel Adam (when they
try to outdrive the rising sea). Bicycles are seen in Claudius Bombarnac
(Bombarnac is astounded to see them in Samarkande) and in Testament d'un
excentrique (Harris T. Kymbale racing to meet his deadline in Olympia).

Cheers,
Garmt.

On Fri, 25 Jan 2008 15:16:11 +0100, <rfbagby~at~aol.com> wrote:

> This discussion reminds me of a similar issue -- where are the bicycles
> in Verne?!
> I noticed this when reading a book on French history by Eugen Weber, in
> which he discusses how sensationally polarizing cyclists were in late
> 19th century France. In particular, Verne's occasional collaborator
> Grousset was credited with winning his Parliamentary seat due to "the
> bicycle vote"!
> Ross Bagby
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Peter Harold <haroldmania~at~yahoo.se>
> To: Jules Verne Forum <jvf~at~Gilead.org.il>
> Sent: Fri, 25 Jan 2008 13:14:51 +0100 (CET)
> Subject: Engines by Lenoir in one title only?
>
> Hello Valetoux !
>
> I am not sure I would have survived a meeting with
> this kind of machine on this photo! So huge! Its
> monstrous! I would have a heart-attack if I met it
> passing throug the walleys somewere in India! At least
> it it happend in 1880! ;-) Thanks for letting me see
> it!
>
> I think the 19th Centyry must have been a wonderful
> time both for inventors and for authors like Jules
> Verne. The progress had some estetic aspects, which is
> absent in todays progress. It's difficult to paint an
> image from recent Nobel prize-winning exploration.
>
> I agree with you that Verne wasn't into motors. Anyway
> he wrote about it in his novel "Paris of the 2oth
> Century"; he mention the cars driven by Lenoir-motors,
> and in my Swedish translation of "Maître du monde" I
> read in the first chapter about a car race when
> everyone was passed by a strange veihcle (driven by
> Robur). In the novels between these titles, I can't
> recall any further information about cars, and it
> surprise me. In 1900, France was the leading country
> in automobile industry, with 4'800 cars produced that
> year (U.S. was ranked as the 2nd place with "only"
> 4'000 cars), an before 1900 it have been several
> famous races with cars by Panhard, de Dion, Mors,
> Renault... and it seems that Verne only noted this in
> "Maître du monde" with just a few lines.
>
> Perhaps he disliked cars? They was very noisy, and he
> seems to prefer silence in his elder days. Or perhaps
> he concidered car driving wasn't a question about
> travelling - categorizing it being just an another
> kind of sport/pleasure.
>
> On the other side, I wasn't avoiding strange ways to
> travel; he prefered to use the steam for his
> elephant-machine. Perhaps he never believed in the
> machines by Lenoir and Otto? And as you mention; the
> 1867 salon had the huge department of locomobiles. The
> concept did stand in front of his eyes.
> But it is still worth to wonder about his possible
> doubts for Lenoirs' and Ottos'; I would pay a penny
> for Jules Vernes thoughts about this question! ;-)
>
> Best regards,
> Peter
>
> --- Valetoux <valetoux~at~wanadoo.fr> skrev:
>
>> Dear Peter,
>> Yes, this article about Bollée is exciting, as a
>> black/white syncoped film
>> of our grant-grantdadies.
>> But the reality is different as nobody created
>> something from nothing. Very
>> often, an industrial realisation is the sum of years
>> and years of research
>> done by very different peoples thinking about the
>> same subject with
>> different approaches.
>> Bollée was one of those men of progress, but about
>> the wagons and
>> locomobiles, he was certainly not the first one.
>> Officially, the first application of steam to mobile
>> was done by "Cugnot"
>
>
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Received on Fri 25 Jan 2008 - 16:32:26 IST

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