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Re: 80 jours: Golgonde vs Golconde

From: Swati <32swati~at~gmail.com>
Date: Fri, 4 Dec 2009 19:33:09 +0100
To: Jules Verne Forum <jvf~at~gilead.org.il>

Hey thanks for that bit of info, Garmt. No, I, as you know, live in Delhi.
But the next time I go to Bengal I'm going to ask around for Golkandi
Best,
Swati

2009/12/2 Garmt de Vries-Uiterweerd <garmtdevries~at~gmail.com>

> Hello Swati and Mahendra,
>
> Thanks for your replies. Good to hear from the "locals" (no idea if
> you actually live anywhere near Bengal though).
>
> I also received a message from Teunis Ruijs, who had done a search on
> mapquest.com, which yielded two places called Golkunda and one called
> Golkandi, all of them located in West Bengal, en route from Allahabad
> to Kolkata. Google Maps, however, is unaware of these places, and when
> you search the web for "Golkandi" or "Golkunda" you only get results
> related to the famous Golconda... The two Golkandis seem to be really
> tiny villages, and I have no idea why Fogg would have to be interested
> in visiting them. My guess is that he somehow read about a Golkandi or
> Golkunda in Bengal and confused it with Golconda, especially since the
> toponyms in his sources were probably Frenchified, leading to even
> more confusion.
>
> It's true that Verne's topography isn't always correct, e.g. writing
> Saville Row with two l, calling both San Francisco and Sacramento the
> capital of California, etc.
>
> Cheers,
> Garmt.
>
> 2009/12/2 Mahendra Singh <mahendra373~at~hotmail.com>:
> >
> > Swati is correct to the best of my knowledge. Verne's knowledge of India
> in
> > Le Tour de monde is a bit spotty … he has Aouda submitting to suttee
> > although she is a Parsee, a rather odd circumstance. The suttee scene is
> > great melodrama but inaccurate in many respects.
> >
> > best, Mahendra
> >
> >
> >
> > Hi Garmt,
> > As far as I know there is no Golconda or Golgonda near Bengal & certainly
> > none IN Bengal. There is only the Golconda near Hyderabad as you have
> > rightly pointed out, which used to be famous for its diamonds. So I
> can't
> > explain this line. But maybe someone else has some more information
> > Best,
> > Swati
> >
> > 2009/11/30 Garmt de Vries-Uiterweerd <garmtdevries~at~gmail.com>
> >
> > Dear friends,
> >
> > Here's a question on Indian topography that I ran into while reading
> > chapter XIV of "Le tour du monde en 80 jours".
> >
> > Early on in the chapter, the city Golgonde is mentioned: "... des plus
> > beaux diamants de Golconde... ". This obviously refers to the city
> > known as Golkonda or Golconda, just west of Hyderabad, which was
> > indeed renowned for its diamonds.
> >
> > At the end of the chapter, there is a list of places that Fogg didn't
> > see on his way from Allahabad to Calcutta: "on n'aperçut plus rien des
> > merveilles du Bengale, ni Golgonde, ni Gour en ruine, ni Mourshedabad,
> > qui fut autrefois capitale, ni Burdwan, ni Hougly, ni
> > Chandernagor...".
> >
> > Now, whereas Gour (aka Gaur), Mourshedabad (Murshidabad), Burdwan
> > (Bardhaman), Hougly (Hooghly) and Chandernagor (Chandannagar) are all
> > places in Bengal, more or less on Fogg's itinerary, I haven't been
> > able to identify this Golgonde that Verne mentions. All the
> > translations of the novel that I've checked just translate it as
> > "Golconda", i.e. the same place as the Golconde that was mentioned
> > earlier in the chapter. But that town lies hundreds of kilometres
> > away, in a completely different part of India. Moreover, the two
> > spellings are different in the French original, although that might
> > also be a typing error.
> >
> > Does anyone know if there is a place in Bengal that was referred to
> > (in French) as Golgonde?
> >
> > BTW, in a later chapter Verne mentions the P&O ship Golgonda, yet
> > another spelling!
> >
> > Cheers,
> > Garmt.
> >
> >
> >
>
>
Received on Fri 04 Dec 2009 - 20:33:21 IST

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