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Re: This strikes me as a "bit off" as Fogg would say

From: Garmt de Vries-Uiterweerd <garmtdevries~at~gmail.com>
Date: Thu, 18 Mar 2010 20:09:47 +0100
To: Jules Verne Forum <jvf~at~gilead.org.il>

Hello Harry,

Verne did receive honours during his lifetime. He was made an officer
in the Légion d'honneur, and his works were crowned by the French
Academy. But indeed, he was never elected a member of that academy,
although at one point he had good hopes of becoming an "immortal".
Have you read the interview with Sherard
(http://jv.gilead.org.il/sherard.html)? It contains some quotes on
this matter.

Cheers,
Garmt.

On 18 March 2010 19:25, Harry Hayfield <harryhayfield~at~googlemail.com> wrote:
> I was asked on the YAHOO Answers website this afternoon "Who are able to be
> admitted to the French Academy?" and after initally thinking it was a art
> college, I discovered it was a reference to the Academie Francais which is
> an organisation to which people who have made an impact on French life,
> society and politics are able to join (perhaps like the Order of the Garter
> here in Britain), so after answering that person's question decided to see
> whether Verne made the list of 720 past members and was rather suprised to
> find that he had not. I then wondered if he had been given any honours or
> titles during his life (again according to Wikipedia, the answer was no) and
> when I read that he died again with no posthumous honours and is not even
> buried in the Pantheon (despite the fact that Dumas pere was buried there in
> 2002 and Hugo was buried in 1885). That's what prompted my orginal feeling
> of (in my best Fogg impression) "That seems a bit off!"
>
> I am quite sure that if I was from the United States and a member of a
> Charles Dickens group and told that Charles Dickens was not buried in Poet's
> Corner in Westminster Abbey I would be completely livid that such a famous
> person was not being given the recognition he deserved, and yet we seem to
> be in a situation where a person who did more to provide France with a
> reason for people to visit it seems to be being ignored by the very people
> he has helped give quite the tourism trade to (especially in Amiens). Is
> there anyway we can try and redress this "offness" and if so, what's the
> best way to do it? Should one of our French members stand as an Independent
> candidate at the next general election in France and say that if they are
> elected he will pilot a bill through Parliament to get Verne formally
> recognised?
Received on Thu 18 Mar 2010 - 21:09:54 IST

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