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Re: Nemo's name

From: Tom McCormick <tom.amity~at~yahoo.com>
Date: Sun, 1 Aug 2010 18:31:49 -0700 (PDT)
To: Jules Verne Forum <jvf~at~gilead.org.il>

Dear vernian friends,

I guess it's not strange that there is a confusion about Nemo's identity, since
we know that (1) Verne originally conceived him in 20L as a Polish rebel in the
1863 revolt against Russia; (2) the idea was nixed by publisher Heztel who
didn't want to offend Russian readers; and (3) in MI Verne eventually made him
an Indian rebel in the 1857 Sepoy rebellion against Britain. This is best
regarded as a compromise on Verne's part: he was able to fulfill his aim of
portraying Nemo as a rebel against tyranny, although he had to change the answer
to the question "a rebel of which nationality, and against which tyrant?"

Of course, this change creates inconsistencies. Nemo in 20L can hardly be an
Indian and indeed resembles a European: he plays the organ (not the sarod or
sitar), his pseudonym "Nemo" and his motto "mobilis in mobili" are Latin (not
Sanskrit), and his art collection is European (not South Asian). Furthermore, we
are told in MI that Nemo, when he lived on land, always refused to set foot in
Britain; but in 20L he tells Aronnax he studied engineering in London.

Verne's strange footnotes in MI tell us we will eventually resolve the
chronological and other inconsistencies betwixt the two novels in which Nemo
appears. I suspect he meant we'd eventually figure out the truth behind the
apparent contradictions and solve them for ourselves. Responding to this
challenge, I prefer to think of Nemo's autobiographical narrative in MI as
written in a kind of code to baffle Hetzel: for India I read Poland, and for
Britain I read Russia. For Tippu Sahib, perhaps we should read the name of a
great Polish patriot . . . maybe Kosciuszko?

The game of companionating fictional characters from different authors is fun to
play, but it obviously doesn't tell us anything about an author's intentions. (I
once wrote a fantasy about Nemo in which he turns out to be Inspector Javert
from Hugo's Les Miserables, who became an undersea avenger after repudiating his
faith in Law and faking his suicide in the Seine. Ripping fun, but nothing
more.)





________________________________
From: JUAN GONZALEZ <modmyth~at~hotmail.com>
To: jvf~at~Gilead.org.il
Sent: Thu, July 29, 2010 6:28:28 PM
Subject: Re: Nemo's name

 Very funny reply. I fell in love with Verne's works through Captain Nemo, so
the notion that he was Moriarty was repulsive to me.
 
I think many people have elaborated on the Wold Newton concept, I think it was 2
or 3 carriages, a few people on horseback, and a dog. I am smiling a little as
I write this. Farmer (RIP- he recently died) was a big fan of Doc Savage, and
Tarzan. His Wold Newton ideas connect the 2 characters, among many others.
Holmes, James Bond, The Avenger, the Shadow, etc. Interesting ideas.
 
Juan
 
 
________________________________
 From: harryhayfield~at~googlemail.com
To: jvf~at~Gilead.org.il
Subject: Re: Nemo's name
Date: Fri, 30 Jul 2010 00:10:25 +0100

 
You have got that so right. According to the theory, this is what happened:
 
In 1795, a meteor landed in the village of Wold Newton (not far from Market
Rasen in England) and exploded just as a carriage was passing containing about
twenty different people (to which I say, it must have been a very large carriage
indeed then). When the meteor exploded, it did so with such brightness, heat and
noise that the horses reared up and forced the carriage to roll over. Whilst the
passengers and riders were recovering they were being "ionised" by the radiation
given off by the meteor which would enable them to give birth to people such as
Allan Quatermain, Harry Flashman, Phileas Fogg and Colonel Moriarty.
 
To which I say (in the style of Lord Guinness from "Around the World with Willy
Fog"): POPPYCOCK!!!
-----Original Message-----
>From: owner-jvf~at~Gilead.org.il [mailto:owner-jvf~at~Gilead.org.il]On Behalf Of JUAN
>GONZALEZ
>Sent: 29 July 2010 11:58 pm
>To: jvf~at~Gilead.org.il
>Subject: Re: Nemo's name
>
>Hi all,
>
>I believe, and I may be wrong, but this name may come from Phillip Jose Farmer's
>book -The Other Log of Phileas Fogg- in which the preposterous notion that
>Captain Nemo was really Professor James Moriarty (Sherlock Holmes' nemesis). I
>think this is one of the seminal works for the Wold Newton Family concept, a
>Farmerian idea that many literary characters are part of a large family, all
>descendants of a few people affected by a meteorite that landed in Wold Newton,
>England.


      
Received on Mon 02 Aug 2010 - 04:31:58 IDT

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