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Re: Journey and Journey 2

From: Rick Walter <rick1walter~at~comcast.net>
Date: Mon, 20 Feb 2012 08:32:33 -0700
To: "Jules Verne Forum" <jvf~at~gilead.org.il>

>the events in Verne's novels *really happened*

Maybe Verne studies will be moving into the arena that Sherlockians have staked out for the last 80 years: i.e., that Nemo, Fogg, Lidenbrock & Co. are actual people and Verne merely their humble biographer.

All the best,

Rick

Frederick Paul Walter
Albuquerque, New Mexico

  ----- Original Message -----
  From: aevans2 tds.net
  To: Jules Verne Forum
  Sent: Monday, February 20, 2012 8:10 AM
  Subject: Journey and Journey 2


  Dear Vernian friends,

  This weekend I went to see the film Journey 2: The Mysterious Island with Dwayne "the Rock" Johnson and the young actor named Josh Hutcherson who appeared in Journey to the Center of the Earth in 3D with Brendan Fraser. It was mildly entertaining but, of course, has nothing to do with Verne (although the volcano spitting out gold reminded me of The Golden Volcano).

  One important feature shared by both films, however, is the notion that the events in Verne's novels *really happened* and were not just fiction. This is the supposed secret shared by most "Vernians" around the world. So the films' protagonists (ironically) follow in the footsteps of Lidenbrock, Axel, Cyrus Smith, Nemo et al. and, during the course of their many adventures, confirm the real existence of these original Vernian characters.

  In one way, this notion is a useful gimmick to avoid direct comparisons between the films and Verne's novels (which would be very unflattering to the films). But I also found it fascinating as a verisimilitude-building device. And I remember Verne doing exactly the same thing in _Le Sphinx des glaces_ (The Ice Sphinx). In this novel Edgar Allan Poe's Arthur Gordon Pym is treated as a *real* person whose adventures at the South Pole *really happened* according to Captain Len Guy. Yet another irony.

  Best,
  Art
Received on Mon 20 Feb 2012 - 17:33:04 IST

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