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Journey 2 - Vernian reality checks

From: Rick Walter <rick1walter~at~comcast.net>
Date: Tue, 21 Feb 2012 07:13:56 -0700
To: "Jules Verne Forum" <jvf~at~gilead.org.il>

> in _Le Sphinx des glaces_ (The Ice Sphinx) . 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.



Fellow Vernians,

 

Art started off this whole thread with a posting that ended on the above comment. Back then I should have commented that, in the same novel, Verne packaged one of his OWN characters as a "real person" who participated in "real happenings." As has often been noted, Part II, Ch. 10 of Sphinx des glaces finishes with Verne's extensive footnote on a presumed historical event dated March 21, 1868: the discovery of the South Pole by "an extraordinary mariner . [who] could brave the cold and the storms in his marvelous submersible . the name of the submersible was the Nautilus, and the name of her commander was Captain Nemo."

 

Verne unfurls this imaginary happening in the same deadpan factual manner found in his other footnotes (Part I, chap. 10, Part II, chaps 15 & 16) that DO deal in historical fact.

 

All the best,

 

Rick

 

Frederick Paul Walter

Albuquerque, New Mexico

 

 

P.S. In SUNY Press's forthcoming complete translation of Le Sphinx des glaces, I translate the title as The Sphinx of the Ice Realm. "The Ice Sphinx" is misleading, because the so-called "sphinx" isn't made of ice but is a rock formation containing veins of iron. FPW

 

 

>From: aevans2 tds.net <aevans2~at~tds.net>
>Date: Mon, 20 Feb 2012 10:10:51 -0500
>To: Jules Verne Forum <jvf~at~gilead.org.il>

>Dear Vernian friends,

>This weekend I went to see the film *Journey 2: The Mysterious Island* with
>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 - 17:10:58 IST

 
Received on Tue 21 Feb 2012 - 16:14:09 IST

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