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Re: Journey 2 - Vernian reality checks

From: Garmt de Vries-Uiterweerd <garmtdevries~at~gmail.com>
Date: Tue, 21 Feb 2012 15:37:06 +0100
To: Jules Verne Forum <jvf~at~gilead.org.il>

On 21 February 2012 15:13, Rick Walter <rick1walter~at~comcast.net> wrote:
>> 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.
>
> 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.”

Another interesting touch is the use of Corporal Glass, a real person
who had already appeared in Poe's novel, and who discusses Poe's
character Pym with Verne's character Guy.

Verne cleverly (and hardly noticeably) entangles various levels of
reality. This even includes the meta-level, with the dedication "to
the memory of Edgar Allan Poe".

I'm trying to think of earlier examples in literature where fictional
stories are presented as reality, but their former status as a work of
fiction is acknowledged and their author is mentioned by name. Of
course, Verne cites his own "20.000 lieues" within the fictional
context of "île mystérieuse", title and all, but it is described as a
true account of true happenings. Smith and his friends aren't
surprised by the fact that Nemo turns out to be a real person instead
of a character in a novel.

What would be the first example of fiction/reality mixing, as is done
in the Journey films, in "Sphinx", and in Craig's "Nautilus", to name
but a few examples?

Cheers,
Garmt.
Received on Tue 21 Feb 2012 - 16:37:12 IST

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