Jules Verne, who passed away one hundred years ago today, is one of the most beloved writers of the youth since then.
Jordan Nir-Buchbinder
The article is courtesy of the website "The Reading Deer"
http://www.haayal.co.il
Jules Verne, who passed away a hundred years ago today, is one of the most beloved authors of the youth since then. He is known to everyone as a passionate travel agent of exotic journeys - over Africa in a hot air balloon, in a raft to the heart of the Amazon, and even to the heart of the earth. He is even better known as one of the forerunners of the science fiction genre, at his stage in his books innovative and futuristic technologies. Thus he is famous as the man who foresaw the submarine (actually it was already there before him), the helicopter, and the widespread use of electricity.
And of course, the overwhelming combination of exotic journeys and advanced technology: the journey to the moon. Two of Verne's early books, and the best known, From the Earth to the Moon (1865) and Around the Moon (1870), tell of the operation of Baltimore Artillery Club veterans, aka Hempey Barbican and Capt. Nicoll, who built an exceptionally large cannon , shot themselves with a shell at the moon, and returned safely to their base; and their friend the celebrated mathematician J. A. Maston, whose calculations made the journey possible.
Not many people are familiar with the book Verne wrote 19 years later, which returned to the same group: ''Upside Down'' (originally: Sans dessus dessous). Once again it is a technological operation that ignites the imagination: the three friends, twenty years old and still full of adventure, will this time build an even bigger cannon, and fire an even bigger shell. not to a specified destination; The goal this time is the kick. The position and the angle of the shot are such that - so Mestone promised - the earth would change its axis of rotation, so that it would be perpendicular to the plane of the earth's movement around the sun. The result: the arctic region will migrate south, the glaciers there will melt, and reveal the coal deposits that are under them, due to the ancient forests (what to do, even successful prophets are allowed to quibble...).
This is the commercial interest on behalf of which the gunners went on the operation, after purchasing the lands of the polar region. But the real vision is much bigger: the seasons will be abolished. The cold countries will be cold all year round, and the hot ones will be hot all year round. Each person will be able to choose for himself the climate he prefers, there will be no drought or storms, and prosperity will come to the world.
Until now, this is the Jules Verne known to everyone: a prophet of technology, a romantic admirer of modernity. But not in this book. Here, everything goes wrong. The enthusiastic vision turns into the terror of the inhabitants of the entire world, when it becomes clear that the road to the climatic paradise involves a shock that will cause earthquakes, flood coastal cities, raise other cities to unbearable heights, and in short - destroy millions (and it seems that Warren, in his ministry as a prophet, was on to something...) . So there is a race against the clock of the sane world against the mad scientist-entrepreneurs. We will not reveal the ending here, but it is said that it is also in a spirit contrary to what we are used to associate with Jules Verne.
This is, of course, a tone that aligns well with a dominant mindset in the world in recent decades: science and technology as a threat, especially when their uncontrolled developments combine with commercial interests, and threaten world peace - the greenhouse effect, genetic engineering, artificial intelligence.
But this book does not belong to the horror and dystopia genre, the "Frankenstein" or "New and Wonderful World" style. This is a comic book. The atmosphere of hysteria in the world, although it is well reasoned from a plot point of view, is described more funny than scary - no doubt on purpose. The entire book is full of a variety of jokes and amusements. Sometimes the perspective of the beginning of the 21st century only increases the comic effect. Thus at the beginning of the book:
- If so, do you think, Mr. Maston, that women are unable to do anything for the advancement of the experimental and mathematical sciences?
- To my great regret, Mrs. Scurvy, I must confirm this, - replied G. A. from Stone. - Although there are also excellent mathematical powers among women, on this point I am willing to agree wholeheartedly with your opinion, but in most cases the structure of the brain in women is such that under no circumstances will it be able to compete with the mind of Archimedes and even more so - of Newton.
– Oh, Mr. Maston, please allow me to express on behalf of our entire species…
- And he is the weaker sex, and that is precisely why he is weak, Mrs. Scurvy, because he is unable to deal with abstract matters...
- Meaning, I must conclude from this that in your opinion, Mr. Maston, there is not a single woman who, if she had seen an apple in its fall, could not have discovered the same famous law about the gravity of the earth, as the famous English scholar did at the end of the seventeenth century?
- A woman, when she sees an apple, and not even when it falls, she decides immediately, because it is better for her to eat it... and nothing like that she did with a farm apple, if everything is alive?
Verne exhibits high doses of sarcasm and misanthropy in the book. There are no heroic characters in the book; Except for the group of obsessive entrepreneurs, most of the secondary characters are ridiculous - starting with Mrs. Scurvy, the rich widow who is secretly in love with a mathematician, through the representatives of the countries participating in the auction of the polar region (the comic climax of the book), and ending with a corrupt African tyrant. Only one secondary character shows composure - a Frenchman, by chance...
However, the wittiest arrow in the book, and the most surprising (at least from today's perspective), is directed at the mass media. Vern is good at describing how the media leads the masses, and is led by them, from ignorance to euphoria, then to panic and hysteria, simultaneously throughout the civilized world. The hysteria is compared to the one that took place towards the year 2000; One contemporary reader was able to compare the fictional hysteria with the real one of Bug XNUMX. It turns out that before there was television, the newspapers were enough for that.
This is the power of the book, for the modern reader: the discovery of what has changed in our world, and what remains as it was (even if it seems new). The Hebrew translation of Sh. Skulsky (Amichai Publishing House, 1966) is often outdated, but in my opinion this only adds to its charm; There is an old-fashioned charm even in the careless type, with letters that jump off the line and an equation that is printed upside down. You should look for it in second-hand stores and public libraries. As usual with Jules Verne, it is defined as "a story for the young" - but apparently more mature readers are expected to enjoy it much more.
Jules Verne knew
https://www.hayadan.org.il/BuildaGate4/general2/data_card.php?Cat=~~~118280219~~~53&SiteName=hayadan
