In 1889, a short story written by Jules Verne was published - "A day in the life of an American journalist in the year 2889". In the futuristic story, Vern describes life a thousand years from his time, with fascinating and quite surprising descriptions. On the hundredth anniversary of Vern's death, we present excerpts from the story, which was first translated into
Hazi Yitzhak, illustrations: Ofra Yitzhak
In 1885, Gordon Bennett - the owner of the famous American newspaper "Herald Tribune" - suggested to Jules Verne to write a futuristic story about life in the USA in 1,000 years. Vern accepted the challenge and in 1889 a short story in English called "A Day in the Life of an American Journalist in 2889" was published in the newspaper "The Forum". It was Verne's only story, published for the first time in English and not in French.
Globalization and progress
In Verne's prophetic story, he envisions in his mind's eye what life will look like a thousand years from his time. It describes a day in the life of Francis Bennett, the editor of the newspaper "Yediot Kevard Ha'aretz", who lives in New York, now called "Centropolis". Francis Bennett is not just another newspaper editor - he is the all-powerful ruler of a world-wide media empire, under whom 150 reporters are subordinate. In addition, a team of scientists works for him, who are busy, among other things, in discovering planets, communicating with extraterrestrials and developing other useful inventions (among them - moving an entire city on railroads to a place closer to the coast).
In the fascinating story, he surprisingly describes today's information revolution and globalization, which is controlled by sophisticated media and journalists who write with a "chisel and not with a quill". In the futuristic world he presents, the energy problem has long been solved, tunnels cross the Atlantic Ocean and the journey from Paris to New York takes about 5 hours. In this future reality, Britain and Canada are subsidiary countries of the USA, which is the empire that dominates the world; Aerial vehicles fly in the sky, advertisements are projected on top of the clouds and fast food is sent in pipes straight to homes.
Many of the technological predictions that appear in the story have already taken place in our own day, so it can be said that we are to a large extent ahead of Verne's predictions, about a world in which electronic and mobile communications dominate it without question. The character of Francis Bennet also acts out of motives of money and power, that at the end of the working day he turns to his computer, in order to calculate how many dollars have been added to his account.
The threatening future
The description of the impact of technology and science on society and the individual reaches its climax in the book "Paris in the Twentieth Century", which Vern the younger wrote in 1863. The picture that emerges from the story is not particularly heartwarming - the future described in it is not a place for sensitive people, like the book's protagonist Michel Difarnois the younger (who actually embodies the character of young Vern).
Paris of 1963, according to Verne, is a city where everyone's duty is to make money, when life can be explained in terms of gears and transmission belts. In this reality there is no time for non-purposeful things, such as poetry or literature; This is a time when the need to get rich at any cost eliminates the murmurs of the heart and in the libraries you can only find scientific and technological journals, but not Victor Hugo's masterpieces.
Some have claimed that the pessimism revealed in Verne's last writings was due, among other things, to the war between France and Prussia (1870) and due to unfortunate family circumstances, including the death of his mistress and the death of Etzel - the publisher of his books. At the same time, this book proves that already at the beginning of his literary career, Vern was aware of the dangers inherent in scientific and technological progress.
Compared to the gloomy image that emerges from reading "Paris in the Twentieth Century", the life described in "A Day in the Life of an American Journalist in 2889" is easier and more comfortable, thanks to the new scientific inventions. At the same time, this story, written in a light and entertaining style, lacks the analysis of the impact of technological progress on modern society and the human soul. In any case, the tone emerging from it is not as pessimistic as the Paris story.
About fathers and sons
The essential differences between the two works raise the question - was it indeed Jules Verne who wrote this short story? Among the researchers of the writer and his work, there was a debate about the degree of authenticity of the story, especially when it became clear that in addition to the English version, which was published in 1889, a French version was published two years later (in 1891), which was richer from a literary point of view.
According to one of the claims, the author of the story was Michel - Vern's son, who is known to have been tasked by his father to finish his books from time to time. In a search made by one of the researchers in the archives in Paris, a letter from Vern Latzel, from 1889, was discovered, which put an end to the mystery. In the letter, Vern writes that the story in question was indeed written by his son Michel, and he even gave him 500 francs for it - half of the amount he received for its publication. The later French version included Verne the elder's corrections and additions to his son's story. In this context, it is worth mentioning that in his youth Michel caused great grief to his father and even brought him into heavy debts, due to his debauchery. Vern, for his part, encouraged him to find his way in life, by writing literature, for which it turned out that he indeed had the talent for it.
A day in the life of an American journalist in 2889
This short story (in the 1891 version), was recently translated into Hebrew for the first time, by Ronit Kider, in honor of the conference on the 100th anniversary of Jules Verne's death (to be held at the Sde Boker seminary at the beginning of March). To ignite the imagination and win a rare taste of the future, we bring you exclusively an excerpt from Vern's short story.
Francis Bennet, the undisputed ruler of the press world, would surely have been crowned king of the two Americas, if only the Americans could assume some kind of monarchy. Do you have any doubt? See the crowd of diplomatic envoys from all corners of the world and the ministers knocking at his door, persuading him to listen to their advice, begging for his approval, imploring him to extend to them the patronage of his almighty organization. Tell the scientists he encouraged, the artists he employed, or the inventors he subsidized! It was an arduous and exhausting rule, and he worked tirelessly. Fortunately, the people of our time are made of solid material. Thanks to the scientific progress of sanitation, innovations in the field of exercise and food sterilization, the average life expectancy of the modern person has increased from thirty-seven to sixty-eight years. Now, we are waiting for the next discovery: nourishing air, which will allow us to nourish ourselves by just...breathing.
And now, if you want to know what a day in the life of the director of "Yediot Kodur Ha'aretz" looks like, please take the trouble to track him down in his many enterprises and occupations, on this day, July 25 of this year, 2889.
This morning, Francis Bennet woke up in a rather bad mood. It was the eighth day of his wife's trip to France, and he felt somewhat lonely. is it possible? They had been married for ten years, and this was the first time that Mrs. Edith Bennet, professionally beautiful, had been absent for such a long time. Usually, two or three days was enough for her for her frequent trips to Europe - and in particular to Paris - where she used to buy her hats.
As soon as he awoke, Francis Bennet turned on the phonophone, whose cables led to his house on the Champs-Elysées. The telephone, to which the teleoptic monitor is also connected, is another one of the conquests of our time! Although the ability to transmit and receive speech using electrical signals has existed for ages, a similar transmission of an image became possible only yesterday. This is undoubtedly a valuable discovery, and Francis Bennet must not have been the only one to congratulate an inventor when, despite the distance between them, his wife appeared on the teleoptic display. What a naughty sight! A little tired from last night's entertainment at the theater or dance performance, Mrs. Bennet was still in bed. Although it was almost noon in Paris, her lovely head was still buried in the lace decorations of the pillow. But... here she is sweating... her lips are moving... is she dreaming?... Yes! She is indeed dreaming... a name slips from her lips... "Francis... dear Francis!..."
At the sound of his name from his wife's sweet lips, Francis Bennet's mood improved. Since he didn't want to wake up the sleeping beauty, Hash lightly jumped out of his bed and entered his automated dressing room. At the end of two minutes, without needing the services of a servant, the clothes machine placed him washed, shaved, shoe-locked and buttoned from head to toe, at the threshold of his office. A new working day was about to begin.
The first office that Francis Bennet entered was the office of the writers of the sequel novels. It was a spacious room, covered by a transparent dome. In the corner stood several telephones, through which a hundred writers of "Yediot-Khord-Ha'eretz" told a hundred chapters of a hundred novels to the eager audience. Out of the corner of his eye, Francis Bennett caught one of the writers taking a short nap. Bennett turned to him and said:
"Very beautiful, man, the last chapter you wrote is really very beautiful! The passage in which the young village girl talks with her admirer about matters of transcendental philosophy indicates an excellent capacity for observation! No one has ever described the village so accurately! Continue on your way, dear Archibald, and good luck. Since yesterday we have added ten thousand new subscribers, thanks to you!"
Courtesy article
The publishers of the journal travel through time. The article is taken from the magazine
Dr. Hezi Yitzhak, High School for Environmental Education, Midrash Sde Boker and the Desert Research Institute, Ben Gurion University
The site of Zvi Harel - a collector and researcher of Jules Warren's works
Coming soon in this series: The Hollow Earth, about the science behind the science fiction in Jules Verne's books.
