You can tell from the beginning that Verne had a great imagination and background to write this kind of tale. For being published in 1870, the descriptions and ideas are remarkable. Arronax and two others are captured and spend the next few months aboard the Nautilus exploring the oceans of the world. What the expedition soon finds out is that the creature is not a creature, but a large submarine, captained by Captain Nemo. The world is in an uproar since a creature of this magnitude hasn't been seen before! An expedition is started in the United States, and the famous Professor Arronax joins last minute (he is an expert in sea life, etc). In a couple cases it was simply spotted, but in another, it significantly damaged a large ship. There have been a few incidents in the ocean of a large sea creature. Verne does seem to promote progress and expansion.įor anyone unfamiliar with the novel, Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea opens with a small amount of mystery.

This is one of the things I continually ran across in my research, and now that I have finished Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea, I agree. More progress equals better things for humans. Where Wells seems to promote the idea that too much progress is bad for society, Verne seems to encourage progress. So I knew that I needed to read something this summer so I wouldn't feel as guilty about addressing it with my students. I tried, at the time, to get around to reading something by Verne, but just lacked the opportunity to do so. When I was setting up a small science-fiction unit to do with my sophomores in April, I realized I should probably know a bit more about some of the pioneers in the genre-namely Wells and Verne. It was boring, moved way too slowly for my liking, and wasn't as exciting as the more modern pieces I was used to reading. Perhaps I owe that impression to my first read of a Wells novel, The War of the Worlds, when I was back in college. I mean, I declare a fierce love for modern science-fiction, so what makes me wary of the old stuff, the original? I am not as well-versed in older science-fiction as I ought to be. The ocean is the vast reservoir of Nature.' Nature manifests herself in it, with her three kingdoms: mineral, vegetable, and animal.

It is the Living Infinite, as one of your poets has said. For the sea is itself nothing but love and emotion. It is the physical embodiment of a supernatural existence. It is an immense desert place where man is never lonely, for he senses the weaving of Creation on every hand. It covers seven-tenths of the terrestrial globe.

100 000 leagues under the sea