20,000 Leagues Under the Seas: An Underwater Tour of the World

Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas: An Underwater Tour of the World

The deepest parts of the ocean are totally unknown to us, admits Professor Aronnax early in this novel. What goes on in those distant depths? What creatures inhabit, or could inhabit, those regions twelve or fifteen miles beneath the surface of the water? Its almost beyond conjecture. Jules Verne (1828-1905) published the French equivalents of these words in 1869, and little has changed since. 126 years later, a Time cover story on deep-sea exploration made much the same admission: We know more about Mars than we know about the oceans. This reality begins to explain the dark power and otherworldly fascination of Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas. Born in the French river town of Nantes, Verne had a lifelong passion for the sea. First as a Paris stockbroker, later as a celebrated author and yachtsman, he went on frequent voyagesto Britain, America, the Mediterranean. But the specific stimulus for this novel was an 1865 fan letter from a fellow writer, Madame George Sand. She praised Vernes two early novels Five Weeks in a Balloon (1863) and Journey to the Center of the Earth (1864), then added: Soon I hope youll take us into the ocean depths, your characters traveling in diving equipment perfected by your science and your imagination. Thus inspired, Verne created one of literatures great rebels, a freedom fighter who plunged beneath the waves to wage a unique form of guerilla warfare. ......Buy Now (To Read More)

Product details

Ebook Number: 2488
Author: Verne, Jules
Release Date: Jan 1, 2001
Format: eBook
Language: English

Contributors

Illustrator: Winter, Milo, 1888-1956
Translator: Walter, Frederick Paul, 1943-