Jules Verne

[C.J. Saunders, Jr.]

I read "Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea" for the FIRST time when I was thirteen. I turned fifty-three just a few days ago. I must preface my comments by the confession that I love this book!<br><br>Verne created many disturbed, almost megalomaniacal, central figures in his many works. I refrain from calling them heroes, but I can see the heroic symbolism in them...as men who stood alone against popular thought and convention. Nemo was probably the best of these. Remember that socialistic thinking was beginning to grip France during Verne's time, and the call for peace was threatened by the rise of well-armed, nationalistic states in Europe. So there is a lot of allegory in Verne...some of it subtle, but it is there. I am sure that Victor Hugo social and humanistic views had a great influence upon Verne, but need I say that reading Verne is much more enjoyable than reading Hugo.<br><br>What Verne did was to popularize science and the possibilities and adventure of science. I have also heard it said that "what Dumas did for history, Verne did for geography." Dumas wrote about variations on historic themes like "The Man in The Iron Mask" and "Three Musketeers." Dumas took us back in time. Verne took us to the ends of the earth, and he made us want to know about those places and their inhabitants. In America today, our illiterate youth do not know geography. They should read Verne; then they will know.<br><br>In conclusion, I have to say that this book helped shaped my life, and my life is the richer for it. <br><br>It was said that when Verne died in 1905, one of the Paris newspapers printed in his obituary that " It is like the passing of Santa Claus."