Although science fiction developed into a separate and full-fledged genre primarily in the
United States, the two writers who are generally
considered the seminal forces for the development of science fiction are H. G. WELLS, an Englishman, and Jules Verne, a Frenchman. Critics
sometimes assert that the two men were of opposing schools of writing—an oversimplification that
nonetheless contains an element of truth. Wells
was more aware of scientific principles, and
though his fantastic events were sometimes implausible, he exerted some effort to make them
seem real. His fiction was frequently designed to
illustrate one aspect or another of the human
condition, either to criticize our follies or question things that we take for granted about human
destiny or our place in the universe. Verne was
more interested in entertaining his audience by
telling a rousing adventure, and spent much more
time describing the physical details of his settings
rather than the intellectual intricacies of his characters. His characters are usually broad types—
the man of science, the man of action—rather
than well-rounded individuals. It would be unfair,
however, to conclude from this that Wells was the
father of serious science fiction and Verne the father of adventure stories. Both men shared at
least one overriding common factor—a sense of
wonder about the nature of our world and the
greater universe. It is that capacity that has given
the field its unique quality.
Verne began writing adventure stories in 1851,
and his first novel, Five Weeks in a Balloon,
appeared in 1863. JOURNEY TO THE CENTER OF
THE EARTH, the story of three adventurers who
climb down inside a volcano and follow a trail of
clues into a series of hollow Earth environments,
appeared very soon afterward. His career as a
writer picked up fairly quickly after that, and he
would eventually produce dozens of novels, a considerable portion of them at least marginally science fiction. The most famous of these is certainly
20,000 LEAGUES UNDER THE SEA (1872), which
has served as the inspiration for at least three motion pictures. One of the most familiar of children’s
classics, it is actually a rather sophisticated story of
conflicting human emotions. Nemo, the captain of
the rogue super-submarine Nautilus, is driven by
his hatred of war and violence into becoming the
ultimate source of warfare and violence. Although
the novel ends with Nemo’s apparent death and
the destruction of the ship, he and the Nautilus
make a brief return appearance in Mysterious Island
(1874), where it is revealed that they have been
secretly providing aid to a party shipwrecked on a
dangerous island.
The so-called Baltimore Gun Club adventures
are also among Verne’s better-known stories. From
the Earth to the Moon and A Trip Around It (originally published separately in 1864 and 1870 and
reprinted under various variations of their names)
suggests a method of interplanetary travel that we
now know to be impossible. Whereas Wells’s characters reached the moon by inventing Cavorite,
which blocked the force of gravity in The FIRST
MEN IN THE MOON (1901), Verne suggested
launching explorers in a projectile fired from an
enormous cannon. The Gun Club returned in The
Purchase of the North Pole (1889, also published as
Topsy Turvy) in a very early consideration of the
possibilities of weather control. Another popular
sequence is known today as Master of the World
(1904/14), although some editions also contain a
first part known variously as The Clipper of the
Clouds or as Robur the Conqueror (1886/87). Robur
was an airborne equivalent of Captain Nemo, and
met a very similar fate.
Off on a Comet (1877, also published as Hector
Servadac and under other titles) chronicles the adventures of a handful of people caught aboard a
chunk of the Earth that is carried off into space on
a comet. A revolutionary new form of steamdriven vehicle is used to explore the interior of
India in The Demon of Cawnpore (1880), a story
that otherwise is straightforward adventure; the sequel, Tigers and Traitors (1881), provided no additional speculative content. Another two-book
sequence consists of Into the Niger Bend and The
City in the Sahara (1919), both of which involve
the discovery of superscientific devices in a remote
part of Africa. The Hunt for the Meteor (1909/65)
contains some interesting speculative content, although the story does not hold up particularly well.
A meteor crashes on Earth; it contains so much
gold that the value of the element is dramatically
reduced, with a consequent devastating impact on
the world’s economy. The Begum’s Fortune (1878)
concerns a conflict that arises between two separate cities, each of which has evolved into a kind
of utopia, but each using a different set of principles. There is also some technological speculation
in The Carpathian Castle (1893). At the North Pole
(1874, also published as part one of The Adventures
of Captain Hatteras) mixes some futuristic speculation with an otherwise routine journey adventure.
A modern-day pirate using superscience and missile technology seizes control of an island and menaces world commerce in For the Flag (1897, also
published as Facing the Flag). The Village in the Treetops (1901) is a lost-race novel.
Verne’s novels became more pessimistic late in
his career, and there was less robust adventure in
the plots. A recently discovered manuscript, Paris
in the 20th Century (1994), is little more than a
grand tour of the future, and while some of Verne’s
speculations about the shape of things to come are
interesting, the novel is not otherwise engaging.
Another recent discovery, Invasion of the Sea
(1905, but not published in English until 2001), is
much more interesting. Efforts are underway to
create a gigantic inland sea, displacing much of the
Sahara Desert, but various forces have understandably differing opinions about the wisdom of this
course of action.
Like Wells, Verne had no sense that he was
writing in a separate field, and there is no indication that he drew any distinction between his scientific romances and his other work. His short
fiction is largely inaccessible in English, but Yesterday and Tomorrow (1910/65) contains several of his
speculative short stories. Of these, only “Dr. Trifulgas” and “The Eternal Adam” are of particular interest. At his best, Verne drew us into his imagined
worlds and made us feel that they were real places,
but he was rarely able to make us feel equally at
ease with his characters. His plotting was always
straightforward and linear, and it is not surprising
that his main contemporary audience tends to be
younger readers. However, that should not prevent
adults from appreciating his strong imaginative
powers.