Jules Verne (1828–1905) was a French novelist and author who invented the characters of Phileas Fogg and Captain Nemo. Considered the first bona fide exponent of modern science fiction, his work is characterized by sharp predictions of scientific and technical developments that were actually within humanity’s grasp at his time. Verne’s books are still in print and have inspired countless other books, films, TV programs, and comics to this day.
Born in Nantes to affluent parents, Verne tried to run away from home at age 11. He became a ship’s boy on a ship bound for India but was caught by his father. Jules promised his displeased father, “je ne voyagerai plus qu’en reve” (“I will no longer travel except in my dreams.”)
Verne studied law and worked as a stockbroker in Paris. He would get up every morning at 5:00 A.M. to get in a few hours of writing before he left for the stock exchange.
From 1848, Verne wrote opera libretti, until the publication of his novel Cinq semaines en ballon (1863; Five Weeks in a Balloon, 1870.) In it, he struck a new vein of creative writing—amplifying and often anticipating the possibilities of science and describing adventures carried out through scientific inventions in exotic places, like submarines and space travel. He greatly influenced the early science fiction of the English novelist H. G. Wells.
Verne’s best-known books, all of which have been translated, are Voyage au centre de la terre (1864; A Journey to the Centre of the Earth, 1872,) De la terre à la lune (1865; From the Earth to the Moon, 1873,) Vingt mille lieues sous les mers (1869; Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea, 1873) and Le tour du monde en quatre-vingts jours (1873; Around the World in Eighty Days, 1874.) Film versions of the last two novels achieved an astounding amount of popularity.
More: Wikipedia • READ: Works by Jules Verne
The sole pre-occupation of this learned society was the destruction of humanity for philanthropic reasons and the perfection of weapons as instruments of civilization.
—Jules Verne
Anything one man can imagine, other men can make real.
—Jules Verne
Topics: Imagination
Poets are like proverbs: you can always find one to contradict another.
—Jules Verne
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