2 Literary Questions
Phineas G
“What! real Arabs, sir, with their camels?”
“No, not many camels; they are scarce, if not altogether unknown, in these regions. We must go a few degrees farther north to see them.”
“What a pity!”
“And why, Joe?”
“Because, if the wind fell contrary, they might be of use to us.”
“How so?”
“Well, sir, it’s just a notion that’s got into my head: we might hitch them to the car, and make them tow us along. What do you say to that, doctor?”
“Poor Joe! Another person had that idea in advance of you. It was used by a very gifted French author—M. Méry—in a romance, it is true. He has his travellers drawn along in a balloon by a team of camels; then a lion comes up, devours the camels, swallows the tow-rope, and hauls the balloon in their stead; and so on through the story. You see that the whole thing is the top-flower of fancy, but has nothing in common with our style of locomotion.”
Joe, a little cut down at learning that his idea had been used already, cudgelled his wits to imagine what animal could have devoured the lion; but he could not guess it, and so quietly went on scanning the appearance of the country.
There's clearly a joke here, and I hate missing a joke. What does eat the lion? It seems the M. Méry refered to here is Joseph Méry, but which specific work I cannot tell. Is anyone able to clue me in?
2. In Mysterious Island (the first chapter of part 2), Neb and Herbert (I know some of the names are different in the original French, but I'll use the names by which I know them best) find a turtle on the beach. They flip it over, and secure it with some stones, but on their return, the turtle is gone. Cyrus dismisses the matter but discreetly adds it to his growing list of inexplicable occurrences. When the group later discourse with Captain Nemo, it is explained that every other strange happening on the island has been his doing. The issue of the turtle, however, is never addressed. This has always struck me as strange, so I would like to hear if you guys have any insights from the original French, or any speculation at all as to why this might be. Did Captain Nemo free the turtle? If so, why would he rob the settlers of this catch? If not, why is this event included in the story?
Arthur Evans
--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Jules Verne Forum" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to jules-verne-fo...@googlegroups.com.
To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/jules-verne-forum/f8bafb24-ed9c-4169-9c34-88db29c0b9e6n%40googlegroups.com.
wbutch...@gmail.com
The most scholarly questions are those that go to the heart of the literary work, often resolutely common-sensical ones.
“Joe… cudgelled his wits to imagine what animal could have devoured the lion” is an accurate translation of the French (“Joe… chercha quel animal aurait pu dévorer le lion”). I’m not sure, but “could have devoured the lion” might here be deemed equivalent to “could in turn devour the lion”. The lion is clearly not devoured: Joe, possibly remembering tales of gnats being eaten by larger animals, which in turn…, is trying to imagine a comical situation where an even larger animal could devour the lion, but can’t think of a realistic one.
As Art Evans’s article points out, the righting of the turtle never receives a fully satisfactory explanation. At the end of the book, we are supposed to assume that it is “Nemo’s” doing (I put Nemo in quotes, because the “Nemo” of The Mysterious Island is a travesty of the Nemo of Twenty Thousand Leagues). In fact there’s a whole series of events that can only be attributed to “Nemo”, but really don’t make sense.
One possible explanation of “Nemo’s” meddling is to ironically show up the meddling in the book of Verne’s publisher’s Jules Hetzel; some of the inexplicable events may even have been his idea.
Bill
--
Phineas G
wbutch...@gmail.com
For starters, there’s the dog thrown 10 feet into the air from the lake (part 1, ch. 16).
To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/jules-verne-forum/95b64bba-e600-47f3-8e25-ae7247eeed9bn%40googlegroups.com.
Jan Rychlik
6. 10. 2022 v 9:17, wbutch...@gmail.com:
To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/jules-verne-forum/02ff01d8d953%24a1188000%24e3498000%24%40gmail.com.
Don Sample
To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/jules-verne-forum/11BC5B2E-0F17-401D-AF2A-8AC7463B5295%40seznam.cz.
Jan Rychlik
6. 10. 2022 v 17:50, 'Don Sample' via Jules Verne Forum <jules-ve...@googlegroups.com>:
I always figured he got tossed by the dugong.
To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/jules-verne-forum/18A3FAEC-BA6F-48DF-A8C8-4C68BAEFEA6C%40me.com.
