Verne on submarines

[Tad Davis]

In the Palik series volume Bandits & Rebels, an essay appears, “Future of the Submarine,” in which Verne gives some of his last thoughts on the subject. The preface to the essay indicates that it “first appeared in the June 1904 issue of Popular Mechanics.”

 

Presumably that “first appearance” was in English. And since Verne wouldn’t have written the original in English, is the French original known to exist anywhere? Or am I mistaken in assuming that Popular Mechanics published the English text as reprinted in the Palik volume? It’s the only entry in the volume that lacks a translator credit.  

 

Tad Davis

— 
Tad Davis
tad.dav...@gmail.com

[Ariel Pérez Rodríguez]

Hi Tad,

In fact, this article appeared first in English in Answers magazine (London) in 1902.

«The future of the submarine. An instructive article by Jules Verne»
Answers. A Weekly journal of instruction, literature, interesting facts, amusing anecdotes, and jokes
vol. 15, nº 759, December 13, 1902, p. 79.

Before its publication in Popular Mechanics, it also appeared in several papers around the USA.

There's no known French MSS of this text and a publication existed in French in 1903 in a French journal titled Mon dimanche.

Best,

Ariel

[William Butcher]

Between the 1902 and 1904 publications there are a few differences. In Verne's later life, his son Michel signed Jules's name to his own publications; and some journalists even invented articles. In sum, little is known, although one can speculate about the style and contents of the articles.

Best 

bill

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Subject: Re: [JVF] Verne on submarines

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[quentin skrabec]

i have the english version - it was an interview so i believe it was in english

Quent

[David McCallister]

I'm sure others know the details of Jules Verne's life and works much better than I, but it was my understanding that he neither wrote nor spoke English. At one point, Edward Bok, publisher (The Ladies Home Journal among other things), approached Verne to participate in his plan to reprint popular novels in "Authorized" editions. European authors were being done out of American royalties by less scrupulous publishers taking advantage of the lax copyright rules. Bok wanted to get permission for the Authorized Editions as a selling point. When he visited Verne to try to sign him on, however, the interview did not go well due to each of them being monolingual, and a housekeeper had to translate between them. I think that even with the plan intending to pay him royalties, Verne did not agree and so his works were left out of that series.  All this is just to question if any interview or any article would have been conducted or written in English by Jules. I don't know about Michel's capabilities in English, though. I'm sure this has been discussed on the Forum, but you'd have thought that they (pere et fils), would have complained about the poor translations and pirate editions all along. 

David R. McCallister,

Tampa, Florida  

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[quentin skrabec]

Found my copy of 1904 — my research notes show many questions that it was a real interview - but written by a reporter with some type of Verne input

, "Verne contributed a short essay to the American magazine Popular Mechanics (6 [June 1904]: 629-31) titled the “Future of the Submarine,” in which he predicted that its primary use in years to come would be as a weapon of war."    Evans in a book review used 'contributed"

In Jules Verne and the Media. [Review of Jules Verne et la culture médiatique, eds. Guillaume Pinson and Maxime Prévost. Québec, Jules Verne and the Media. [Review of eds. Guillaume Pinson and Maxime Prévost. Québec, Canada: Presses universitaires de Laval, 2019] Canada: Presses universitaires de Laval, 2019]

I don't know if this worked because of the term "contributed" by Evans that's what I used in two of my own papers

Quent

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[Ariel Pérez Rodríguez]

Well, strictly speaking he didn't contribute to Popular Mechanics.

In any case, he contributed to Answers (1902, original publication)

Then Popular Mechanics reprinted the text with some changes.

A

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[quentin skrabec]

Ok thanks --  I m looking for the Answers article of 1902- to get it in my files  

Quent

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[Ariel Pérez Rodríguez]

The article of the Answers magazine is not available online.

In fact, nobody has been able to locate it all these years (except one French scholar that claimed to have consulted it) until I recently found it in a library in England.

I have written an article on this subject together with another fellow Vernian, Jesús Navarro, and we have submitted it to the Bulletin de la Société Jules Verne.

The article deals with all the publications made and where and compares the known versions.

A

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[Tad Davis]

For those who are interested, a friend (who I believe is not a member of this group) sent me a link to the Mon Dimanche article. I’ve also attached an image of the page. It’s on page 68, if the link doesn’t take you straight there. 

 

https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k4577970v/f6.item.zoom

 

Thanks to everyone for their responses. This has been very helpful. 

 

Tad 

— 
Tad Davis
tad.dav...@gmail.com

— 
Tad Davis
tad.dav...@gmail.com

 

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[quentin skrabec]

Thank you

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