Journey Through the Impossible

Rating:
Summary: Jules Verne's Stage Play of Intergalactic Travel
Review: Most science fiction fans think of Jules Verne as the "father" of the genre, but with a rather remote paternity, the genre's modern directions owing more to H.G. Wells. Verne would hardly be suspected of telling a story of cosmic travel to another planet in a distant galaxy. And yet that is among the destinations in this incredible play, staged to acclaim in France in 1882, then lost for over a century until the manuscript's rediscovery in a French archive. This is not only the first English translation, it is also the only version in any language that offers the complete text of the play. With it, and other recent Verne books discovered or translated for the first time, readers of today can gauge Verne's imagination far more accurately than those of the 19th or 20th century.
Verne's editor constantly rejected or toned down his true science fiction, compelling his most inventive author to remain largely earthbound. For instance, 1994 saw the first appearance of Paris in the 20th Century, a book rejected outright by Verne's publisher, who refused to sanction a dystopia set a century in the future. Similarly, Verne's publisher compelled his author to transform his voyage around the solar system on a comet in Hector Servadac into simply a "dream." Journey Through the Impossible goes even further, because Verne found an escape from his publisher's censorship by turning to the theater.
In Journey Through the Impossible Verne takes us to the center of the earth and under the sea, destinations from some of his most popular novels. In the underground realms dwell Troglodytes anticipating the Morlocks of Wells's The Time Machine. On board the submarine Nautilus, a visit is made to the city of Atlantis. The play includes appearances by many of the most famous characters from Verne's novels, including the diabolical scientist Doctor Ox and the Baltimore Gun Club that launched the first projectile to the moon. This time the Gun Club's giant cannon sends a capsule full of explorers to Altor, a newly-discovered distant planet with two sons.
Journey Through the Impossible is published in association with the North American Jules Verne Society, and includes a preface and footnotes by its president, Jean-Michel Margot, one of the leading authorities on Verne today. The background explains the play's many allusions and allows the reader to readily imagine how its presentation might have appeared. Further visual embellishment is provided by lavish illustrations, including several originals by Roger Leyonmark that evoke the style of the engravings that were a trademark of the early French editions of Verne's books. Edward Baxter, translator of the play, has already earned approbation for his previous translations of Verne into English, including several novels.
This is an incredible book, one that is full of both Verne's imagination and Vernian scholarship. It will forever change the way readers think of Verne, and will re-establish his foundation as the originator of modern science fiction.

Rating:
Summary: Jules Verne's Stage Play of Intergalactic Travel
Review: Most science fiction fans think of Jules Verne as the "father" of the genre, but with a rather remote paternity, the genre's modern directions owing more to H.G. Wells. Verne would hardly be suspected of telling a story of cosmic travel to another planet in a distant galaxy. And yet that is among the destinations in this incredible play, staged to acclaim in France in 1882, then lost for over a century until the manuscript's rediscovery in a French archive. This is not only the first English translation, it is also the only version in any language that offers the complete text of the play. With it, and other recent Verne books discovered or translated for the first time, readers of today can gauge Verne's imagination far more accurately than those of the 19th or 20th century.
Verne's editor constantly rejected or toned down his true science fiction, compelling his most inventive author to remain largely earthbound. For instance, 1994 saw the first appearance of Paris in the 20th Century, a book rejected outright by Verne's publisher, who refused to sanction a dystopia set a century in the future. Similarly, Verne's publisher compelled his author to transform his voyage around the solar system on a comet in Hector Servadac into simply a "dream." Journey Through the Impossible goes even further, because Verne found an escape from his publisher's censorship by turning to the theater.
In Journey Through the Impossible Verne takes us to the center of the earth and under the sea, destinations from some of his most popular novels. In the underground realms dwell Troglodytes anticipating the Morlocks of Wells's The Time Machine. On board the submarine Nautilus, a visit is made to the city of Atlantis. The play includes appearances by many of the most famous characters from Verne's novels, including the diabolical scientist Doctor Ox and the Baltimore Gun Club that launched the first projectile to the moon. This time the Gun Club's giant cannon sends a capsule full of explorers to Altor, a newly-discovered distant planet with two sons.
Journey Through the Impossible is published in association with the North American Jules Verne Society, and includes a preface and footnotes by its president, Jean-Michel Margot, one of the leading authorities on Verne today. The background explains the play's many allusions and allows the reader to readily imagine how its presentation might have appeared. Further visual embellishment is provided by lavish illustrations, including several originals by Roger Leyonmark that evoke the style of the engravings that were a trademark of the early French editions of Verne's books. Edward Baxter, translator of the play, has already earned approbation for his previous translations of Verne into English, including several novels.
This is an incredible book, one that is full of both Verne's imagination and Vernian scholarship. It will forever change the way readers think of Verne, and will re-establish his foundation as the originator of modern science fiction.