“Verne was a master at taking us on intriguing journeys to far corners of our planet—and beyond.”
—Arthur C. Clarke
In the nineteenth century, French author Jules Verne awed readers with astounding adventures that transported them to the ends of the Earth, plunged them into the ocean’s depths, and dropped them into mysterious subterranean realms. Dubbed Voyages Extraordinaries, these unique blends of action, adventure, and science fiction offered prescient glimpses into the future and a level of scientific speculation unprecedented in imaginative fiction.
The three novels collected here represent some of Verne’s most innovative and entertaining adventures. Around the World in Eighty Days is the chronicle of irrepressible adventurer Phileas Fogg, whose wager to circle the globe involves him in one cliff-hanging escapade after another. Journey to the Center of the Earth tells of intrepid explorers who discover a subterranean world of prehistoric marvels and menaces at the Earth’s core. In Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas, scientist hero Captain Nemo investigates the exotic mysteries of the deep in his space-age submarine, the Nautilus. Two of these novels (Journey and 20, 000 Leagues) are presented here with new English translations, and all three are newly illustrated with the incomparable fantasy art of Nate Pride .
A propos de l’auteur
Jules Verne (1828–1905) was born in Nantes, France, and moved to Paris in 1847, where he briefly studied law and worked as a stockbroker before he turned to writing for the stage. His first published novel, Five Weeks in a Balloon (1863), was a colorful adventure story that proved immensely popular with readers. Verne contracted with its publisher to write three novels per year for serialization in magazines, and the novels produced, known collectively as the Voyages Extraordinaires, are boldly imaginative tales of adventure and daring laced with speculations on developing trends in science and technology. Some, including A Journey to the Center of the Earth (1864) and Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas (1869–1870), are recognized today as early landmarks of science fiction. The serialization of Around the World in Eighty Days (1872) proved so popular that thereafter most of his work appeared simultaneously in French and English translations.
Dr. William Butcher has lectured at the École Nationale d’Administration and researched at the University of Oxford. Author of
Jules Verne: The Definitive Biography (2006), he has also published translations and critical editions of
Journey to the Centre of the Earth (1992),
Around the World in Eighty Days (1995), and
Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas (1998).
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