When two European scientists unexpectedly inherit an Indian rajah’s fortune, each builds an experimental city of his dreams in the wilds of the American Northwest. France-Ville is a harmonious urban community devoted to health and hygiene, the specialty of its French founder, Dr. François Sarrasin. Stahlstadt, or City of Steel, is a fortress-like factory town devoted to the manufacture of high-tech weapons of war. Its German creator, the fanatically pro-Aryan Herr Schultze, is Verne’s first truly evil scientist. In his quest for world domination and racial supremacy, Schultze decides to showcase his deadly wares by destroying France-Ville and all its inhabitants. Both prescient and cautionary, The Begum’s Millions is a masterpiece of scientific and political speculation and constitutes one of the earliest technological utopia/dystopias in Western literature. This Wesleyan edition features notes, appendices, and a critical introduction as well as all the illustrations from the original French edition.
Inhoudsopgave
A Note on the Translation
Introduction
The Begum’s Millions by Jules Verne
Mr. Sharp Makes his Entrance
Two Friends
A News Item
Divided by Two
The City of Steel
The Albrecht Mine
The Central Block
The Dragon’s Lair
Absent without Leave
An Article from Unsere Centurie, a German Journal
Dinner at Dr. Sarrasin’s
The Council
Letter from Marcel Bruckmann to Professor Schultze, Stahlstadt,
Preparing for Combat
The San Francisco Stock Exchange
Two Frenchman against a City
Explanations at Gunpoint
The Kernel of Mystery
A Family Affair
Conclusion
Notes
Bibliography
Jules Gabriel Verne: A Biography
About the Contributors
Over de auteur
Arthur B. Evans is an emeritus professor of French at De Pauw University and winner of the 2014 Cyrano prize for his scholarly contributions to the field of French science fiction. He has published numerous books and articles on Jules Verne and other early writers of French science fiction, serves as the managing editor of Science Fiction Studies and is the general editor of Wesleyan’s Early Classics of Science Fiction series.
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