Around the World in Eighty Days
'The reason why the 80-day journey retains its appeal is that it is still the minimum time needed to go round the world and notice it. To see it, smell it and touch it at the same time...' More than a century on from Phileas Fogg's fictional adventure around the world, Michael Palin sets out from the Reform Club to complete the route for himself. The rules are simple, but the rest of the journey will be far from straightforward. Around the World in Eighty Days takes us on a rollicking trip across the globe in the company of one of our finest travel writers. From train to ship to hot air balloon, this is an unparalleled tribute to man's ability to make life difficult for himself...
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- Mind expanding read.
Tangent. Made me want to read Around the World in Eighty Days. Here's a public domain ePub version:
- I read a number of Jules Vernes novels recently. The pattern is a similar one where he describes the known science of the time in quite a bit of accurate detail. Starting with that as the premise, he then runs with the idea to create the plot. The result is both science and science fiction. My favorite is still "Around the World in Eighty Days". A Jules Verne novel was rediscovered not long ago: "Paris in the Twentieth Century".
- The Bible.
Mysterious Island (1874), Around the World in Eighty Days (1873), and other books by Jules Verne.
Books by James Fenimore Cooper.
The Sea-Wolf (1904) by Jack London.
The Count of Monte Cristo (1844) by Alexandre Dumas.
Oliver Twist (1839) by Charles Dickens.
- I really like books written by Jules Verne. Those books were really ahead of its time. He was a prolific and best Sci-fi writer. I would like to mention few of his works like 20,000 leagues under the sea, journey to the center of earth and Around the World in Eighty Days. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jules_Verne
- Jules Verne. Any would be good, but particularly Around the World in Eighty Days.
- And I responded to the clear statement you quoted from the submission:
> His heroes were compelled by a quest to resist politics and oppose it...
> ...They ventured afar in spite of government, not because of it.
:)
Granted, reading the full piece shows a more complex picture, but I'm not sure it supports its own assertion that there is meant to be this "vs" towards nations and governments.
The text later contradicts itself too:
> In part, this betrayed how much Verne and his readers took a world of empire for granted: after all, circumnavigation with the ease described in Around the World in Eighty Days was only possible because of empire. Verne depicted a journey that simultaneously relied on a velocity and connectivity only possible because of globe-spanning imperial transport and communication networks, and a journey where – in stark contrast with most actual circumnavigatory voyages – the travellers return home alive and well.
So the text admits the entire private enterprise is only made possible by the global reach and security provided by empire in the first place. That clearly contradicts the earlier statement of "They ventured afar in spite of government, not because of it." The world the stories play in are based no the existence of that political structure and require it.
