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A review by msraborn
Journey to the Center of the Earth by Jules Verne
4.0
Re-reading Journey to the Center of the Earth reminded me of all the reasons I love Verne. The contrast between the exactitude in his descriptions of geography, geology, society and people and the soaring nature of his imaginings just leaves me in awe. I love reading Verne with an atlas or a map. (In a perfect world, it would be on one of those huge full-wall sized affairs done in a Mercator or Robinson Projection with black ink on a yellowing paper; with Africa as tall as my waist, Eastern Euopean countries big enough to really see, and a beautifully elaborate compass rose in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. I would follow the journey with little metal pins connected by bright red thread.) He is so precise about each step of his journey that I always feel as if he truly does want me to follow along behind him -as if he is telling me the way - until at last I come to the place where the pins on the map stop and Verne's world begins.
Verne is the same with science as he is with geography. He really knew his stuff for his time. I know that Journey is sometimes accused of not ageing as well as his other novels. There have been so many advances made in the field of geology that much of what he wrote was just flat wrong, but I think that sells Verne a little short. As with all his other books - with their inventions, machines and sciences so very far ahead of their time - he had the bravery to say, "this is what we know to be true, but what if this were possible?!" He then proceeded to lay out a logical way in which all he knew to be true could be wrong. At the same time he kept the fantasy elements firmly grounded in scientific principles that absolutely had to be true; and I respect him for that as well. (I actually got my son's dinosaur encyclopedia - with it's illustrated strati of geologic layers - to follow along with as they descended. Verne's accuracy is just amazing.)
What I probably most admire Verne for, though, is his ability to craft characters that leap from the page. He reminds me of Jane Austen in this way; he gives form to people you know, or almost know. After a while, you can see the look on a characters face or anticipate a reaction without Verne describing it because you know the character. It's your neighbor, your professor, your aunt, your brother. You've seen that face before, you've heard that laugh, you've gotten that reaction. Verne was a keen observer in all things and, lucky for us, was able to capture what he saw with words.
Blogged at Chronicles of a Book Evangelist
Verne is the same with science as he is with geography. He really knew his stuff for his time. I know that Journey is sometimes accused of not ageing as well as his other novels. There have been so many advances made in the field of geology that much of what he wrote was just flat wrong, but I think that sells Verne a little short. As with all his other books - with their inventions, machines and sciences so very far ahead of their time - he had the bravery to say, "this is what we know to be true, but what if this were possible?!" He then proceeded to lay out a logical way in which all he knew to be true could be wrong. At the same time he kept the fantasy elements firmly grounded in scientific principles that absolutely had to be true; and I respect him for that as well. (I actually got my son's dinosaur encyclopedia - with it's illustrated strati of geologic layers - to follow along with as they descended. Verne's accuracy is just amazing.)
What I probably most admire Verne for, though, is his ability to craft characters that leap from the page. He reminds me of Jane Austen in this way; he gives form to people you know, or almost know. After a while, you can see the look on a characters face or anticipate a reaction without Verne describing it because you know the character. It's your neighbor, your professor, your aunt, your brother. You've seen that face before, you've heard that laugh, you've gotten that reaction. Verne was a keen observer in all things and, lucky for us, was able to capture what he saw with words.
Blogged at Chronicles of a Book Evangelist