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A review by kunalsen
Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne
5.0
I made up my mind a while ago not to revisit any book that I loved in my youth. My experience told me that more often than not, they don’t live up to the heightened expectations created in childhood, and spoils a beautiful memory. 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea was one such book, and I took a huge chance by deciding to read it again.
This time I was not disappointed. The book that opened so many windows of imagination for me when I was very young, did it again after so many decades. When I first read it, I had not seen a single film on underwater life, and television was just a word. This book allowed me to imagine a world, totally unknown to me. Today we are all saturated by underwater imagery, but Verne could still create his magic. Of course I had to constantly remind myself that this was written in 1870 – long before anyone had seen this world.
It was interesting to note how often the characters in this book suffered from nineteenth century ideas of colonial supremacy. It is generously sprinkled with words such as “savages” and “barbaric” when referring to most non-white people. The characters who were desperately eager to escape their imprisonment on this submarine waited until they were near European or American shores. Even Belgians were considered not sufficiently civilized to appreciate philosophical or cultural subtleties. All this made me wonder again, how many things we believe in or do now that will seem absurdly wrong a hundred years from now.
This time I was not disappointed. The book that opened so many windows of imagination for me when I was very young, did it again after so many decades. When I first read it, I had not seen a single film on underwater life, and television was just a word. This book allowed me to imagine a world, totally unknown to me. Today we are all saturated by underwater imagery, but Verne could still create his magic. Of course I had to constantly remind myself that this was written in 1870 – long before anyone had seen this world.
It was interesting to note how often the characters in this book suffered from nineteenth century ideas of colonial supremacy. It is generously sprinkled with words such as “savages” and “barbaric” when referring to most non-white people. The characters who were desperately eager to escape their imprisonment on this submarine waited until they were near European or American shores. Even Belgians were considered not sufficiently civilized to appreciate philosophical or cultural subtleties. All this made me wonder again, how many things we believe in or do now that will seem absurdly wrong a hundred years from now.