Jules Verne (1828.2.8-1905.3.24) was a famous French writer in the 19th century. He created a large number of excellent literary works and was one of the important founders of modern science fiction. He is known as the "Father of Science Fiction" for his large number of writings and outstanding contributions. He wrote more than 60 science fiction novels of various sizes in his life, generally titled "Wandering in the Known and Unknown World". Representative works include "Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea", "Five Weeks in a Balloon", "Around the World in Eighty Days", "Journey to the Center of the Earth", etc. Among them, "Captain Grant's Children", "Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea" and "The Mysterious Island" Known as the "Verne Trilogy".
Recently, with the continuous in-depth research on his works and the discovery of original manuscripts, the academic world's understanding of Verne is also becoming more diverse. As a purely literary writer, Verne began to be valued by some scholars.
1. Creative career
Jules Verne (Jules Verne, 1828.2.8-1905.3.25) was born in Nantes, a seaport in western France. He lived and studied on the island of Fied on the River Lauar until he graduated from high school. His father was a very successful lawyer and wanted his son to inherit his father's business. But Verne loved the ocean since he was a child and yearned for voyages and adventures. When he was 11 years old, little Verne carried his family on his back and secretly slipped onto a large ship bound for India as a trainee sailor, preparing to start the adventure career he dreamed of. However, due to timely discovery, his father caught up with him at the next port. This trip, which ended in severe punishment, was exchanged for stricter discipline, and he promised with tears while lying on the bed: "From now on, I promise to only lie in bed and travel in fantasy." This made him completely lose his ability to become a person. Possibilities for adventurers. Of course, the image of the blue sea in my heart can never be erased. Perhaps it was this childhood experience that objectively prompted Verne to ride in fantasy throughout his life and create so many famous science fiction works.
At the age of 18, he followed his father's instructions and went to Paris to study law. However, he had no interest in law, but fell in love with literature and drama. Once, Verne left a party early. When he was going downstairs, he suddenly became childlike and slid down the handrail of the stairs leisurely, not wanting to bump into a fat gentleman. Verne was very embarrassed. After apologizing, he casually asked the other party if he had eaten. The other party replied that he had just eaten Nantes scrambled eggs. After hearing this, Verne shook his head and claimed that there was no authentic Nantes scrambled eggs in Paris because he was from Nantes and was good at this dish. The fat gentleman was overjoyed when he heard this and sincerely invited Verne to perform at his house. From then on, the friendship between the two began, and they once co-wrote plays, which created favorable conditions for Verne to embark on the path of creation. This fat gentleman's name is Alexandre Dumas. After graduation, he devoted himself to the creation of poetry and drama. For this, he not only received a severe reprimand from his father, but also lost his father's financial support. He had to struggle in poverty and enjoy reading. He greatly admired Hugo, Balzac, Alexandre Dumas and British Shakespeare. In Paris, he wrote 20 plays (unpublished) and some poems full of romantic passion.
Later, Verne collaborated with Alexandre Dumas to create the play "The Broken Straw" and it was first staged in 1850. This marked Verne's initial success in the literary world. As he continued to create, Verne felt that there seemed to be a lack of solutions for literary creation, and he found that people in the literary world at that time were looking for solutions and trying to integrate knowledge from other fields into drama. For example, Alexandre Dumas integrated history into literature, while Balzac integrated social ethics into literature... At this time, Verne discovered that only geography had not been developed.
During this period, he often went to the National Library and became enthusiastic about new discoveries in various sciences. At the same time, he systematically studied geography, mathematics, physics, chemistry, etc., and actively prepared vocabulary for the science novels he wanted to write. . He found a position as a secretary in the theater, wrote several operettas, and published several short stories and a historical novel "Martan Paz". So Verne spent a year experimenting and created works such as "Winter on the Glacier", but they were not published.
In 1856, Verne took a train to the northern city of Amiens, met a beautiful widow with two children, fell in love at first sight, proposed and then got married. Then Verne moved there and began to create seriously. He was 29 years old at the time.
In 1863, after Verne created "Five Weeks in a Balloon", it was ignored by 16 publishing houses and he angrily threw himself into the fire. He was rescued by his wife and sent to the 17th publishing house. was published. The editor who appreciated this book was Herzl. From then on, Verne met his close friend and formed a lifelong friendship with him. Hegel signed a contract with Verne to publish two science fiction novels a year.
After the publication of "Five Weeks in a Balloon", Verne's creation entered a period of exploration in many aspects. He experimented with various writing methods and explored in various directions, and he was out of control. Two books are published every year, with the general title "Strange Journey", including "Journey to the Center of the Earth", "From the Earth to the Moon", "Around the Moon", "Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea", "Mysterious Island", etc., covering land, ocean and sky... …After that, the exploration stopped, began to mature, and entered a period of stable development, creating outstanding works such as "Around the Earth in 80 Days", "Adventures in the Solar System" (Chinese translation of "The Big Raft"), and "Two Years of Vacation". As his reputation grew, so did Verne's wealth.
Verne was not very happy in his later years, and his creations decreased and entered a period of decline. His "The Castle of Carpathia" has a certain degree of autobiography, showing the hidden aspects of life.
Verne suffered from hemiplegia on March 17, 1905, lost consciousness on the 24th, and died at 8:00 a.m. on the 25th. The funeral was held on March 28, 1905. Condolences came from all over the world to mourn this great science fiction writer.
2. Characteristics of the story
Verne’s stories are vivid and humorous, full of witty remarks, and can inspire people, especially teenagers, to love science and yearn for adventure, so they have been popular for more than a hundred years. has been welcomed by readers all over the world. According to UNESCO, Verne is one of the top ten famous writers with the most translated works in the world.
Verne is a very good writer of popular novels. He has the ability to make his illusions tangible. His feeling is all-round, and he conveys a certain kind of human being from ordinary literature. enthusiasm.
However, the fly in the ointment is that the characters in Verne's novels are all exactly the same except for a few. He seems to be unable to create more important characters. The characters are all simple good guys and bad guys with facial makeup. , there is no psychological activity; from the single gender of the characters in his works, we can also see his prejudice against women, and he faintly reveals the mentality of suffering from it. In addition, Verne's works are full of obvious social tendencies. He was a patriot (the French are the best), a national liberationist (supporting the struggles of oppressed nations), and to some extent an anarchist (from Shown as a disorderly person in some works), and finally a galactic imperialist (with the desire to create a cosmic empire).
Verne's works are full of knowledge, but he himself was a cosmic mystic and had a mysterious worship of the world. In his novels, sometimes the thinking is not profound enough, and the themes are often repeated.
But overall, Verne's attempt is still great. Although what he writes about are ordinary and trivial matters, they still make us excited after reading them. As the Pope said when he met with Verne in 1884: "I am not unaware of the scientific value of your works, but what I value most is their purity, moral value and spiritual power.
”(Anonymous)