Summary of Around the World in 80 Days
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Around the World in 80 Days. Jules Verne.
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Jules Verne. Around the World in 80 Days.
About the author
Jules Verne (February 8, 1828 March 24, 1905) was a French writer and a pioneer of the science fiction (scientific romance) genre. Verne was born in Nantes to attorney Pierre Verne and his wife Sophie. The oldest of the family's five children, he spent his early years at home with his parents, on a nearby island in the Loire River. This isolated setting helped to strengthen both his imagination and the bond between him and his younger brother Paul. At the age of nine, the pair were sent to boarding school at the Nantes lycée. There Jules studied Latin, which was used later in his short story Le Mariage de Monsieur Anselme des Tilleuls (mid-1850, not yet translated into English). The following legend was created by his second French biographer, Marguerite Allotte de la Fuye: Verne's fascination with adventure asserted itself at an early age, inspiring him at one point to stow away on a ship bound for Asia. His voyage was cut short, however, as he found his father waiting for him at the next port. After completing his studies at the lycée, Verne went to Paris to study for the bar. About 1848, in conjunction with Michel Carre, he began writing librettos for operettas. For some years his attentions were divided between the theatre and work, but some travellers’ stories which he wrote for the Musée des Familles seem to have revealed to him the true direction of his talent: the telling of delightfully extravagant voyages and adventures to which cleverly prepared scientific and geographical details lent an air of verisimilitude. When Verne’s father discovered that his son was writing rather
Contents
than studying the law, he promptly withdrew his financial support. Consequently, he was forced to support himself as a stockbroker, which he hated, although he was a success at it. During this period,
Around the World in 80 Days. Jules Verne.
Open
Contents
Jules Verne. Around the World in 80 Days.
About the author
Jules Verne (February 8, 1828 March 24, 1905) was a French writer and a pioneer of the science fiction (scientific romance) genre. Verne was born in Nantes to attorney Pierre Verne and his wife Sophie. The oldest of the family's five children, he spent his early years at home with his parents, on a nearby island in the Loire River. This isolated setting helped to strengthen both his imagination and the bond between him and his younger brother Paul. At the age of nine, the pair were sent to boarding school at the Nantes lycée. There Jules studied Latin, which was used later in his short story Le Mariage de Monsieur Anselme des Tilleuls (mid-1850, not yet translated into English). The following legend was created by his second French biographer, Marguerite Allotte de la Fuye: Verne's fascination with adventure asserted itself at an early age, inspiring him at one point to stow away on a ship bound for Asia. His voyage was cut short, however, as he found his father waiting for him at the next port. After completing his studies at the lycée, Verne went to Paris to study for the bar. About 1848, in conjunction with Michel Carre, he began writing librettos for operettas. For some years his attentions were divided between the theatre and work, but some travellers’ stories which he wrote for the Musée des Familles seem to have revealed to him the true direction of his talent: the telling of delightfully extravagant voyages and adventures to which cleverly prepared scientific and geographical details lent an air of verisimilitude. When Verne’s father discovered that his son was writing rather
Contents
than studying the law, he promptly withdrew his financial support. Consequently, he was forced to support himself as a stockbroker, which he hated, although he was a success at it. During this period,