Considered one of the founding fathers of the science fiction genre, Verne’s approach to writing was a unique melding of factual science and fictional adventure. He invariably imagined a variety of innovations and technological advancements decades before they were practical realities. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Jules Gabriel Verne was born on February 8, 1828, in the port city of Nantes, to attorney Pierre Verne, and Sophie Allotte de La Fu\u00ffe, one of two sisters from a family of local navigators and shipowners. <\/p>\n\n\n\n In 1829, the Verne family moved from the home of Sophie’s maternal grandmother Dame Sophie Marie Ad\u00e9la\u00efde Julienne Allotte de La Fu\u00ffe to Quai Jean-Bart. This was where Verne’s brother Paul was born that same year. Followed by sisters Anne in 1836, Mathilde in 1839, and Marie in 1842. <\/p>\n\n\n\n In 1834, at the age of six, Verne was sent to a boarding school in Nantes. It was operated by Madame Sambin, the widow of a naval captain who disappeared some 30 years before. Sambin often told the children that her husband was a shipwrecked castaway who’d eventually return from his desert island paradise, like Robinson Crusoe. <\/p>\n\n\n\n This \u201cshipwrecked\u201d theme would stick with Verne throughout his life and appear in several novels including, The Mysterious Island <\/em>(1874), The School for Robinsons<\/em> (1882), and Second Fatherland<\/em> (1900). <\/p>\n\n\n\n In 1836, Verne attended the Catholic \u00c9cole Saint-Stanislas. He quickly distinguished himself in the subjects of m\u00e9moire<\/em> (recitation from memory), geography, Greek, Latin, and singing. <\/p>\n\n\n\n That same year, his father bought a vacation house in the village of Chantenay (now part of Nantes) on the Loire River. In his memoir, Souvenirs d’enfance et de jeunesse<\/em> (Memories of Childhood and Youth<\/em>), Verne recalls his fascination with the river and the vessels that navigate it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Verne also vacationed at his uncle Prudent Allotte’s house at Brains. He was a retired shipowner who’d traveled the world. Verne enjoyed playing the board game \u201cGame of the Goose\u201d with his uncle. Both the game and his uncle’s name were later memorialized in two novels, Robur the Conqueror<\/em> (1886), and The Will of an Eccentric<\/em> (1900).<\/p>\n\n\n\n In 1840, the Vernes moved again, this time to a large apartment at Rue Jean-Jacques-Rousseau. That same year Verne attended the seminary, Petit S\u00e9minaire de Saint-Donatien. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Then from 1844 to 1846, he and his brother Paul were enrolled in the Lyc\u00e9e Royal (now the Lyc\u00e9e Georges-Clemenceau). This was a public secondary school in Nantes. Verne received his certificate of completion in July of 1846.<\/p>\n\n\n\n By 1847, at the age of 19, Verne began writing his first serious work. He wrote Un pr\u00eatre en 1839<\/em> (A Priest in 1939), <\/em>based on his experience at Petit S\u00e9minaire de Saint-Donatien, and two verse tragedies, Alexandre VI<\/em> (Pope Alexander VI<\/em>) and La Conspiration des poudres <\/em>(The Gunpowder Plot<\/em>).<\/p>\n\n\n\n To redirect Verne’s interests toward the study of law, his father sent him to Paris to focus on law. His father assumed he would eventually inherit the family law practice. A short time later he passed his first-year exams. <\/p>\n\n\n\n But rather than devote his time to pursuing his degree, Verne used his family clout to enter Paris society. His uncle Francisque de Chat\u00eaaubourg introduced him to the world of \u201cliterary salons.\u201d These were social gatherings hosted by French intellectuals to discuss literature and philosophy<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n For the next three years, Verne fed his newly discovered passion for theater by writing numerous plays. He worked with French composer Jean-Louis Aristide Hignard, for whom he wrote a lyric to be set to music. <\/p>\n\n\n\n He was doing this while fighting bouts of stomach cramps (possibly, colitis), facial paralysis (caused by a chronic middle ear inflammation), and trying to avoid his obligation to enlist in the French army. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Despite having no intention to practice law, in January of 1851, Verne achieved his law degree.<\/p>\n\n\n\n One useful consequence of his time spent frequenting salons was making the acquaintance of French Playwright Alexandre Dumas fils<\/em>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n After showing him a manuscript for a stage comedy called Les Pailles rompues<\/em> (The Broken Straws<\/em>), the two young men revised the play. Dumas had it produced by the Op\u00e9ra-National at the Th\u00e9\u00e2tre Historique, in Paris. It opened on June 12, 1850.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The following year, Verne met Pierre-Michel-Fran\u00e7ois Chevalier. He was editor-in-chief of the magazine, Mus\u00e9e des familles <\/em>(The Family Museum<\/em>). He was seeking stories featuring geography, history, science, and technology. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Verne offered him a short historical adventure called, \u201cThe First Ships of the Mexican Navy.\u201d Chevalier published it in July 1851. Then a few months later he published \u201cA Voyage in a Balloon.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n A combination of adventurous narrative, travel themes, and detailed scientific research, \u201cA Voyage . . .\u201d would become the template for many major works to follow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Verne began to frequent the Biblioth\u00e8que nationale de France. He spent time researching the individual elements that would constitute the components of his adventure tales. Particularly science topics and the latest discoveries (especially in geography). <\/p>\n\n\n\n During this period, Verne met the famed writer and explorer Jacques Arago. Even though he lost his sight in 1837, he continued to travel extensively. The two men became close friends. Arago’s scintillating accounts of world travel led Verne toward the development of a new literary genre, \u201ctravel writing.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n In 1852, Verne had two new pieces published in Mus\u00e9e des familles:<\/em> Martin Paz<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The first was a novella set in Lima, Peru. And \u201cLes Ch\u00e2teaux en Californie, ou, Pierre qui roule n’amasse pas mousse\u201d <\/em>(\u201cThe Castles in California, or, A Rolling Stone Gathers No Moss\u201d). This was a one-act comedy cleverly laced with sexual innuendos. <\/p>\n\n\n\n In April and May of 1854, the magazine published two of Verne’s short stories, \u201cMaster Zacharius\u201d and \u201cA Winter Amid the Ice.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n At this point, Verne began formulating an idea for a new kind of novel. He called it a \u201cRoman de la Science\u201d (\u201cnovel of science\u201d). This allowed him to incorporate large amounts of factual, science-based information. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Meanwhile, Verne’s father pressed him to abandon writing and get down to the business of lawyering. <\/p>\n\n\n\n In May of 1856, Verne traveled to Amiens, in northern France, to attend the wedding of boyhood friend, Auguste Lelarge. While there, he found himself attracted to the bride’s sister, Honorine Anne H\u00e9b\u00e9e Morel. She was a 26-year-old widow with two young children. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Needing to present himself as a \u201cman of means\u201d to formally court Mme Morel, Verne accepted an offer to work for stock broker, Fernand Eggly. This was a full-time position as an agent de change<\/em> on the Paris Bourse (securities market). <\/p>\n\n\n\n Winning the favor of Morel and her family, Verne and Morel were married on January 10, 1857.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Essentially leading a double life, Verne rose early each morning to write before going to the Bourse. He published his first book, Le Salon de 1857 (The 1857 Salon)<\/em>, and conducted scientific and historical research in the evenings. <\/p>\n\n\n\n In July of 1858, Verne and composer Jean-Louis Hignard took advantage of an offer extended by Hignard’s brother, Auguste. The offer was to take a sea voyage from Bordeaux to Liverpool to Scotland. The journey would be Verne’s first trip outside France.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Upon return to Paris, Verne fictionalized his experiences to form the framework of a semi-autobiographical novel, Backwards to Britain<\/em> (published in 1889). <\/p>\n\n\n\n In 1861, Verne and Hignard took another voyage, this time to Stockholm (Sweden) and then Norway. Adding to his growing imagination, Verne continued to develop his \u201cRoman de la Science.\u201d The story that eventually developed was an African-set adventure called, Five Weeks in a Balloon <\/em>(published in 1863).<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n That same year, Michel Jean Pierre, Verne and his wife’s only child, was born.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In 1862, Verne met publisher Pierre-Jules Hetzel. This was the man who would essentially put Verne and his writing on the literary map. <\/p>\n\n\n\n They formed a writer\/publisher collaboration that would span decades. Hetzel saw the commercial value in Verne’s writing that ultimately lead to the creation of Voyages extraordinaires<\/em>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n This was a series of short stories and adventure novels that included The Adventures of Captain Hatteras<\/em> (1864\/1866), Journey to the Center of the Earth<\/em> (1864), Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea <\/em>(1870), and Around the World in Eighty Days <\/em>(1872). <\/p>\n\n\n\n Hetzel’s goal with Voyages <\/em>was to \u201coutline all the geographical, geological, physical, historical and astronomical knowledge amassed by modern science and to recount, in an entertaining and picturesque format . . . the history of the universe.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n Verne’s fastidious attention to detail and scientific trivia, coupled with his natural sense of wonder and imagination, easily met Hetzel’s vision. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Part of the appeal of Verne’s adventures was that readers could genuinely learn science and geography (as well as geology, biology, astronomy, paleontology, oceanography, and history) while visiting exotic lands and cultures around the globe. Some referred to Verne’s works as \u201cencyclopedic novels.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n In all, fifty-four of Verne’s novels were published during his lifetime, between 1863 and 1905. Many of which became part of the Voyages<\/em> series.<\/p>\n\n\n\n For the first several years of their collaboration, Hetzel influenced many of Verne’s novels. Verne was happy to have his work published. So he blindly agreed to his suggestions. <\/p>\n\n\n\n But in 1869, a conflict regarding the storyline of Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea <\/em>awakened Verne to the reality that he and Hetzel were not equal partners. He realized that Hetzel wielded all control.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Verne had planned to make his protagonist, Captain Nemo, a Polish scientist whose acts of vengeance were directed against the Russians for killing his family during the \u201cJanuary Uprising.\u201d This was a true-life insurrection in Russian-controlled Poland. <\/p>\n\n\n\n But Hetzel objected to villainizing the Russian people. So Nemo’s motivation was left a mystery. From that time on, the relationship between the editor and writer was strained. Hetzel outright rejected many of Verne’s creative intentions. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Even with the ongoing resentment, Verne published two or more volumes each year (per contract). The most successful were, Journey to the Center of the Earth, From the Earth to the Moon<\/em>, Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea, <\/em>and Around the World in Eighty Days<\/em>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n On April 9, 1870, Verne was made a knight of France’s Legion of Honour. On July 19, 1892, he was promoted to the rank of Officer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n By 1872, Verne was successful enough to live on income derived from his writing alone. But most of his wealth came from the stage adaptations of Le tour du monde en quatre-vingts jours <\/em>(in 1874) and Michel Strogoff <\/em>(1876). He wrote these with French playwright, Adolphe d’Ennery.<\/p>\n\n\n\n On March 9, 1886, Verne entered his home. His twenty-six-year-old mentally deranged nephew, Gaston, shot at him twice with a pistol. The first bullet missed. The second entered Verne’s left leg and caused permanent damage. Gaston spent the rest of his life in a mental asylum.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In addition to his leg injury, Verne later suffered a stroke that paralyzed the right side of his body. He also fought chronic diabetes for the remainder of his life. <\/p>\n\n\n\n On March 24, 1905, Verne died at the age of 77 at his home in Amiens, France, at 44 Boulevard Longueville. It is now renamed Boulevard Jules-Verne, in his honor. <\/p>\n\n\n\n His son, Michel Verne, oversaw the publication of the novels Invasion of the Sea<\/em> and The Lighthouse at the End of the World<\/em>, after his father’s death. The Voyages extraordinaires<\/em> series continued for several years under Michel’s management until it was discovered that he had altered his father’s stories. He was consequently forced to extricate himself. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Fans of Verne’s work often cite the esteemed writer’s ability to seemingly see into the future. It seems like he predicted the advent of technology and societal development. For example:<\/p>\n\n\n\n During the 20th Century, Verne\u2019s works were translated into more than 140 languages. This made him one of the world\u2019s most translated authors. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Dozens of famed writers<\/a> credit Verne with inspiring them to write, including Ray Bradbury. He is quoted as saying, \u201cWe are all, in one way or another, the children of Jules Verne.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n Beginning in 1916, with 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea<\/em>, many highly successful motion pictures were made from Verne novels. These included The Mysterious Island<\/em> (1929 and 1961), From the Earth to the Moon<\/em> (1958), Journey to the Center of the Earth<\/em> (1959), and perhaps the most popular, Around the World in 80 Days<\/em> (1956). <\/p>\n\n\n\n Verne\u2019s fans find it no surprise that his influence extends beyond literature and film. His influence extends into the world of science and technology. He continues to inspire scientists, inventors, and explorers. <\/p>\n\n\n\n In 1954 the US Navy launched the world\u2019s first nuclear-powered submarine, christening it Nautilus<\/em>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Additionally, real-life adventurers like journalist Elizabeth Cochran Seaman (a.k.a. Nellie Bly), aviator Wiley Post, and businessman\/aviator\/sailor Steve Fossett, have all attempted to circumnavigate the globe in record-breaking times, ala<\/em> Verne\u2019s fictional hero, Phileas Fogg.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Verne is credited with helping inspire the literary, theatrical, and social movement that romanticizes science fiction based on 19th-century technology known as Steampunk<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Britannica, \u201cJules Verne,\u201d Jules Verne | Biography & Facts | Britannica <\/p>\n\n\n\n Evans, Arthur, B., \u201cJules Verne and the French Literary Canon,\u201d https:\/\/scholarship.depauw.edu\/cgi\/viewcontent.cgi?article=1060&context=mlang_facpubs<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n P\u00e9rez, de Vries, Margot, \u201cJules Verne FAQ: Frequently Asked Questions,\u201d Jules Verne FAQ [English] (gilead.org.il) <\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.historydefined.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/Jules_verne_nypl.jpg\")
Nantes, France<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
School and Early Inspiration<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Writing vs. the Study of Law<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Literary Debut<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Elements of His Craft <\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\u201cRoman de la Science\u201d<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
In the Name of Love<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Voyages to Fuel the Imagination<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Pierre-Jules Hetzel <\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Rude Awakening<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Final Years<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Death<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Legacy: Verne, the Visionary<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Legacy: Acknowledgments and Accolades<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
References<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n