Here are some anecdotes that you may not know about Jules Verne and which are illustrated inside this portrait!
1.Jules Verne and Nantes : Hate and Love
Jules was born in Nantes, grew up there and progressively became complicated to the point he developed a certain rage against Nantes ! : let's see all the miseries and small happiness he encounters in Nante.
Jules grew up near the commercial port, he saw the boats leaving for distant counters every day and those returning loaded with treasures. It is this proximity that gave him the taste of the trip that we can read in his books!
His first love was his cousin who lived in Nantes.
Crazy in love with her, Jules decides to board the first boat leaving for the land of pearly pearls, in order to bring back to his dear sweetheart, a necklace as beautiful as his love..
Jules Verne's father catches him up with at the last moment and sends him to study far away in Paris. So his cousin will be able to marry against her will, a rich merchant. Not to mention that jules wasn't invited to the marriage.
Jules will return to Nantes for a second time during school holidays. He will fall in love again to Herminie : The parents of his dear and tender love will refuse to give their daughter's hand to a poor penniless student with no future.
Nantes, cradle of his bigest Loves and his greatest Frustrations. He will keep this deep inside him and it will reflect in his books later....
Jules Verne and Amiens : for love and duty
Jules will move from Paris to Le Crotoy (seafront in northern france) for a more pleasant life. Few years later he will move to Amiens, because it is his wife's birthplace and he loved his wife so it is well worth moving to Amiens.
As Jules Verne knows that he will never be admitted among the French Literature Academy, and it is not for lack of having tried (37 times!), he gives a little of his time to his commune and holds the position of municipal councilor in Amiens for 16 years : from 1888 to 1904.
The literary movement of Jules Verne
Jules Verne wrote plays for a long time, tried his hand at a Scottish travelogue and searched for his own style for a long time. It was ultimately by writing for young people and doing highly documented scientific popularization that he managed to break through.
We find his books in the sections of adventure novels and science fiction which were called in his time the novels of anticipation.
The Extraordinary Voyages of Jules Verne
It was the meeting between Jules Verne and the publisher / author Pierre-Jules Hetzel that the fantastic epic of Extraordinary Voyages was born.
A collection of 62 novels and short stories that will have been written over more than 40 years.
Starting with the first manuscript "a trip in the air" better known as "5 weeks in a balloon" until the novels published after the death of Jules Verne by his son.
The msyterious Island of Jules Verne
The Mysterious Island by Jules Verne published in French as "L’Île mystérieuse" follows the adventures of a group of castaways (five and a dog) on an uncharted island, who use their survivalist savvy to build a functional community.
The story features a hot-air balloon during the American Civil War times. The island has a very special shape and there are some unexplained special effects and special "guest" appearance.
A must read or must sea
Jules Verne and the Steampunk
The expression "steampunk" does not date from the time of Jules Verne but corresponds very well to the universe of his novels.
The word "steampunk" appears at the end of the 1980s in reference to cyberpunk, which is a term that appeared in 1984.
This term designates an action that takes place in an atmosphere of the industrial era of the 19th second half century, where everything works with steam engines, and coal, where the steel is king! The The Begum's Fortune is a perfect book example to illustrate the steampunk !
Captain Jules Verne
Jules Verne was captain of his boat. He enjoyed sailing with his boats : the Saint-Michel I, Saint-Michel II and the Number 3, fitted with sails and steam engine.
At the time Jules was the captain of the Saint-Michel II, he wrote 20,000 leagues under the sea. He made many trips on this boat, in the English Channel and in the Atlantic.
Equipped with a writing desk, he will write down many adventures from which he will draw inspiration for this novels and many others : The mysterious island, Dick Sand, A Captain at Fifteen, the children of captain Grant, etc...
The Jules Verne Restaurant at eiffel tower
In 1983, the second floor of the Tower host a gastronomic restaurant called the Jules Verne. It's 123 meters high and is named after Jules Verne as an homage to the famous novelist, spokesperson for literary, scientific and industrial progress.
Several times starred, thanks to its successive chefs,
- Alain Reix
- Alain Ducasse (the famous hexagon shaped dessert)
- Frédéric Anton
It's definitly an unmissable gastronomic rendezvous in Paris.
Portrait and biography of Jules Verne
If you want to know more about Jules Verne, his biography portrait still has many secrets to tell you. it is available here!
