Title: 20.000 Leagues Under the Sea
“The sea is everything. Its breath is pure and healthy. It is an immense desert where man is never alone, for he finds life quivering around him on every side.
Scientist Pierre Aronnax and his colleagues set out on an expedition to find a strange sea monster and are captured by the infamous and charismatic Captain Nemo and taken aboard the Nautilus submarine as his prisoners. As they travel the world’s oceans, they become embroiled in adventures and events beyond their wildest dreams.“
I do have to admit that I was only slightly aware of the existence of Verne‘s stories before reading 20k leagues under the sea - yes, I did hear about titles like The Mysterious Island or Around the World in 80 days (which is the only story I have seen as a movie adaption as kid) or Journey to the Center of the Earth, but they were never really brought to my attention otherwise. Which is a shame, because I greatly enjoyed 20k leagues under the sea and will probably pick up The Mysterious Island soon. Partly because I enjoy his writing style, partly because I want to read more about Captain Nemo.
There was not one character I disliked, but I think Professor Aronnax and Captain Nemo are my favourites. Although I do have to confess that I sometimes skimmed over the very detailed descriptions of either marine life or how the Nautilus works exactly, but that’s really just a minor thing for me. I might have read them more thoroughly if I had read the book in my first language, instead of English.
Anyway, I did enjoy this greatly and will probably reread it at some point in the future.
In the year of 1866 the whole maritime population of Europe and America was exited by a mysterious and inexplicable phenomenon. This excitement was not confined to merchants, sailors, sea-captains, shippers, and naval officers of all countries, but the governments of many states on the two continents were deeply interested.
The excitement was caused by an enormous ’something‘ that ships were often meeting. It was a long, spindle-shaped, and sometimes phosphorescent object, much larger and more rapid than a whale.
The different accounts that were written of this object in various log-books agreed generally as to its structure, wonderful speed, and the peculiar life with which it appeared endowed. If it was a cetacean it surpassed in bulk all those that had hitherto been classified; neither Cuvier, Lacepède, M. Dumeril, nor M. de Quatrefages would have admitted the existence of such a monster, unless he had seen it with his own scientific eyes.
By taking the average of observations made at different times - rejecting the timid estimates that assigned to this object a length of 200 feet, as well as the exaggerated opinions which made it out to be a mile in width and three in length - we may fairly affirm that it surpassed all the dimensions allowed by the ichthyologists of the day, if it existed at all. It did exist, that was understandable, and with that leaning towards the marvellous that characterises humanity, we cannot wonder at the excitement it produced in the entire world.
