H. G. Wells and Jules Verne

Cafe Society
1

I’ve always enjoyed the subgenre of “steampunk”, more for the Victorian Science-Fiction angle than anything else. And, having read a few things inspired by (or ripped off from) H. G. Wells and Jules Verne, I decided I should probably read the originals as well.

The first thing I’ve noticed is that apaprently, to my local bookstores, neither of these two gentlemen wrote literature or classics. They wrote science fiction. I especially couldn’t help but notice that my local ‘Borders’ bookstore has several recent popular fiction releases included as “Literature” but not Wells or Verne. Okey-doke.

But beyond that, the attempt to get a nice, softcover collection of these writers’ novels has been fruitless. No one collected them all into one volume? Not any that I can find that are in print. I’d prefer paperback to hardcover, but it seems I don’t have an option.

So assuming I’ll just have to buy them all separately anyway, what translation of Verne do people recommend?

And also, what else should I be grabbing to read? I’m looking for the original stuff, not the current stuff inspired by it.

2

Go www.amazon.com

They’ll have what you need, even if the local bookstore doesn’t care about your business.

And, try Mary Shelly’s Frankenstein. It is certainly Victorian science fiction.

Also go to your local comics shop & try Girl Genius by Phil Foglio. Fun, funny, & suprisingly good science fiction.
For more info go to–
http://www.studiofoglio.com/

3

I have tried Amazon. It’s not the cure-all it used to be. Especially since “in stock” no longer seems to mean much to them, but that’s another story.

Ah yes. Frankenstein and Dr. Jekyll, as well as Dracula, are all on the list.

4

Supposedly, the only decent translation of Verne’s work is that of **20,000 Leagues Under the Sea done by the Naval Institute Press. You might try ordering the books directly from the publisher. Dover Publications publishes most of the classics and at very reasonable prices, plus you can order directly from them. A slight hijack here, does anyone know if that novel of Verne’s that was discovered a few years ago has ever been published in English and what the English translation of the title is?

5

That would be PARIS IN THE 20TH CENTURY.

It was published in translation by Random House in 1996, and seems to be out of print already.

I always like the annotated editions of Verne…I have the Meridian trade paperbacks…because they restored the text that was excised by the first English translators, and provided a lot of nifty critical and historical commentry besides.

6

I read Paris in the Twentieth Century as soon as the first English translation came out. Trust me, there’s a very good reason it was rejected and lost for over a century. You might want to read it for historical interest, but not for any other purpose.

Personally, my favorite Verne is Around the World in Eighty Days, but 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea and Journey to the Center of the Earth are also very good. Although, actually, I think I liked the sequel to Leagues, The Mysterious Island, even better than the original.

The only Wells I’ve read is The Time Machine. It was interesting as the birth of a genre (or at least, a major development in it[sup]*[/sup]), but to my modern eyes, it wasn’t all that impressive on its own virtues.

  • While The Time Machine was not the first time travel story (usually credited to A Christmas Carol, though I would consider the Greek tales about prophesy more significant), but it was the first science fiction time travel story, which has to count for something.
7

Tuckerfan

I have the NIP issue of 20,000. It’s great, the full text with all the translation errors corrected and it’s extensively annotated.

8

Well’s major novels are all in print here in the UK - perhaps people should try amazon.co.uk? (Deliveries across the herring pond are reliable in my experience.)

And, Bosda, with the utmost respect and humility, I venture to suggest that Frankenstein is Georgian SF, not Victorian - at the time of its publication (1st of January 1818), Queen Victoria wasn’t even a glint in the Duke of Kent’s eye!

9

Yes, I know all his novels are in print. I’m looking for a collected version of his novels. All in one handy place. I’d prefer paperback, but I guess I may have to settle for hardback or nothing. That’s what I’m looking for, as stated in the OP.

10

Hmmmmm…I’ve seen various omnibi (omnibusses?) with the short SF novels…Time Machine, War of the Worlds, Island of Dr. Moreau, Invisible Man, First Men in the Moon, Food of the Gods, etc.

Remember, he wrote lots of non-SF novels, too. Eve recently started a thread about History of Mr. Polly, a social comedy he did in the early 20th century…and Tono-Bungay was once considered a masterpiece.

There’s also THE COMPLETE WRITINGS OF H.G. WELLS, which I remember seeing in one of my University libraries, in a set of about ninety-seven volumes. The guy wrote so much I’m amazed he found time to commit all that adultery.

11

Does anyone know where I might be able to find untranslated Verne novels in the US? My last trip to Paris showed me that my French isn’t as good as it used to be and working through one or two of them might help.

12

A one-volume collection of H.G. Wells would be a big, big, book…

There are at least some omnibus editions around, though, here’s
three major SF novels (that’s omnibus volume 2, volume 1 seems to be in the throes of reprinting)
and the complete short stories.

Any help?

13

Try Schoenhof’s Foreign Books in Cambridge, MA (online here if you’re nowhere near New England). That’s where I got my copy of Paris au XXième Siècle when it was first published by Hachette in '96.

Chronos, I thought it was an excellent book myself - while its view of the future was admittedly extreme, it certainly got the feel of modern society right - with its emphasis on business and scientific disciplines in education at the expense of the arts and humanities, for one thing; the prediction of the invention of the fax and the prominence of the death penalty for others.

14

One site I have had great success with is addall.com they search out about 30 online bookstores and return the availability and costs. You can search by author, subject, title or if you know it,ISBN. Here’s a link for The complete science fiction treasury of H. G. Wells .

http://www.addall.com/New/compare.cgi?dispCurr=USD&id=215117&isbn=051726188x&location=10000&start=50&state=NC

This is for shipping to North Carolina, but you can set the parameters for your state at the start.

15

I recently read H.G. Wells’ “Kipps,” a very funny novel about a poor store clerk who comes into money and tries to “make it in society.” Nary a Martain nor a time machine in it, and a delightful book. Most libraries should have a copy.

16

I guess what I disliked most about Paris was that it was from the wrong perspective. We don’t have a time machine, or a Rip Van Winkle-type long sleep, or a case of very long amnesia. The protagonist was born and raised in that world, and yet he doesn’t seem to recognize anything! “Wow, they’re using electricity for executions?” “Wow, that’s all one piece of furniture?” “Wow, they have machines that can do that?” He doesn’t take anything for granted, like he should.

That, and the fact that a lot of the stuff in it is just plain silly. A piano with a built-in commode? Whyever would anyone want or invent that? And I suppose the fact that I prefer happier books doesn’t help much, either.

17

Ummmm… for a solo performance of Erik Satie’s Vexations?

18

Well, look at it from this angle. He’s probably the world’s only poetry major; his work at university has him pretty much cut off from the course of things. He’s familiar with the works of Hugo, due to his coursework, while the rest of the outside world has forgotten him in favor of accounting manuals and chemical handbooks. He’s been living a completely intellectual life, and since the intellectual and the practical have been almost completely separated in Verne’s Paris, it should be no surprise that the protagonist is almost completely unaware of what is going on in the world.

19

Get thee to a used book shop, or to used-book sites on the web. Verne wrote a lot of stuff, and most of it has been translated into english at some point and published in hardcover. But most of it isn’t in print now.

Also, be advised that a lot of older translations of Verne (especially those pre-1960) are awful, and can omit up to one thirs of the book! Those done since 1960 tend to be more complete and accurate. Avoid translatioon by Lewis Mercier/Louis Mercier/Mercier Lewis.
My favorites:

Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea. Get the annotated edition, if you can find it. The guy who annotated it later did his own translation. The sequel, also worth reading, is The Mysterious Island

The Weapon of Destruction – Verne’s other, lesser-know submarine book, although it has been adapted itself for the screen, and inspired a big chunk of the Disney movie.

From the Earth to the Moon Again, get the Annotated Edition if you can find it. There are two sequels – Around the Moon and The Sale of the North Pole

** A Journey to the Center of the Earth** – the translation published by Penguin is pretty good.

Around the World in 80 Days – nice twist at the end.

Michael Strogoff, Courier to the Czar – also has a cute twist

The Fur Country – Canadians trying to find the Northwest Passage. Cute twist in the middle.

Tribulations of a Chinaman – How many Frenchmen were writing novels with Chinese heroes in the 19th century? Our hero uses a rubber survival suit to survive a shipwreck!

Robur the Conqueror and Master of the World – a lot better than the Vincent Price movie they made out of it.

The Hunt for the Meteor – Jules Verne invents the Tractor Beam!

There are a lot of others. Ace books published quite a few in paperback in the 1960s. There was a company that published almost all the Verbe ouevre in hardcover about the same time, and a lot of big city libraries still have them.

H.G. Wells is underappreciated. As an sf fan friend of mine pointed out, most people miss what his novels are really about.

The Time Machine – shorter than you expect, but good

The Invisible Man

The Food of the Gods – made into three different bad movies! Ignore them, read the book. Wells was in a unique position to invent the “Giant Creature Destroying the City” icon, but he didn’t. Deliberately, I think. Wells asks – “How does the presence of giant rats and beetles change everyday life?”, not “How Sensational can I make this description of mass destruction?” Wells was a social critic, not Bert I. Gordon.

The Island of Doctor Moreau – ignore all film versions. Especially Brando’s.

Star Begotten – not great, but an impressive premise – aliens cause mutations in Earth babies by Cosmic Rays (!)

And look for his sghort stories. Many of them are wonderful. Two films based on his books are especially worth looking up – The Man Who Could Work Miracles and Things to Come

20

Nice rundown, chum…except for the above line.

ISLAND OF LOST SOULS (1933) is one of the GREAT pre-Code horror movies…as well as one of my top ten flicks of all time. Charles Laughton has never been so smarmily delicious.