Book Review: 20 000 leagues under the sea (Jules Verne)
(All books under this tag have been read in Swedish, if not stated otherwise)
My relationship to this book before reading consisted of vague memories of the Disney film made in 1954 - I remembered the mystically composed Captain Nemo, the desperate desire to escape from Sailor Ned and of course the disastrous Octopus attack. Other than that, I was rather blind to what the book would entail when I went into it. I knew Verne a bit since before, was aware that he was kinda like the OG science fiction writer and had one of his other work - 80 days around the world - under my belt since high school but not much else did I know about this particular work.
The story then follows professor Arronax and his compatriots Conseil and Ned which embark on an expedition with the mission to capture the strange new sea monster that has been terrorizing the seas of the world since some time ago. When the expedition encounters the monster, the three friends suddenly fall out of the ship during the aggressive encounter and just when they are about to succumb to the sea they get saved.. by the sea monster!
It was never a sea monster. The creature that has been antagonizing the worlds sailors and seafarers happens to be a submarine, constructed and controlled by the strange genius named Captain Nemo. Nemo reluctantly invites the three unhappy intruders to stay, given that they accepts certain conditions- one among them that they can never leave Nautilus, as the "ship" is called...
So begins a marvelous journey, both to the three main characters and to the reader - because yes, even if this is a somewhat dated book (just an example on this is that there is precisely zero female characters in the book, females at all are mentioned maybe twice in the whole novel..) from the 19th century the spectacular journey Nautilus takes on is a pure joy to follow along with. The pace of the novel is enjoyable, rather slow without being a drag, and even if we today know more about the depths of the ocean than Verne could possibly be aware of he still manages to be a captivating and clearly knowledgeable guide to these realms. It's also quite fascinating to simply spend some time with a scientist such as prof Arronax, his mind is similar to the ones in our days but there are still noticeable differences to observe and, in my case, enjoy.
However. The most brilliant part of the book is no less than Captain Nemo himself. This character quickly rises to be one of my favorite characters of all of the literature I've encountered so far. He is written in a very mystical and coverted way. We get hardly any real information about him at all. We get to understand he and his crew built the ship on some inhabited island and that he is incredibly rich. The submarine is full to the brink of treasures and artifacts from different parts of the human civilization - but that's it. His crew has no real names, they speak a made up language among one another and Nemo himself may speak a lot about the ocean, his creation Nautilus or anything that touches the sciences of running a project like this - but of himself: on his history or his motivations he mutes up like a clam. It's not prof Arronax' business nor any of the readers.
Yet, his different attitudes toward the world and humanity shines through in his actions and as an anarchist I'm simply swooned off my feet by him. Even though he has grown to hate the life on land he is still a humanist and a fighter for the oppressed. His disdain is not for humanity writ large but their arrogant and violent ways toward nature and their fellow man. Nemo is not a saint because of this, he is clearly a man with his own ideas of glory and what have you that makes him unreasonable and bothersome - but it's easy to understand why prof Arronax becomes so attached to him and why the professor doesn't mind the thought of being captivated inside Nautilus indefinitely all that much. Nemo's creation is just so amazing and frankly mind - blowing and its ability to study the big guy, Gods, creation makes every day an unmatched adventure for the dear professor.
The Canadian sailor and harpunist Ned Land doesn't share this love, nor to Nemo nor to the vast realm of the under-waters. Through him we get another side of the 19th century (male) Man and while is not as cute as the mind of Arronax it's still manages to be understandable. Very few enjoy being a prisoner and especially not someone used to roaming the seas as the highest form of creature in the hierarchy of being - afraid of no one, a potential danger to every one. As a harpunist and a whale hunter above the sea level Ned had all the power when setting foot on a ship - here he has nearly none and there is nothing off the pleasures of the land available either. Plenty of food, yes, but no real meat damn it!
The tensions between Nemo and Ned Land - with prof Arronax in between (Conseil? Oh, the character is so comically loyal to prof Arronax he is void of a will of his own and therefor irrelevant to the struggles between the other main characters) - is a nice plot to follow during the time the Wonders of the ocean gets presented one by one as the book moves on. The climax of the book resolves the issue in a way that i simply can't go into, but let's just say that whatever one thought before the climax occurs, one may have reasons to revisit them afterwards. Great finish, worthy of a master novelist.
All in all, this is a very good read in my opinion. Enjoyable and fun, without being banal or shallow as modern "joy- literature" so easily can get the feel of. Next up is The Mysterious island which is said to expand on the identity of Captain Nemo. R and I can't wait to get our hands on it.
My relationship to this book before reading consisted of vague memories of the Disney film made in 1954 - I remembered the mystically composed Captain Nemo, the desperate desire to escape from Sailor Ned and of course the disastrous Octopus attack. Other than that, I was rather blind to what the book would entail when I went into it. I knew Verne a bit since before, was aware that he was kinda like the OG science fiction writer and had one of his other work - 80 days around the world - under my belt since high school but not much else did I know about this particular work.
The story then follows professor Arronax and his compatriots Conseil and Ned which embark on an expedition with the mission to capture the strange new sea monster that has been terrorizing the seas of the world since some time ago. When the expedition encounters the monster, the three friends suddenly fall out of the ship during the aggressive encounter and just when they are about to succumb to the sea they get saved.. by the sea monster!
It was never a sea monster. The creature that has been antagonizing the worlds sailors and seafarers happens to be a submarine, constructed and controlled by the strange genius named Captain Nemo. Nemo reluctantly invites the three unhappy intruders to stay, given that they accepts certain conditions- one among them that they can never leave Nautilus, as the "ship" is called...
So begins a marvelous journey, both to the three main characters and to the reader - because yes, even if this is a somewhat dated book (just an example on this is that there is precisely zero female characters in the book, females at all are mentioned maybe twice in the whole novel..) from the 19th century the spectacular journey Nautilus takes on is a pure joy to follow along with. The pace of the novel is enjoyable, rather slow without being a drag, and even if we today know more about the depths of the ocean than Verne could possibly be aware of he still manages to be a captivating and clearly knowledgeable guide to these realms. It's also quite fascinating to simply spend some time with a scientist such as prof Arronax, his mind is similar to the ones in our days but there are still noticeable differences to observe and, in my case, enjoy.
However. The most brilliant part of the book is no less than Captain Nemo himself. This character quickly rises to be one of my favorite characters of all of the literature I've encountered so far. He is written in a very mystical and coverted way. We get hardly any real information about him at all. We get to understand he and his crew built the ship on some inhabited island and that he is incredibly rich. The submarine is full to the brink of treasures and artifacts from different parts of the human civilization - but that's it. His crew has no real names, they speak a made up language among one another and Nemo himself may speak a lot about the ocean, his creation Nautilus or anything that touches the sciences of running a project like this - but of himself: on his history or his motivations he mutes up like a clam. It's not prof Arronax' business nor any of the readers.
Yet, his different attitudes toward the world and humanity shines through in his actions and as an anarchist I'm simply swooned off my feet by him. Even though he has grown to hate the life on land he is still a humanist and a fighter for the oppressed. His disdain is not for humanity writ large but their arrogant and violent ways toward nature and their fellow man. Nemo is not a saint because of this, he is clearly a man with his own ideas of glory and what have you that makes him unreasonable and bothersome - but it's easy to understand why prof Arronax becomes so attached to him and why the professor doesn't mind the thought of being captivated inside Nautilus indefinitely all that much. Nemo's creation is just so amazing and frankly mind - blowing and its ability to study the big guy, Gods, creation makes every day an unmatched adventure for the dear professor.
The Canadian sailor and harpunist Ned Land doesn't share this love, nor to Nemo nor to the vast realm of the under-waters. Through him we get another side of the 19th century (male) Man and while is not as cute as the mind of Arronax it's still manages to be understandable. Very few enjoy being a prisoner and especially not someone used to roaming the seas as the highest form of creature in the hierarchy of being - afraid of no one, a potential danger to every one. As a harpunist and a whale hunter above the sea level Ned had all the power when setting foot on a ship - here he has nearly none and there is nothing off the pleasures of the land available either. Plenty of food, yes, but no real meat damn it!
The tensions between Nemo and Ned Land - with prof Arronax in between (Conseil? Oh, the character is so comically loyal to prof Arronax he is void of a will of his own and therefor irrelevant to the struggles between the other main characters) - is a nice plot to follow during the time the Wonders of the ocean gets presented one by one as the book moves on. The climax of the book resolves the issue in a way that i simply can't go into, but let's just say that whatever one thought before the climax occurs, one may have reasons to revisit them afterwards. Great finish, worthy of a master novelist.
All in all, this is a very good read in my opinion. Enjoyable and fun, without being banal or shallow as modern "joy- literature" so easily can get the feel of. Next up is The Mysterious island which is said to expand on the identity of Captain Nemo. R and I can't wait to get our hands on it.
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