Paris in the Twentieth Century by Jules Verne

Paris in the Twentieth Century is one of Verne’s earliest efforts, written just after Five Weeks in a Balloon, and rejected by his publisher as unbelievable, and for having “a real goose” as a hero. Hetzel wasn’t wrong about Michel, who has all the appeal of a whining sixth-former, but his judgement of the plausibility of Verne’s creations was less perceptive. I’ve previously noted the problems I had believing in A Journey to the Centre of the Earth, but I had less trouble here. The urban sprawl and the technology of Verne’s 1960s Paris invoke a world close, in general, to modern urban life, although the specifics of execution are completely different: the transport network operates on compressed air, for example, and is elevated rather than subterranean.

All the reviews I have seen of this novel concentrate on the futuristic elements, and completely ignore the central theme of the book: the subjugation of the poor fragile waif Art beneath the tyrannous rule of odious Science and brute Capitalism. Frankly, it is hardly surprising that the people of Verne’s 20th century have opted to hand over the world to the scientists and the money men, because the artists aren’t up to much more than mooning around and complaining, with occasional interludes of bad poetry. Of course, Verne need not have worried; reading books is much easier than doing hard sums, so our universities turn out thousands of artists every year, all wondering what exactly they are supposed to do with their 2:1 in English Literature besides writing occasional incoherent criticism on their unread weblogs.

4 comments 2008-05-18 19:36 Categories: Books, Reviews