Robur The Conqueror by Jules Verne

Robur The Conqueror lives aboard the Albatross, an “aeronef” - a platform suspended from thirty-seven electrically powered dual-propeller rotors, driven and steered using further propellors at the front and rear of the vessel - and spends his time taunting and flummoxing the rest of the world from above.  He is a man of mystery, both in his origins and his motives, who arrives unannounced at a meeting of balloonists in order to point out how superior his own means of aviation is.  Upon a less than enthusiastic reception, he kidnaps the president and secretary of the club, as well as the president’s valet.  His reasons for abducting the members of the Weldon Institute balloonist club are unclear.  Perhaps he wishes to educate them, to show them by example the folly of their ways, pursuing as they do the ridiculous avenue of “lighter than air” travel.  If this is his aim he fails, and the kidnapped men do their best to thwart him and make their escape.  The whole thing plays out like a flippant version of 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea, but above the clouds, with Robur a sketched caricature of Nemo and the three abductees a comic version of M. Arronax.  Apart from the patronising, racist treatment of the black servant Frycollin, which is very irritating but par for the course in 19th century literature, it is an enjoyable, lighthearted novel, perfect for reading when one has significant distractions to contend with.

2 comments 2008-07-05 14:18 Categories: Books, Reviews