The eighteenth Extraordinary Voyage is considered by some Verne scholars as the start of the second part of his career, marked by a more cautionary, pessimistic outlook about progress and occasionally featuring evil scientists and politics. It's not a clean change of style, in any case. The next books will be traditional adventures, and there are a good number of Verne novels to come that fit well with the optimistic, exploratory adventures of his early works.


First read or reread?: This is a first read for me.


What is it about?: Two men inherited a vast fortune as descendants of a French soldier who settled in India and married the immensely rich widow of a native prince – the begum of the title. One of the inheritors is a French physician, Dr. Sarrasin, who has long been concerned with the unsanitary conditions of European cities. He uses the money to establish a utopian model city constructed and maintained with public health as its government's primary concern. The other is a German scientist Prof. Schultze, a militarist and racist. Though having a French grandmother, he is convinced of the superiority of the "Saxon" (i.e., German) over the "Latin" (primarily, the French), which he believes will lead to the eventual destruction of the latter by the former. Schultze had published many articles "proving" the superiority of the German race. Schultze decides to make his own utopia—a city devoted to the production of ever more powerful and destructive weapons—and vows to destroy Sarrasin's city.


This is both an utopic and dystopic novel, contrasting the two cities, the well-ordered, health-focused France-Ville, and the industrial, totalitarian nightmare of Stahlstadt ("Steel City"). I read it as a political fable, since one cannot take seriously the idea that the US would have allowed the two millionaires the temporary right to establish sovereign cities within their territory, no matter how much they were willing to pay. Also, France-Ville is very idealized (there's no crime in it). But these details are not the focus of the novel, and we accept the unlikely premise in order to set the conflict and the contrast between the two mindsets.

Verne was clearly bitter about the Franco-Prussian War of 1870, which had resulted in the defeat of France, the unification of Germany and the establishment of the Second Reich. Germany's industrialization was more advanced than France's, which is reflected in the industrial nature of Stahlstadt. It can't be a coincidence that the novel's hero, Marcel Bruckmann, a protégé of Dr. Sarrasin who infiltrates Stahlstadt as a spy, is from Alsace, a region of France with a blend of French and German culture which had been taken by Germany after the war.

This bitterness, which had not been present in Verne's earlier work (see for example the German heroes in Journey to the Center of the Earth) results in the depiction of Prof. Schultze as an unflattering caricature of German people, complete with his racist belief in the supremacy of the German race and his exaggerated fondness for Frankfurter sausages and sauerkraut. (The anti-racist message of the novel is perhaps undermined by how the Chinese migrant workers who help build France-Ville are sent away when the city is completed but, as I have mentioned in other reviews, Verne, while enlightened and forward-thinking in some ways, was not free from the European prejudices of his time). One could say that the caricature of the German is heavy-handed, but I have to admit that in hindsight the novel can be a bit uncanny as an anticipation of World War II, with the supremacist ideology, the chemical weapons of mass destruction, the totalitarian state where people are identified with numbers...

Other elements of anticipation are the use of teleconferences for meetings, the creation of an artificial satellite that is (accidentally) put into orbit, or the long range siege gun that brings to mind the Paris Gun that Germany would use to bombard Paris during World War I.

In the first chapters Verne displays some of his sense of humor in his depiction of the rapacious lawyers who handle the inheritance or the way the attendants to a scientific meeting change their attitude towards Dr. Sarrasin when they learn about his newfound wealth.

I enjoyed that instead of boring the reader by insisting too much on the depiction of the political contrast between the two cities, Verne keeps things moving with the story of the spy who infiltrates Stahlstadt. However, the resolution of the story, while satisfactory, was kind of anticlimactic, in the sense that it is achieved without the heroes actually having to do anything. This is a very short novel, and maybe Verne could have extended it to set up a better ending.

It is worth mentioning that the original English translation of this novel (the one you can find for free or cheap in different places) is reputed to be particularly awful. The official translator, W. H. G. Kingston, was dying and his wife, who understandably had other things on her mind, did the translation. If you want to read the novel in English, the advice is to seek the 2005 translation by Stanford Luce.


Enjoyment factor: I have to confess that my love for Verne comes from his more optimistic adventure and exploration stories. I prefer to travel with my imagination in a balloon with Dr. Fergusson, Kennedy and Joe, discovering the source of the Nile, instead of getting into the awful, polluted Stahlstadt. Nevertheless this was an enjoyable read, with more elements to analyse than the average exploration adventure and with a reasonable pace, the fortunate result of Verne not forgetting to have a plot. The ending was lackluster, though.


See all my Verne reviews here: https://www.sffworld.com/forum/threads/reading-vernes-voyages-extraordinaires.58... ( )

Obrovské dědictví po indické kněžně si rovným dílem rozdělí francouzský lékař Sarassin a německý profesor Schultz. První se rozhodne peníze využít na stavbu dokonalého města, kde neexistuje kriminalita a lidé jsou zdraví a vzájemně přátelští. Druhý svůj díl pozůstalosti investuje do obrovské továrny na ocel a do vývoje ničivých zbraní, jimiž je rozhodnut vzdáleného příbuzného bez lítosti zničit… Kniha fascinuje generace čtenářů strhujícím dějem a dokonale popsanými technologiemi, jimiž autorova fantazie předběhla vývoj vědy. Ve své prorocké vizi budoucnosti Verne přesvědčivě vykreslil střet humanistických demokracií se silně industrializovanými totalitami.

8484470016

Dentro del ciclo verniano de los «,Viajes extraordinarios»,, LOS QUINIENTOS MILLONES DE LA BEGUN representa un punto de inflexión: los principales rasgos de los comienzos de la serie (la visión romántica de la ciencia como factor de progreso material y moral) coexisten ya con las sombrías perspectivas basadas en la convicción de que la tecnología acabará por convertirse en un instrumento incontrolado de destrucción. Una vez más, sin embargo, JULES VERNE (1828-1905) hace brotar lo maravilloso de lo real y desliza la recreación legendaria bajo una apariencia de realismo positivista: el viejo mito iniciático se encarna aquí en el héroe que penetra en la ciudad laberíntica, se somete a las pruebas rituales, realiza la travesía subterránea y logra descubrir finalmente el secreto cuya búsqueda justifica la arriesgada aventura

I struggled to finish this boring book. Not Verne's best.

In the beginning of the story, Dr sarrasin, a Frenchman, is attending the Hygienic Conference in London, and that's when he receives news that he is the inheritor of a fortune. Whereas the day before, he had been treated as a mere speck on the floor, the second day, when they had all learned that he was suddenly rich, their hypocritical natures showed themselves:
"but on the present occasion Lord GLandover smiled most graciously upon Dr sarassin as he entered, and even carried his courtesy so far as to invite him by a sign to be seated at his right hand. The other members of the conference all Rose when he appeared on the platform.
Considerably astonished by so flattering a reception, Dr sarrasin took the chair he was offered, concluding that, in further consideration, his invention had been found of much greater importance than his scientific brethren had at first supposed."

Max is a friend of Dr sarassin's family, treated as a son from the time his parents died when he was a boy. He infiltrates stahlstadt, the home of Dr sarassin's enemy, as a spy. He stays with a widow and her boy, little Carl Bauer, who works in the minr day and night. When he doesn't return home one Sunday morning, Max sets off to find out what happened to him. He finds an overseer, and the two of them, with a few other men, searched the mine for the boy.
"Max took his little box from his pocket, struck a match, and stooping, held it towards the ground, upon which it instantly went out.
'I was sure of it,' he remarked.
'The gas, being heavier than the air, lies close to the ground. You must not stay here - I mean those without the galibert apparatus. If you like, sir, we can continue the search alone.'
This being agreed to, Max and the overseer each took between his teeth the mouthpiece of his airbox, placed the clamp on his nostrils, and boldly penetrated into a succession of old galleries.
In a quarter of an hour they came out to renew the air in their reservoir; this done, they started again.
On the third trial their efforts were crowned with success. The faint blueish light of an electric lamp was seen far off in the darkness. They hastened to it.
At the foot of the damp wall, motionless and already cold, lay poor little carl. His blue lips and sunken eyes told what had happened. Evidently he had wished to pick up something from the ground: he had stooped, and been literally drowned in the choke damp.
Every effort to recall him to life was in vain. He must have been already dead four or 5 hours. By the next evening there was another little grave in the cemetery of stahlstadt, and poor Dame Bauer was bereaved of her child as well as of her husband."

Max infiltrates, by his hard work, into the interior of the king of spouse thought himself, Herr Schultz.
'are you the draftsman?'
'yes, sir.'
'I have seen your diagrams. They are very good. But do you understand nothing but Steam engines?'
'I have never been examined in anything else.'
'do you know anything of the science of projectiles?'
'I have studied it in my spare time, and for my own pleasure.'
This reply interested Herr schultz.
He deigned to turn and look at his employee.
'Well, will you undertake to design a cannon with me? We shall see what you can make of it! Ah! You will be scarcely able to take the place of that idiot of a sohne, who got killed this morning whilst handling some dynamite! The fool might have blown us all up!'
It must be acknowledged that this revolting want of feeling was only What might Have been expected from the mouth of Herr schultz."

Herr Schultz reveals to Max what he wants to do with the cannon that Max will design:
"... With one of these shells, which, thrown by my gun from the platform, will cross the Cascade mountains. Where? There exists a city, separated from us by 30 miles at the most, upon whose inhabitants it will come like a thunderclap, for even if they expected it they could not Ward it off or escape its horrific effects. This is now the 5th of september. Well, on the 13th, at a quarter before midnight, frankville will disappear from off American soil! The burning of Sodom will be rivaled. Professor Schultz in his turn, will let loose the fires of heaven! "

Here's the racist part, talking about how frankville was constructed by Chinese people:
"... Placards posted up all over the state of california, an advertisement van permanently attached to the express train, which starts every morning from San Francisco to Traverse the American continent, and a daily article in the 23 newspapers of that town, were sufficient to ensure the recruiting of the laborers. It was not even found necessary to resort to the expedient of publishing on a grand scale by means of gigantic letters sculptured on the peaks of the rocky mountains, that men were wanted. It must be said that the influx of Chinese coolies into Western America had just at this time caused much perturbation in the labor market. Several states had, in the interest of their own population, actually expelled these unfortunate people en masse. The building of frankville came just in time to save them from perishing. Their wages, fixed at a dollar a day, were not to be paid them until the works were finished, and their rations were distributed by the municipal administration. thus all the disorder and shameful speculations, which so often attend any great displacement of population, were avoided. The wages were deposited every week, in the presence of delegates in the great Bank of San francisco, and every Coolie was warned that when he drew it out he was not to return. This precaution was absolutely necessary to get rid of a yellow population, which would otherwise have infallibly lowered the tone and standard of the new city. The founders having, besides, reserve the right of granting or refusing permission to live there, the application of this measure was comparatively easy."

So I guess at the time that this book was published, not only did Germans hate French people and vice versa, but French people hated Chinese people, and so did americans. What a mess.
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