Journey to the Center of the Earth
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| A Journey to the Center of the Earth | |
 Book cover of the 1874 edition |
|
| Author | Jules Verne |
|---|---|
| Original title | Voyage au centre de la Terre |
| Illustrator | Jeff Hobbs |
| Country | France |
| Language | French |
| Genre(s) | Science fiction novel |
| Publisher | Pierre-Jules Hetzel |
| Publication date | 1864 |
| Media type | Print (Hardback & Paperback) |
| Pages | 287 |
| ISBN | NA |
A Journey to the Center of the Earth (French: Voyage au centre de la Terre), also translated as A Journey to the Interior of the Earth, is a classic 1864 science fiction novel by Jules Verne. The story involves a professor who leads his nephew and hired guide down a volcano in Iceland to the "center of the Earth". They encounter many adventures, including prehistoric animals and natural hazards, eventually coming to the surface again in southern Italy. From a scientific point of view, this story has not aged quite as well as other Verne stories, since most of his ideas about what the interior of the Earth contains have since been proven wrong. However, a redeeming point to the story is Verne's own belief, told within the novel from the viewpoint of a character, that the inside of the Earth does indeed differ from that which the characters encounter.
Contents |
[edit] Plot
The story begins on Sunday 24 May 1863, in the Lidenbrock house in Hamburg, with Professor Lidenbrock rushing home to peruse his latest purchase, an original runic manuscript of an Icelandic saga (which is strange, considering that all of the Icelandic sagas were written using the latin alphabet) written by Snorri Sturluson . While looking through the book, Lidenbrock and his nephew Axel find a coded note written in runic script. (A first indication of Verne's love for cryptology. Coded, cryptic or incomplete messages as a plot device will continue to appear in many of his works and in each case Verne goes a long way to explain not only the code used but also the mechanisms used to retrieve the original text) Lidenbrock and Axel translate the runic characters into Latin letters, revealing a message written in a seemingly bizarre code.
Professor Lidenbrock decides to lock everyone in the house and force himself and the others (Axel, and the maid, Martha) to go without food until he cracks the code. Axel accidentally discovers the code when fanning himself with the parchment, realizing that the letters simply have to be read backwards to reveal sentences written in rough Latin. Axel decides to keep the secret hidden from Professor Lidenbrock, but after two days without food, he cannot stand the hunger and reveals the secret to his uncle. Lidenbrock translates the note, which is revealed to be a medieval note written by the (fictional) Icelandic alchemist Arne Saknussemm, who claims to have discovered a passage to the centre of the Earth via Snæfellsjökull in Iceland. The message reads (when reflected in a mirror):
- "In Sneffels Joculis craterem quem delibat Umbra Scartaris Julii intra calendas descende, Audax viator, et terrestre centrum attinges. Quod feci, Arne Saknussemm"
which, when translated into English, reads:
- "Descend, bold traveler, into the crater of the jokul of Sneffels, which the shadow of Scartaris touches before the calendas of July, and you will attain the centre of the earth; I have done this, Arne Saknussemm"
Professor Lidenbrock is a man of astonishing impatience, and departs for Iceland immediately, taking his reluctant nephew with him. Axel repeatedly tries to reason with him, explaining his fears of descending into a volcano and putting forward various scientific theories as to why the journey is impossible, but fails to make Professor Lidenbrock see his point of view. After a rapid journey via Lübeck and Copenhagen, they arrive in Reykjavík, where the two procure the services of Hans Bjelke (a Danish speaking eiderdown hunter) as their guide, and travel overland to the base of the volcano. They reach the volcano in late June only to find that it has not one but three craters. Rereading Saknussemm's message they conclude that the passage to the centre of the Earth is through the one crater the shadow of a nearby mountain peak touches at noon. However the text also states that this is only true for the last days of June and for the next days, with July rapidly approaching, the weather is too cloudy for any shadows. Axel silently rejoices, hoping this will force his uncle to give up the project and return home. On the last day, though, the sun comes out and the mountain peak shows the correct crater to take.
After descending into this crater, the three travelers set off into the bowels of the Earth, encountering many strange phenomena and great dangers, including a chamber filled with combustible gas, and steep-sided wells around the "path". After taking a wrong turn, they run out of water and Axel almost dies, but Hans taps into a neighboring subterranean river Lidenbrock and Axel name the resulting stream the "Hansbach" in his honor and the three are saved. At another point, Axel becomes separated from the others and is lost several miles from them. Luckily, a strange acoustic phenomenon allows him to communicate with them from some miles away, and is soon reunited. After descending many miles, following the course of the Hansbach, they reach an unimaginably vast cavern. This underground world is lit by electrically charged gas at the ceiling, and is filled with a very deep subterranean ocean, surrounded by a rocky coastline covered in petrified trees and giant mushrooms. The travelers build a raft out of trees and set sail. Because this ocean is subterranean and they are the first people to transverse it (with the likely exception of Saknussemm), they believe they have earned the right to name this area, and thus commission it as the Central Sea. Whilst on the water, they see several prehistoric creatures and are nearly eaten by an ichthyosaur, which fights and kills a plesiosaur. During the battle between the monsters, the party comes across an island with a huge geyser, which Lidenbrock names "Axel Island". A lightning storm again threatens to destroy the raft and its passengers, but instead throws them onto the coastline. This part of the coast, Axel discovers, is alive with prehistoric plant and animal life forms, including giant insects and a herd of mastodons. On a beach covered with bones, Axel discovers an oversized human skull. Axel and Lidenbrock venture some way into the prehistoric forest, where Professor Lidenbrock points out, in a shaky voice, a prehistoric human, more than twelve feet in height, leaning against a tree watching a herd of mastodons. Axel cannot be sure if he has really seen the man or not, and he and Professor Lidenbrock debate whether or not a proto-human civilization actually exists so far underground. The three wonder if the creature is a man-like ape, or an ape-like man. The sighting of the creature is considered the scariest part of the story, and the explorers have decided that it is better not to alert it to their presence as they figure it may be hostile.
The travelers continue to explore the coastline, and find a passageway marked by Saknussemm as the way ahead. However, it is blocked by what appears to be a recent cave-in and the three despair at being unable to hack their way through the granite wall. The adventurers proceed to blast the rock with gun cotton and paddle out to sea to escape the blast, but the explosion is larger than they expected and they are swept away as the sea rushes into the large open gap in the ground. After spending hours being swept along at lightning speeds by the water, the raft ends up inside a large chimney filling with water and magma. Terrified, the three are rushed upwards, through stifling heat, and are ejected onto the surface from a side-vent of a volcano. When they regain consciousness, they discover that they have been thrown out of Stromboli, at the southern tip of Italy. They return to Hamburg to great acclaim - Professor Lidenbrock is hailed as one of the great scientists of history, Axel marries his sweetheart Graüben, and Hans eventually returns to his peaceful life in Iceland.
The book leaves an ambiguous ending as to whether or not the protagonists did indeed duplicate the work of Arne Saknussemm and make it to the center of the earth, and it appears the Professor has some regret that their journey was cut short.
At the very end of the book, Axel and Lidenbrock realize why their compass was behaving strangely after their journey on the raft. They realize that the needle was pointing the wrong way after being struck by an electric fireball which nearly destroyed the raft.
[edit] Notes
- The 1871 English language edition published by Griffith and Farran (named Journey to the Centre of the Earth at Project Gutenberg) is an abridged and altered translation. It changes the Professor's name to Hardwigg, Axel's name to Harry (or Henry) Lawson, and Grauben's name to Gretchen. It omits some chapters, and rewrites portions of and adds portions to others. The Redactor's note by Norm Wolcott, at Project Gutenberg, claims that this translation is the most popularly reprinted one, despite the flaws. The 1877 translation by Ward, Lock, & Co., Ltd., translated by Frederick Amadeus Malleson, is more faithful, though it too has some slight rewrites (according to the Redactor at its Project Gutenberg page, where its title is translated as Journey to the Interior of the Earth).
- The novel frequently uses the device of the Professor explaining or arguing scientific matters with Axel, in order to communicate scientific facts on which the world-view is based. In the midst of their descent, this role reverses at one point, as Axel points out strata to the Professor as another example of the same story-telling method. A good number of the facts postulated by the novel are incorrect by today's understanding, but add an interesting flavor to the world. Such facts include the temperature of space being -40 degrees Fahrenheit, and volcanoes erupting due to a reaction between water and chemicals in the Earth's crust.
[edit] Adaptations
[edit] Film
- 1959 – Journey to the Center of the Earth, USA, directed by Henry Levin, starring Pat Boone and James Mason.
- 1976 – Viaje al centro de la Tierra, Spain, directed by Juan Piquer Simón, starring Kenneth More and Pep Munné. It was distributed in US as Where Time Began.
- 2008 – A new movie, Journey to the Center of the Earth 3-D, is currently slated for release on July 11, 2008 with plans for the film to be made using 3-D technology developed by James Cameron and Vince Pace. Brendan Fraser, Anita Briem and Josh Hutcherson are the only cast members announced so far.
[edit] Television
- A version by RHI Entertainment starring Ricky Schroder, Peter Fonda, Victoria Pratt, Steven Grayhm and Mike Dopud was shot on location in and around Vancouver on high definition video during the summer of 2007. The show aired on February 4, 2008. Victoria Pratt and Peter Fonda's characters were added in to make the story adventurous.
- Several "made for television" versions in 1977 and 1993.
- The 1999 Hallmark Entertainment movie starred Treat Williams, Jeremy London, Bryan Brown, Tushka Bergen, and Hugh Keays-Byrne
- An animated television series, Journey to the Center of the Earth, first broadcast in 1967, starring the voices of Ted Knight, Pat Harrington Jr., and Jane Webb. This was not a serialized version of the story, but non-contingent episodes which, after the first, could be shown in any order. There was no ending episode.
- A 1989 movie called Journey to the Center of the Earth took only the title and a general idea from the Verne novel, and had a unique plot aimed at a teen audience. It was written by Debra Ricci, Regina Davis, Kitty Chalmers, and Rusty Lemorande, and was directed by Lemorande and Albert Pyun. It stars Emo Philips, Paul Carafotes, Jaclyn Bernstein, Kathy Ireland, Janet Du Plessis, Nicola Cowper, Lochner De Kock, and Ilan Mitchell-Smith. It was based on an uncompleted version, more faithful to Verne's text, written and directed by Rusty Lemorande, but it was not completed because of Cannon Film's premature closure.
- The Wishbone episode "Hot Diggety Dawg" was based on the novel, featuring several major scenes starring the title character as Professor Lidenbrock.
- One children's animated special slightly changes the ending. The professor orders Axel and Hans not to take anything they find as he feels it would upset the natural balance, but Axel secretly takes a dinosaur egg. When the protagonists return to Germany, they are greeted by skeptics and the professor has no proof of subterranean life. Axel's disobedience proves beneficial, as he reveals to his uncle he took the egg and shows it to the skeptic, who bangs on it and calls it cheap plaster. This causes the hatching of a baby pterodactyl, which then chases after him in a humorous ending.
[edit] Theater
- A stage version of Journey to the Center of the Earth, written by Gerald Fitzgerald and directed by Steven-Shayle Rhodes, was produced at Pegasus The pooatre in Dallas, Texas in 2000.
[edit] Other
- 'The World Before the Deluge' by Louis Figuier was the scientific source for 'Journey to the Centre of the Earth
- A thrill ride based on the book is open at The Mysterious Island section of Tokyo DisneySea's theme park.
- A water ride at Water World in Federal Heights, Colorado called 'Voyage to the Center of the Earth' is loosely based on the book.
- A PC based adventure video game by frogwares & Viva Media, from 2003.
- Rick Wakeman's album Journey to the Centre of the Earth combines song, narration and instrumental pieces to retell the story and Return to the Centre of the Earth tells the story of a later set of travelers attempting to repeat the original journey.
[edit] Allusions/references from other works
- Doctor Emmett Brown, one of the two main fictional characters of the Back to the Future film series, attributed the origins of his lifelong devotion to science to having read as a child the works of Jules Verne in general, and Journey to the Center of the Earth in particular. Back to the Future III especially pays homage to Journey of the Center of the Earth where Dr. Brown carves his initials in a mineshaft after storing the time machine, just like Arne Saknussemm did to help guide future explorers.
- The first part of the second season of Around the World with Willy Fog by Spanish studio BRB Internacional was "Journey to the Center of the Earth".
- A few video games called Journey to the Center of the Earth were released: in the early 1980s by Ozisoft[1], in 1988 by Chip Software[2] for the Commodore 64, in 1989 by Topo Soft[3] for the ZX Spectrum and in 2003 by Frogwares.
- A concept album called Journey to the Centre of the Earth by Rick Wakeman, was released in 1974.
- Rick Wakeman released a second concept album called Return to the Centre of the Earth in 1999.
- The 1912 novel The Lost World by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle has very similar ideas to Journey's.
- Edgar Rice Burroughs wrote the Pellucidar series using the Journey to the Center of the Earth concept.
- The surname of Kathy Ireland's character in Alien From L.A. (1988), a film about a girl who falls through the earth and discovers a repressive subterranean society, is Saknussemm.
- The 1992 adventure/role-playing game Quest for Glory III by Sierra Entertainment used Arne Saknoosen the Aardvark as a bit character for exploration information, alluding to the explorer Arne Saknussemm.
[edit] Further reading
Debus, Allen (July 2007), “Re-Framing the Science in Jules Verne's Journey to the Center of the Earth”, Science Fiction Studies 33 (3): 405-20.
[edit] External links
- Journey to the Centre of the Earth the Oxford University Press translation, with introduction, notes and appendices. Most modern translation available online.
- Journey to the Center of the Earth from JV.Gilead.org.il
- Journey to the Interior of the Earth - in easy to read HTML format.
- Voyage au Centre de la Terre - in easy to read HTML format (French text).
- A Journey to the Interior of the Earth, available at Project Gutenberg. (English)
- A Journey to the Centre of the Earth, available at Project Gutenberg. (English) This is the Hardwigg translation mentioned above, listed for comparison purposes only.
- Voyage au Centre de la Terre, available at Project Gutenberg. (French)
- Literary analysis of the novels of Jules Verne (French text)
- Free audiobook of "Journey to the Center of the Earth" from Librivox
- Journey to the Center of the Earth - Classics Illustrated comic book
- [4] - a photoessay of the ride
