Small Calamities

Your Calamities

Fretless
July 5, 2007 | permalink

I'm reading Jules Verne's classic Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea, and I have to tell you that I am finding it fascinating. Not in the way that you probably think, though.

I mean, yes; it's a masterwork of science fiction, and an adventure story of the highest caliber, and on those levels it is a great and worthy book. But I expected as much going in. While I have never read it before, I have seen (albeit many years ago) the movie adaptation, and I am familiar with the plot. What I didn't expect was this amazing cultural juxtaposition that I am seeing as I read it.

A lot of the plot, if you are unfamiliar with it, hinges on the technological marvel that Captain Nemo has created in his ship, The Nautilus, and its support devices: electric motors and lights, taser guns, and scuba gear, to name a few. Most of this technology was only theory and guesswork at the time the book was written, and completely foreign to the average reader. For example, there is a passage accurately describing the workings of an arc lamp- carbon points, separated by a small gap, sealed in a vacuum to prolong the life of the points and to enhance the brightness and steadiness of the light thus emitted- that pre-dates Edison's first successful light bulb by a decade. The workings of the submarine and scuba gear are described with a similar visionary accuracy.

To compensate for the probable lack in his readers' knowledge about such things (things that the modern reader is already familiar with, and therefore needs no explanations for), Verne worked clear and excellent explanations of the theories and methods involved in building and using these devices into the narrative. This allowed a much wider audience to enjoy the novel.

You with me so far? This is where it gets good.

The copy of the book I am reading is one of the Barnes and Noble Classics editions. I am sure you are familiar with them- they are cheap and designed for the student, with footnotes and endnotes, discussion questions, and a decent introduction to give the reader a solid context for the story. As such, all of the classical and historical references in the narrative, which all of Verne's audience would have grasped without question, are footnoted with an explanation for the modern reader, who is presumed to be ignorant of such things. It's really wild, to me, to see these two methods for filling in the presumed ignorance of two very different groups of readers used side by side at the same time.

I realize that this might be a boring story to you, Gentle Readers, and if it is, I apologize. But this is the kind of thing that really tickles the Bear's grey matter...