The Eternal Adam and other stories
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Dr Ox’s Experiment
First published as ‘Une fantaisie du docteur Ox’ in Musée des familles (Paris), tome 39, no. de mars 1872, pp. 65-74, no. d’avril 1872, pp. 99-107, no. de mai 1872, pp. 133-41; in volume form 1874. In English with Dr Ox (London, 1874), translated by George M. Towle.
An Ideal City
First published as ‘Amiens en I’an 2000’ in Mémoires de l’Académie d’Amiens, 1874-75, 3me series, tome II, pp. 347-78; as a pamphlet Une ville idéale (Amiens: imprimerie de T. Jeunet, 1875). This translation by I. O. Evans inserted into his edition of Yesterday and Tomorrow (London, 1965).
Dr Trifulgas
Date of composition unknown. First published as ‘Frritt-Flacc’ in Le Magasin illustré d’éducation et de récréation (Paris), tome 44, no. 527, du ler décembre 1886; Le Figaro illustré (Paris), décembre 1886; published in 1886 with Un billet de lotterie; translated as ‘Dr Trifulgas. a Fantastic Tale’ in the Strand Magazine (London), vol. 4, July 1892, in an uncredited translation.
Gil Braltar
Date of composition unknown, though it may have been inspired by Verne’s visit on his yacht to Gibraltar in 1884, which would also explain the allusion to the Boer republics. First published with Le Chemin de France on 27 November 1889. It was excluded from English-language editions of that novel. This translation by I. O. Evans inserted into his edition of Yesterday and Tomorrow (London, 1965).
In the Twenty-Ninth Century
First published as ‘In the 29th Century: The Day of An American Journalist in the year 2889’ by Michel Verne from an idea by Jules Verne in the Forum (New York), vol. VI, February 1889, pp. 662-77; revised French language version by Jules Verne, Aux XXIXe siècle: La Journée d’un journaliste américain en 2890’ in Mémoires de I’Académie d’Amiens, 1890, pp. 348-70, and in the Supplément illustré of the Petit Journal (Paris), 29 août 1891; revised version reprinted in Hier et demain (Paris, 1910); this translation by I. O. Evans in Yesterday and Tomorrow (London, 1965).
An Express of the Future
First published in Russian in Vokroug Svieta, no. 31, 1890, pp. 494-9, and in French as ‘Un express de l’avenir’ in Les Annales politiques et littéraires (Paris), 27 août 1893, signed M. Jules Verne, reprinted in Jules Verne 1, La Revue des Lettres Modernes (Paris), nos. 456-61, 1973 (3), pp. 131-6: and in English as ‘An Express of the Future’, from ‘the French of Jules Verne’ in the Strand Magazine (London), vol. 10. December 1895, pp. 638-40, in an uncredited translation. With Michel Verne.
The Eternal Adam
First published as ‘L’Éternal Adam’ in La Revue de Paris, 1 October, 1910 (revised by Michel Verne from an initial draft by Jules Verne entitled ‘Edom’, eventually printed in the Bulletin de la société Jules Verne (Paris), no. 100); reprinted in Hier et demain (Paris, 1910); this translation by I. O. Evans in Yesterday and Tomorrow (London, 1965). With Michel Verne.
Acknowledgements
For permission to use copyright translations, thanks are due to: Edward Baxter, for ‘The Humbug’; © 1990 by Edward Baxter. This version was first published in The Jules Verne Encyclopedia (Lanham, Maryland and London: The Scarecrow Press, 1996), edited by Brian Taves and Stephen Michaluk.
The translations of ‘An Ideal City’, ‘Gil Braltar’, ‘In the 29th Century. The Day of An American Journalist in the Year 2889’ and ‘The Eternal Adam’ first appeared in Yesterday and Tomorrow, translated and edited by I. O. Evans; © 1965 by Arco Publications.
The remainder of the translations are in the public domain and are taken from editions in the editor’s and other collections, as detailed in the sources. Though passages deleted by the translators have been restored in some pieces, notably in Verne’s childhood recollections, his prolix geographical excursions, which add little to the narratives, have not been. For their assistance the editor wishes to thank the Central Catholic Library in Dublin, Boston Public Library, the London Library. Edward Baxter, and Brian Taves. The bibliographical information has been derived largely from Charles-Noël Martin and Brian Taves, though other sources in French and English have also been consulted.
Notes
* * *
[i] The former name of Paris.
[ii] Poland was then split - to all appearances irretrievably - between Russia, Germany and Austria: and the hats of the period seemed to have been called 'polonnaises'.
[iii] 'A keeper of gigantic cattle. '
[iv] 'He is patient because he is eternal. '
[v] From the neighbourhood of Berlin to near Cape Horn.
[vi] The Andart'-Iten-Schu thus knew nothing of Neptune.
[vii] It will be seen that, at the time when Zartog Sofr-Ai-Sr was indulging in these reflections, though the Andart'-Iten-Schu knew the telegraph, they were still ignorant of the telephone and the electric light.
[viii] From these words it must be assumed that at the time when this journal
will be written, the solar system will include more than eight planets, and that
man will have discovered one or several beyond Neptune.
Table of Contents
Note on the Author and Editor
Introduction
Recollections of Childhood and Youth
1
2
3
4
5
6
The First Ships of the Mexican Navy
1-From the Island of Guajan to Acapulco
2-From Acapulco to Cigualan
3-From Cigualan to Tasco
4- From Tasco to Cuemavaca
5-From Cuernavaca to Popocatepetl
A Drama in the Air
Master Zacharius
1-A Winter Night
2-The Pride of Science
3-A Strange Visit
4-The Church of Saint Pierre
5-The Hour of Death
The Humbug
Doctor Ox’s Experiment
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
An Ideal City
Dr Trifulgas
1
2
3
4
5
6
Gil Braltar
1
2
3
4
In the Twenty-Ninth Century
An Express of the Future
The Eternal Adam
Prelude
Rosario, May 24th, 2...
During the night
May 25th
On board the Virginia, June 4th
On land – January or February
At death’s door
Post-script
Sources
Acknowledgements
Notes