Jules Verne

EARLY LIFE  

Jules Verne was born on 8 February 1828, at No. 4 Rue Olivier-de-Clisson, Île Feydeau, a small artificial island on the Loire River within the town of Nantes. The house belonged to his maternal grandmother Dame Sophie Allotte de la Fuÿe.

Photograph by Nadar c.  1878

His parents were Pierre Verne, an attorney originally from Provins, and Nantes native Sophie Allote de la Fuÿe.

Jules was the oldest of five children. His brother Paul (1829) and three sisters, Anna (1836), Mathilde (1839), and Marie (1842) would follow.

Young Jules liked to sail on the Loire river with his brother often going down to the sea.

At the age of 11 he stowed away on a merchant vessel bound for India. Jules didn’t get far as his father was waiting at the next port. The episode prompted his father to make him promise that in future he would journey only in his imagination.

At the age of six, Jules was sent to boarding school at 5 Place du Bouffay in Nantes where he was influenced by his teacher's tales of her late naval captain husband, who had disappeared at sea. He went on two years later to École Saint‑Stanislas, a Catholic school suiting the pious religious tastes of his father.

From 1844 to 1846, Jules and his brother were enrolled in the Lycée Royal (now the Lycée Georges-Clemenceau) in Nantes.

Nantes from Île Feydeau, around the time of Verne's birth by JMW Turner

Jules studied Latin at school, which was used later in his mid-1950s short story Le Mariage de Monsieur Anselme des Tilleuls.

After completing his studies at the lycée, Verne went in 1847 to Paris to study for the bar, but he preferred the company of the radical young writers who gathered at the Café des Artistes, centre of a thriving literary counterculture. Eventually he gave up any pretence of studying law and instead pursued his interest in the theatre and writing stories.

CAREER 

When Verne's father discovered that his son had dropped out his law studies, he promptly withdrew his financial support. Verne then had to support himself by writing for magazines and the stage.

He started collecting facts early on and in the end Verne had about 20,000 index cards full of interesting facts.

In conjunction with the prolific librettist Michel Carré, Verne began writing and producing several comic operas without much success.

After marrying in his early 30s with a family to support, Verne went to work as a stock broker, where he remained for six years. He hated the work, although he was somewhat successful at it. Verne continued to write with his wife's encouragement and he developed his style for adventure novels.

Jules Verne in 1856

In 1862 Verne met the publisher Pierre-Jules Hetzel. They began to collaborate, which led to the creation of the Voyages extraordinaires, a widely popular series of scrupulously researched adventure novels including Journey to the Center of the Earth (1864), Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea (1870), and Around the World in Eighty Days (1873).

In his later years wealthy and famous, Verne was received as a celebrity on his infrequent visits abroad.

Verne habitually rose at 5.00 a.m. and put in three hours writing before breakfast.

Verne was elected town councillor of Amiens, France in 1885. He served in that position for the next fifteen years during which he championed several improvements.

WORKS 

Before writing novels, Verne wrote short stories, plays and operetta libretti, most of which are lost.

His first literary work was an 1850 stage comedy called Les Pailles Rompues (The Broken Straws).

Five Weeks in a Balloon, Verne's first adventure novel was published by Hetzel on January 31, 1863. It was inspired by Nadar, a pioneer photographer who took aerial pictures from the new-fangled hot air balloons. It was the work that made Verne famous.

Verne’s 1863 novel Paris In The Twentieth Century predicted glass skyscrapers, high-speed trains and a worldwide communications network. His publisher thought the predictions too pessimistic and it was not published until 1994.

Verne's 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea was written in 1870 just when submarine technology was taking off and before the general public was aware of these developments.

His other adventure novels include Journey to the Centre of the Earth (1864), From the Earth to the Moon (1865) and Around The World In Eighty Days (1873).

An 1889 Hetzel poster advertising Verne's works

The father of Science Fiction, Verne's novels deliberately intended to present sciences to the man on the Calais omnibus, the general public.

Verne made amazing, out of this world, predictions of scientific advances in the 20th century. The novelist predicted cars, automatic trains, electric lights and fax machines. He also prophesied Americans would be the first to fly to the Moon as "The Yankees are Engineers".

There are many similarities between Verne's predictions and the Apollo 11 flight. They include the launch pad in Florida, the crew of three, the spacecraft name, (Verne predicted Columbiad, the command module was called "Columbia") and the speed (Verne predicted 25,000 MPH- it was 24,000 MPH).

Verne was tormented by the fact that he foresaw not only the good that science could do, but also the harm.

Verne’s first work to be filmed was From The Earth To The Moon, which was shot in 1902. Since then around 30 films have taken their inspiration from Jules Verne’s books.

According to Unesco's Index Translationum, Jules Verne is the second most translated author, behind Agatha Christie but ahead of William Shakespeare.

APPEARANCE 

Verne was sturdily built, somewhat below medium height with kindly blue eyes and a short silvery beard.

PERSONAL LIFE 

In May 1856, Verne traveled to the provincial town of Amiens to be the best man at the wedding of a Nantes friend, Auguste Lelarge, to a local woman named Aimée du Fraysse de Viane. Verne found himself increasingly attracted to the bride's sister, Honorine de Viane Morel, a widow aged 26 with two young daughters.

Verne married Honorine on January 10, 1857.

Jules Verne and Mrs Verne 1900

Jules and Honorine's only child, Michel Jean Pierre Verne was born on August 3, 1861, in Paris. Michel was a rebellious child, and his father sent him to the Mettray Penal Colony for six months in 1876. At the age of 19, Michel eloped and married an actress. He had two children with his mistress named Jeanne Reboul before his divorce from the actress.

Michel Verne was also a writer, and he published several novels and short stories in his lifetime. His works were often in the same genre as his father's, but they were not as successful. Some of his most notable works include Un Avenir de l'Express (1886), Le Secret de Wilhelm Storitz (1891), and En l'An 2889 (1901).

In 1871 Jules Verne withdrew from Paris, settling in Amiens at 44 Boulevard, a house overlooking the train tracks to the French capital.

Yachting was Verne's favourite relaxation. In 1867, he bought a small yacht, the Saint-Michel, which he successively upgraded with the Saint-Michel II and the Saint-Michel III as his financial situation improved. Verne enjoyed leisurely cruises, during which he would make copious notes for his works.

Sketch by Verme of the Saint-Michel

The 58-year-old Jules Verne was shot in the left leg by his adored nephew Gaston on March 9, 1886, who was committed to an institution. From then on the novelist had a permanent limp and he had to give up an active life.

DEATH 

Ill with diabetes, Verne died aged 77 at his Amiens home on March 24, 1905. According to historical accounts, Jules Verne's death was the result of a combination of factors, including complications from diabetes, as well as a build-up of fluid in his lungs. Verne had been suffering from diabetes for many years prior to his death, but it was not listed as the immediate cause of his death.

Jules Verne on his deathbed.

Source Daily Express