Gazpacho Guy Meets Jules Verne

Gazpacho Guy Meets Jules Verne

By John Taylor; 27 January, 2006

When I was working on my mound construction book last fall I
researched the history of proposals for tube transit, floating cities
and flying cities. I found my paths led back to one source, my
childhood favorite writer, Jules Verne. Although in recent years I
have rarely found it in me to crack a novel of any sort, I do read
biographies of novelists. I just completed this one of Verne,

Peter Costello, Jules Verne, Inventor of Science Fiction, Hodder and
Stoughton, London, 1978

I do not recommend this biography, it has many errors and typos and
the research is incomplete and out of date. Nonetheless it has its
virtues, offering a critical overview of his vast work, and insights
into the interplay of his thought with personal problems. Costello
gives a good picture Verne's illustrious career and that is what
interests me at the moment. Coincidentally this biography came out in
1978, the year my own successful writing-to-survive career began (it
is successful because I have survived, until now, and that has to be
enough). In the years since 1978, Verne's reputation took off like a
rocket to the moon, though I am certain that happened in spite of this
bio, not because of it. There is an active Verne society with a
newsletter now, and Verne's later novels are coming out in annotated
versions, often translated into English for the first time. Thanks to
critics like Roland Barthes, academics are coming to realize that
there is much more to Verne than the children's novelist he is made
out to be in the English speaking world. In reality he wrote only one
or two novels specifically for children, and they are not ones that
you would recognize or even find in the children's section of your
neighborhood library.

Jules Verne called his oeuvre "scientific novels," and readers are now
realizing that it fits much better than the later term, "science
fiction." Verne spent his apprenticeship as a writer slogging for ten
or fifteen undistinguished years writing light musical dramas for the
stage. In order to make ends meet, he worked on the stock exchange for
a while. His father disapproved in an age when a father's approval
meant something. Then Verne turned a corner; he met a receptive
publisher and learned how to turn his dramatic skills to better ends.
He combined melodrama with his love for science, exploration, music
and the sea. Most important, though not mentioned in this bio, this
publisher forced him to take the edge off his bred-in-the-bone
cynicism and pessimism. For a time at least he wrote optimistic,
encouraging novels about the possibilities of scientific discovery.
The world loved him for it, but ignored him when he reverted to his
natural disposition. Verne built up a large file cabinet full of cards
(now it would be called a database) recording snippets from press
reports and scientific journals. This database was the raw material
and inspiration for his novels to the end of his life.

One thing that strikes me from this life is Verne as father. Verne
married late to a widow with two small children, and she bore him one
son, Michel Jules Verne, after which there were marital problems
probably caused by a mistress or two, all trace of which Verne
succeeded in expunging from the record before he died. The
estrangement with his wife persisted for many years, though eventually
they reconciled. Verne was a distant father and his son grew up
delinquent in his eyes. He was very critical of his son in
adolescence, and, in the words of this biographer, Michel "lived down"
to his father's expectations. Eventually though, they reconciled too
and in his last years Michel became Verne's literary executor and
finished many of his unfinished projects.

Michel turned out to be a talented and original writer in his own
right and several times wrote, submitted and published novels of his
own, taking advantage of the similarity of his name to that of his
father. Indeed several of the ideas that attracted me back to Verne
actually seem to have been cooked up by Michel rather than Jules. If
Verne had lived up to his responsibility as a father he would have
taken an effort not only to apprentice Michel but, when his skills
were ready, he would have pushed him into the limelight so that he
could have had an independent career. As it was, Michel never made it
on his own; though he wrote a handful of original works in later years
there were few readers to notice.

Not that you can blame Jules Verne for this neglect since he made very
little effort at promoting his own career either, much less that of
his son. After the spectacular successes of his early books, he
settled down like a factory worker punching a clock, producing two
novels a year until his death. He learned his dramatic métier but
avoided learning the necessary corollary, the art of self-promotion.
He let his publisher take the lion's share of the profits from his
early books, and just kept on writing regardless. When he traveled it
was not to promote his books, it was in virtual anonymity, though his
wife was very pleased with all the attention from notables. Verne's
readership over two decades went down from hundreds of thousands to
sales of a mere few thousand per book, which is as much as your
ordinary, run of the mill, unknown, hack novelist can expect.

To put this another way, Jules Verne was an exemplary Catholic in one
way especially, he genuinely hated Mammon. In spite of his being a
former stock broker, the very idea of profit and money grubbing was
repugnant. Many critics are surprised at the high praise Pope Leo gave
his work for "purity" when Verne and crew were given an audience with
him in Rome. They point out that there are virtually no references to
God, Jesus, sin or salvation in anything he wrote. But when it comes
to this, Verne's dislike of money was Catholic to the core. This is
why I have always had problems with Verne's greatest character,
Captain Nemo. The fellow invents a submarine, plunders undersea
treasures around the world, then condemns other people for corrupt
money grubbing. That I just find strange, incomprehensible, more
hypocritical than righteous. Nemo is far from a sympathetic character
to me.

Okay, you guessed it, I focus on this aspect of Verne because it hits
close to home. I am no self promoter of my career either. Worse, I
have no moral scruples about profit like Verne did, so why my problems
forcing myself to grub for it? Like Verne, I like the process of
writing more than being a famous personality. And like Verne I resent
the fact that I would have to go out and scrounge for my career to
flourish, to stop writing and start schmoozing for a large enough
readership to sustain our family. If this was true even for the
world-famous Jules Verne, it is especially so for me. At least that is
how I think until my next failure in health, after which the whole
thing is mooted again, for the thousandth Sisyphonian time.

It was surprising to learn that Verne ran for election on the local
city counsel in the late 1880's and held the position of what we would
call an alderman to the end of his life. True, his scientific novels
involve much city planning, so local political decisions, especially
having to do with his old love the theatre, did hold his interest.
Myself, I have the same revulsion for administration and bureaucracy
that Verne had for Mammon, and I find it hard to understand why he
would voluntarily subject himself to all of that. Yes, he was schooled
as a lawyer, but still... The hardest thing by far for me about being
a Baha'i is serving the Administrative Order in an official capacity;
if I had a free choice, I would be an observer and supporter from far
back in the wings, not a participant in the grind of decision making.
Consultation is for me like the cross was for Jesus; I would have God
make the cup disappear if I had my druthers.

Before I end let me say that although I am not a novelist and do not
even read novels (though I watch avidly every filmed version of
Verne's stories that I can get my hands on, even the butchered
made-for-television productions -- like the abominable adaptation of
Mysterious Island that hit the video stores this week), I have a deep
love for what Jules Verne loved, discovery, exploration, the sea,
justice, music, storytelling, and the possibilities opened up by
technology. In the spirit of Verne, let me speculate a little about
the possibilities for the immediate future stirred up by reading about
his life and career.

First of all, careers are a crock, especially for writers. The
Guardian said that in future history will be written by groups, not
individuals. I say that this is not the half of it. Not only writing
about history but almost all writing, in my opinion, will be done in
packs. Wolves, the most intelligent of all predators, run in packs, so
why not original writing? In view of the scientific discoveries
outlined in Surowiecki's Wisdom of Crowds, group writing must
predominate more and more over individual careers.

This is already happening. Work is carved out by advancing information
technology and distributed to writers' studies around the world. Take
Wikipedia, a group writing project on a grand scale, the logical
continuation of the Enlightenment's Encyclopedie, only it is being
written not in French or English but in all human languages, all at
once, by millions of enthusiastic writers around the world. Open ended
writing, moderated by self effacing authority, born in and of the
Internet, is the writing of the near future. Or take video games, or
MUDs on the Web. These soon will become the writing paper of the
future; they are novels, movies, entire virtual worlds all mashed into
one. Hook them up to a stationary bicycle or other virtual reality
exercise machine, run them under an open regime devised by teachers
and health professionals promoting virtues like wisdom and moderation,
and such invention can easily be made into utopia generating devices
of monumental proportions. All it will take is the spirit of true
Baha'is working together, and our world will be transformed beyond
Verne's wildest imagination.

All thoughts in these essays are humble offerings to the Holy Word,
for they originally derive from communion with It in my obligatory
morning reading and prayer. Today's reading comes from the Bab's Seven
Proofs, and follows upon proofs cited yesterday:

"Now consider the Revelation of the Bayan. If the followers of the
Qur'an had applied to themselves proofs similar to those which they
advance for the non-believers in Islam, not a single soul would have
remained deprived of the Truth, and on the Day of Resurrection
everyone would have attained salvation." (Selections, 120)

This points to the complete dependence of groups upon critical
abilities of the individuals in the group. Without that, hypocrisy
rules, we criticize others instead of ourselves. Creeping tyranny
rises to the top in group functions, and artist and groups divorce.
Creative workers are corrupted by lack of self-criticism, and groups
fail in their function along with them. Hard as it is, an artist must
work in and with groups, for consultation is key. No individual ever
compares in power and correctness to a group. Conversely, assuming
that consultation is done properly and in a spiritual manner, groups
need not cramp the style and originality of an inspired genius like
Verne.

No, more. I believe that if Jules Verne had been part of a "scientific
novel" production group cooperating with working scientists, his
imaginative output and accuracy and relevance might not have tanked as
they did. He and his son after him might have gone on to world
changing influence. In view of his concern for the environment and
beauty in his city planning career in city hall, we might not be in
the mess we are today if he had worked his full potential as an artist
in a group. Today, scientists and astronomers are increasingly
recognizing the importance of the role of science fiction in promoting
and popularizing the ideas and ideals that they deal with technically.

The reason groups and artists need each other is that working alone,
no matter how brilliant, an artist inevitably hits his level of
incompetence. The quality of their words suffers the moment he or she
(Margaret Atwood is a name that springs to mind) becomes prominent
enough that the opinions of publishers, editors and copy writers cease
to carry due weight. Every individual must recognize that creative
freedom, like all freedoms, ceases to be a good when carried to
excess. Like the French Revolution, too much rebellion, freedom and
independence become violent and eat their own children. The flashing
brilliance of the Renaissance happened when, for a brief time,
scientists, artists and planners worked in harmony as teams. Let us
pray that this happens again on a world level. Today's prayer was for
just that:

"Darkness hath encompassed every land, O my God, and caused most of
Thy servants to tremble. I beseech Thee, by Thy Most Great Name, to
raise in every city a new creation that shall turn towards Thee, and
shall remember Thee amidst Thy servants, and shall unfurl by virtue of
their utterances and wisdom the ensigns of Thy victory, and shall
detach themselves from all created things. Potent art Thou to do Thy
pleasure. No God is there but Thee, the Most Powerful, He Whose help
is implored by all men." (Baha'u'llah, Prayers and Meditations, 171)

--
John Taylor

badijet@gmail.com