![]() ![]() Of course, the library also doubles as a smoking room, and the Captain rolls his own kelp Cohibas. First, Captain Nemo has an excellent library with over twelve thousand books: “orks on science, morals, and literature abounded in each language but I did not see a single work on political economy that subject appeared to be strictly proscribed.” Horrid, horrid political economy. We soon find out that things might not be so bad aboard this ship. The reader is of course curious how the three will fare on board this amazing machine. The catch is that they do not actually have a choice, as Nemo says he cannot not let them leave lest they inform the rest of the world about him and presumably lead to him being hunted down. A Victorian exchange of dialogue if ever there was one.ĭespite the initial reception, the trio are eventually introduced to Captain Nemo who presents them with an opportunity to accompany him in his remarkable submarine and travel beneath the world’s great oceans. ![]() They only just miss being cannibals”, however Monsieur lets cool heads prevail by reminding the Canadian to “not excite yourself”. The crew of the ship enforcing the imprisonment leaves a bad impression, forcing Ned to remark that “ere are people who come up to the Scotch for hospitality. The threesome find themselves suddenly afloat the “monster” which turns out to be a submarine in which they are forcibly abducted into. After the ship (somehow) tracks the creature to (somewhere) in the pacific, Ned Land throws his harpoon at the “creature” only to find it attack the ship sending Ned, professore, and Jeeves into the water. Aronnax is persuaded to accompany this voyage in order to prove his hypothesis of a gigantic narwhal as being the source of this hubbub. Who calls himself Canadian calls himself French … It was an opportunity for … me to hear, that old language of Rabelais, which is still in use in some Canadian provinces. His person attracted attention, but above all, the boldness of his look, which gave a singular expression to his face. Ned Land was about forty years of age he was a tall man … strongly built … occasionally violent, and very passionate when contradicted. Ned Land of course fits the limits of imagination for what a Canadian could constitute in the 19th century: Farragut displays Ahab-like qualities in his bizarre determination for the destruction of the natural world:Įither Captain Farragut would kill the narwhal, or the narwhal would kill the Captain. The United States navy, concerned about rogue narwhals (the Emancipation Proclamation has already been signed so don’t worry), has commissioned the Abraham Lincoln (the year is 1869 so it is a posthumous title) to track down and kill this pesky beast lest it bother another steamship. The book introduces us to a very Victorian world with international steamship lines, a Professor Aronnax with his trusty manservant Conseil, a comically one-dimensional Canadian whaler named Ned Land, a Commander Farragut, and a putative narwhal that is attacking (accidentally?) ships in divers places. Well’s books started and Verne’s ended were somewhat fuzzy in my brain. My memory about Verne and his cultural impact were somewhat obfuscated both because: Captain Nemo was in The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (an Alan Moore graphic novel), and where H.G. ![]() In addition to Alice in Wonderland and T hrough the Looking Glass, Little Women, and The Hound of the Baskervilles, I picked up Verne’s classic 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. I recently found a very handsome collection of classic children’s books published by the Vancouver Sun. ![]()
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