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Castles of California: Two Plays by Jules Verne
Two of Jules Verne's plays have long piqued the interest of American readers, and are included in this volume in translation for the first time. Both feature Frenchmen, recently returned from the United States, discovering the ephemeral nature of wealth. In The Castles of California, the Frenchman has come from the California gold fields--has he struck it rich, or has he had the bad luck of most of the "Forty-niners"? In A Nephew from America, an unattached ladies' man suddenly discovers that his late brother had a son in America, who is now an adult. And his new nephew is in love, and needs his uncle's assistance. Will true love, and kinship, win out?
Accompanying the two plays is an afterword on Verne's 1867 trip to the United States, and its lasting inspiration; some one-third of the author's stories would include American characters, settings, or themes.
The book is profusely illustrated with original engravings from Verne's time, and translation is by Kieran O'Driscoll, a leading expert on Verne in the English language.
Accompanying the two plays is an afterword on Verne's 1867 trip to the United States, and its lasting inspiration; some one-third of the author's stories would include American characters, settings, or themes.
The book is profusely illustrated with original engravings from Verne's time, and translation is by Kieran O'Driscoll, a leading expert on Verne in the English language.
256 pages, Hardcover
Published March 6, 2017
About the author
Jules Verne
7,669 books12.5k followersNovels of French writer Jules Gabriel Verne, considered the founder of modern science fiction, include
Journey to the Center of the Earth
(1864) and
Around the World in Eighty Days
(1873).
This author who pioneered the genre. People best know him for Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea (1870).
Verne wrote about space, air, and underwater travel before people invented navigable aircraft and practical submarines and devised any means of spacecraft. He ranks behind Dame Agatha Mary Clarissa Christie as the second most translated author of all time. People made his prominent films. People often refer to Verne alongside Herbert George Wells as the "father of science fiction."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jules_V...
This author who pioneered the genre. People best know him for Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea (1870).
Verne wrote about space, air, and underwater travel before people invented navigable aircraft and practical submarines and devised any means of spacecraft. He ranks behind Dame Agatha Mary Clarissa Christie as the second most translated author of all time. People made his prominent films. People often refer to Verne alongside Herbert George Wells as the "father of science fiction."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jules_V...
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Displaying 1 - 1 of 1 review
June 20, 2017
Good plays don’t always make for easy reading. However, that is not the case with the two works which this volume of the Palik Series features. That’s quite a feat considering that the one-act Castles of California (from which the entire volume gets its name) was the first play that Jules Verne ever had published (albeit not actually performed).
The three act A Nephew from America was ~ on the other hand ~ performed live to a short run. Introduction writer Kieran O’Driscoll notes that this was not before Verne had joined forces with a couple of collaborators. I found it interesting that one of them, Edouard Cadol, had sought funding from an insurance company; it would be the mechanics of that very industry that became key to the twists and turns in Nephew.
O’Driscoll goes on to compare the themes of the two works. It’s not hard for the reader to draw similarities either. Both works are romantic comedies in which the fortunes of love are interwoven with, well, the monetary fortunes (or lack thereof) of the would-be future couple(s). The ebb and flow of these correlated factors provide constant amusement.
However, it was not these couples that drew my attention.
For me, the foibles of Castle’s Madame Dubourg –provided the comic relief that make the work endearing. That’s mainly due to the unshakeable belief in her family’s absolute destiny to accrue riches via her husband’s ventures in the New World and California. Her reaction is classic when the master of the house tells her of him that it’s best to forego the trappings of wealth and live a humbler life; as he proclaims
“I shall be, all at once, my own lackey, coach driver, groom, chambermaid, cook, company, coach, horses, and, through my cheerfulness, my carefree attitude and my nerve, I shall get the better of the most monied aristocrats of this fine country we call France!”
Castle, being shorter, is crisper than Nephew. Naturally, on the flipside, Nephew has more room for character development and interrelationships. In Nephew, it wasn’t the evolution of the titular nephew (nor his devotion to his one true love) that piqued my interest per se. Rather it’s the growth of his uncle, one Stanislas De Frontignac, that becomes the center of the entertainment. The way Frontignac deals with 2 supporting characters (both representatives of insurance companies) displays Verne’s cleverness (and at the same time would keep the actuaries and underwriters amongst his audience scratching their heads!)
For dessert, Brian Taves dishes up Jules Verne’s Trip to America in the appendix. If you want to find the inspiration for many a Verne character, this is the place to look!
In conclusion: The Palik Series delivers once again!
The three act A Nephew from America was ~ on the other hand ~ performed live to a short run. Introduction writer Kieran O’Driscoll notes that this was not before Verne had joined forces with a couple of collaborators. I found it interesting that one of them, Edouard Cadol, had sought funding from an insurance company; it would be the mechanics of that very industry that became key to the twists and turns in Nephew.
O’Driscoll goes on to compare the themes of the two works. It’s not hard for the reader to draw similarities either. Both works are romantic comedies in which the fortunes of love are interwoven with, well, the monetary fortunes (or lack thereof) of the would-be future couple(s). The ebb and flow of these correlated factors provide constant amusement.
However, it was not these couples that drew my attention.
For me, the foibles of Castle’s Madame Dubourg –provided the comic relief that make the work endearing. That’s mainly due to the unshakeable belief in her family’s absolute destiny to accrue riches via her husband’s ventures in the New World and California. Her reaction is classic when the master of the house tells her of him that it’s best to forego the trappings of wealth and live a humbler life; as he proclaims
“I shall be, all at once, my own lackey, coach driver, groom, chambermaid, cook, company, coach, horses, and, through my cheerfulness, my carefree attitude and my nerve, I shall get the better of the most monied aristocrats of this fine country we call France!”
Castle, being shorter, is crisper than Nephew. Naturally, on the flipside, Nephew has more room for character development and interrelationships. In Nephew, it wasn’t the evolution of the titular nephew (nor his devotion to his one true love) that piqued my interest per se. Rather it’s the growth of his uncle, one Stanislas De Frontignac, that becomes the center of the entertainment. The way Frontignac deals with 2 supporting characters (both representatives of insurance companies) displays Verne’s cleverness (and at the same time would keep the actuaries and underwriters amongst his audience scratching their heads!)
For dessert, Brian Taves dishes up Jules Verne’s Trip to America in the appendix. If you want to find the inspiration for many a Verne character, this is the place to look!
In conclusion: The Palik Series delivers once again!
Displaying 1 - 1 of 1 review