The Mysterious Island by Jules Verne (Week 2)

[Gem , Moderator]

The Mysterious Island
Week 2 (June 24 - 30) Part 1, Chapters 13 - 22

1) The characters settled into a "normal" with routines, chores, and projects. They seem to have accepted they may be on the island for a long period of time. How do you think they will fare in the long run?

2) There was a lot of technical/scientific information covered in the week's reading. Harding has a lot of knowledge and has been a wealth of information for the group. Did you find the technical/scientific information added to the story or detracted from it?

3) The group goes through the winter for the first time on the island. Were you surprised by how easily the group gets through the winter?

4) We get a surprise at the end of this week's reading. One of the group broke a tooth while eating a rabbit... he finds a bullet. What do you think this means to the castaways?

[Lori, Moderator]

It did seem to me that things seemed too "convenient" for them. All the different types of plants and wildlife and minerals. But then I remembered that volcanic islands in real life have a lot of biodiversity, so I'll buy it. I did read through the technical information a bit quickly. It was kind of interesting, but I didn't feel like dwelling on it too long. I guess they'll have to look for someone else on the island, who has a gun.

[Nancy]

Once again, I found the long descriptions of the preparations of the cave, the hunting, the amounts and types of animals killed for food to be overlong and boring. I applaud the inventiveness of the men and their work ethic, but I wonder how realistic it would be in real life. Usually in a group setting, there is at least one person who becomes discontented and refuses to co-operate with the leader. These men are all jolly, with no one rebelling, no laziness, no pouting. Pencroft occasionally questions things, but even he goes along cheerfully and willingly when Harding explains why he has made his decisions. It would make more sense that at some point (especially during the long indoor winter months), at least one quarrel or fight would have broken out. I'm also a little amused at the idea that there will someday be lots of buildings, railroads, and a whole civilization on the island, especially since there are no mates for the men and (as far as they know) no other humans at all.

[Ian]

All the technical details Verne supplied (not all of which have stood the test of time, or were up-to-date even when he was writing) helped establish his popular adventure stories as morally uplifting because educational, a concern since the eighteenth century development of fiction into a Middle Class and even working class commodity. (Verne had trouble with his family when he was writing Parisian farces.)

These passages also offered real, rather than cosmetic, educational information to the French public, particularly outside the major cities. Access to libraries was limited (a complaint into the 1970s), and the sciences were not a major part of the official curriculum.

To be a Provincial was to be “provincial” in the (derogatory cultural or social sense. Eugen Weber’s “Peasants into Frenchmen: The Modernization of Rural France 1870-1914” describes a major political and social transformation, much of it taking place during Verne’s lifetime.

[Nancy]

Thanks, Ian. That’s an interesting historical perspective that I hadn’t considered.

[Ian]

Verne’s technical passages are usually cut by translators, and further cut in abridged editions aimed at a juvenile market. And drastic cuts were also made in some French editions of The Mysterious Island! Until 2001 there was no really complete English language version. I am getting a whole different experience from what I remember of my childhood illustrated edition, which seemed pretty long at the time.

By the way, I was initially puzzled by the rabbit. It turns out that there is a Sumatran Striped Rabbit, so maybe it isn’t so ecologically unlikely. Although a rabbit population isn’t good news for a small island’s ecosystem.

And Verne changed his mind about where the island was located, which may have contributed to the confusion.

[Gem , Moderator]

Ian wrote: "Verne’s technical passages are usually cut by translators, and further cut in abridged editions aimed at a juvenile market. And drastic cuts were also made in some French editions of The Mysterious..."

Thanks for the background information Ian that add a lot to the story for me.

[Gem , Moderator]

Nancy wrote: "Usually in a group setting, there is at least one person who becomes discontented and refuses to co-operate with the leader."

I was actually thinking the very same thing when I was reading this past week. No one was disgruntled? Ever? Not likely.

[Ian]

I had intended to mention that Verne’s novels were serialized in a twice-weekly “Magazine of Education and Leisure,” which made my major point for me. I think that I deleted it instead of correcting the spelling.

Also, the Sumatran Striped Rabbit was not an ideal example: it was officially described and named in 1880, a little late for Verne having it in mind for this book.

However, I was able to pull that fact from Wikipedia: it takes an effort to realize how hard it could be to dig up information in the latter half of the nineteenth century, even though the electric telegraph has been described as “the original Internet.”

[Brian E]

Gem wrote: "2) There was a lot of technical/scientific information covered in the week's reading. Harding has a lot of knowledge and has been a wealth of information for the group. Did you find the technical/scientific information added to the story or detracted from it?"

I think the technical or 'processing' information adds to the novel. I see it as a positive not only because, as Ian points out, Verne was supplying important and interesting technical and scientific information to people who insight into the level of knowledge and attitude of Vern's contemporaries. I like getting social history from fiction novels and what and how Verne chooses to describe these processes provides some insight into the French society of the times.

But while I enjoy these 'process' descriptions, at this point in time they make up a larger proportion of the book's scenes and narrative than optimal for an interesting story. It reminds me of Lark Rise to Candleford which suffered for having too much of the story consist of descriptions of life processes than actual events.
Luckily, especially compared to that book, Mysterious Island at least has exciting events when it has more story and, hopefully, will have more and even better events to come.