Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea (Magill’s Guide to Science Fiction and Fantasy Literature)
At a glance:
- Author: Jules Verne
- First Published: 1869
- Type of Work: Novel
- Type of Plot: Science fiction—extrapolatory
- Time of Work: 1866-1868
- Setting: Primarily submarine locations around the globe
- Genres: Long fiction, Science fiction, Adventure, Sea story
- Subjects: Language or languages, Values, Voyages, Philosophy or philosophers, Prisoners, Crime or criminals, Nineteenth century, Science or scientists, Alienation, Friendship, Death or dying, Fantasy, Sea or seafaring life, Shipwrecks, Inventions or inventors, Technology, Submarines, Treasure, Exploration or explorers, Ocean, Whales or whaling, Atlantis
- Locales: Oceans
The Plot
Until 1965, most English editions of Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea were based on the translation of Mercier Lewis (a pseudonym for Lewis Page Mercier), an English clergyman who cut numerous important passages from the novel and mistranslated many scientific measurements. This caused Jules Verne’s reputation as a writer of extrapolative fiction to suffer in English-speaking countries. In 1965, Walter James Miller edited a completely revised and restored English translation; an annotated critical edition appeared in 1976. The Mercier Lewis translation...
[The entire page is 1201 words long]
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