 Frontispiece byLéon Benett | |
| Author | Jules Verne |
|---|---|
| Original title | Robur-le-Conquérant |
| Illustrator | Léon Benett |
| Language | French |
| Series | The Extraordinary Voyages No. 29 Robur the Conqueror #1 |
| Genre | Science fiction novel |
| Publisher | Pierre-Jules Hetzel |
Publication date | 1886 |
| Publication place | France |
Published in English | 1887 |
| Media type | Print (hardback) |
| Preceded by | The Lottery Ticket |
| Followed by | Texar's Revenge, or, North Against South |
Robur the Conqueror (French:Robur-le-Conquérant) is a science fiction novel byJules Verne, published in 1886. It is also known asThe Clipper of the Clouds. It has a sequel,Master of the World, which was published in 1904.
The story begins with strange lights and sounds, including blaring trumpet music, reported in the skies all over the world. Then black flags with gold suns mysteriously appear atop tall historic landmarks such as theStatue of Liberty in New York, theGreat Pyramid of Giza in Egypt, and theEiffel Tower in Paris. These events are all the work of the mysterious Robur (thespecific epithet for the English oak (Quercus robur) and figuratively taken to mean "strength"), a brilliant inventor who intrudes on a meeting of a flight-enthusiasts' club called the Weldon Institute inPhiladelphia, Pennsylvania.
Members of the Weldon Institute are all firm believers that mankind shall master the skies using"lighter than air" craft, and that"heavier than air" craft such asairplanes andhelicopters would be unfeasible. The institute has been constructing a giantdirigible called theGo-ahead. During a heated discussion over where to place its propeller (in front to pull it, orbehind to push it), Robur appears at the meeting and is admitted to speak. He chastises the group for being balloon-boosters when "heavier than air" flying apparatuses are the future. When asked if Robur himself has "made conquest of the air", he states that he has, leading to him accepting the title "Robur the Conqueror". During his short time at the Weldon Institute, Robur so incites the members that they chase him outside. Just as they are about to attack him, Robur appears to vanish into the mob, but he has actually been borne away by a flying machine.
Later that night Robur kidnaps the Weldon Institute'spresident, Uncle Prudent; hissecretary, Phil Evans; andvalet, Frycollin. He takes them on board his ship, a huge, battery-powered "aeronef" called theAlbatross, which has many verticalairscrews to providelift, and two horizontal airscrews in apush-pull configuration to drive the vessel forward. It bears the same black flag with golden sun that has been sighted on many landmarks, and a crewmen playing a trumpet accounts for the music in the sky. To demonstrate the vessel's superiority, Robur takes his captives around the world in the course of three weeks. Prudent and Evans are angry at Robur for kidnapping them and unwilling to admit that theAlbatross is a fantastic vessel, or that their notions of "lighter than air" superiority are wrong. They demand that Robur release them, but he is aloof and always says that they shall remain as long as he desires it. Fearing they will be held captive forever, the two formulate plans both to escape and to destroy theAlbatross.
After the horizontal propellers are damaged in a storm, theAlbatross anchors over theChatham Islands for repairs. While the crew is busy at work, Prudent and Evans light a fuze and make their escape. They try to bring Frycollin with them but cannot find him, only later discovering that he had already escaped without them. TheAlbatross explodes and its wreckage, along with Robur and his crew, plunges towards the ocean. Meanwhile, the three escapees are safe on a small but inhabited island and are later rescued by a ship; they then make a long journey back to Philadelphia.
The Weldon Institute members return, and rather than describe their adventures or admit that Robur had created a flying machine greater than their expectations of theGo-ahead, they simply conclude the argument the group was having during their last meeting. Rather than have only one propeller to their dirigible, they decide to haveone propeller in front and another behind, similar to Robur's design.
Seven months after their return theGo-ahead is completed and making its maiden voyage with the president, secretary, and an aeronaut. The speed and maneuverability of the dirigible impress a huge crowd, but are trivial compared to Robur'sAlbatross. Suddenly, out of the sky there appears theAlbatross. It is revealed that when theAlbatross exploded, enough of it was intact so that at least some of the propellersoperated and slowed its descent, saving the crew. The crew used the remains of theAlbatross as a raft until they were rescued by a ship. Later, Robur and the crew made it back to his secret X Island, where the originalAlbatross had been built. Robur has built a newAlbatross and now intends to exact revenge by showing that it is superior to the Weldon Institute'sGo-ahead.
The entirety of the final scene is described from the crowd's point of view. TheAlbatross begins circling theGo-ahead; theGo-ahead dropsballast and rises to fourteen thousand feet. TheAlbatross follows, still a circling menace. TheGo-ahead is at the mercy of theAlbatross because theAlbatross is both faster and more maneuverable. Finally, theGo-ahead exceeds herpressure-height limit, whereupon her gas bags rupture. Losing her buoyant gases, theGo-ahead drops out of the sky like a rapidly descending kite. TheAlbatross stays alongside of theGo-ahead as she falls, signalling the pilot and passengers of theGo-ahead to come on board theAlbatross. They refuse, but then the crew of theAlbatross seizes them and brings them aboard.
Having demonstrated his rule over the skies, Robur returns the three men to the ground. In a short speech, Robur says that nations are not yet fit for union. He cautions the crowd that it isevolution, not revolution, that they should be seeking. He leaves with the promise that he will one day return to reveal his secrets of flight. The people of Philadelphia subject Prudent and Evans to unrelenting ridicule for the rest of their lives.
The story was adapted into a 1961 film,Master of the World, starringVincent Price as Robur. The film retained the novel's basic concept but added elements of intrigue and a romanticsubplot.
In this version, Robur is an idealist who intends to conquer the world in order to end tyranny and war. He plans to use his airship, theAlbatross to bomb the military forces of the world until all nations concede to his demands. (In contrast, the novel's Robur has no such aims, and bombs only one ground target: an African coronation where a masshuman sacrifice is about to take place.)
Instead of the Weldon Institute members, he kidnaps Mr. Prudent of Philadelphia, an armaments manufacturer, along with his daughter Dorothy and her fiancé Phillip Evans.Charles Bronson plays Strock, the reluctant hero who comes to admire Robur, but not enough to allow him to carry out his plans.
The nameAlbatross is retained, though the novel's description and early illustrations that suggest a flush-deckedclipper ship with propellers on its masts instead of sails, is replaced by a more contemporary design resembling a classic airship, or dirigible; though still given propellers for lift. The vessel is described in the film as being a 'heavier than air machine of several tons,' a statement later explained as the vessel 'is made entirely of straw paper, mixed with dextrin and clay, and squeezed in a hydraulic press...'
This construction also enables theAlbatross to fly high enough to be impervious to contemporary weapons fire. When flown low to the ground, though,Albatross was heavily damaged while within the blast radius of one of its own bombs, and was finally damaged beyond repair and sank into the ocean when the gunpowder in its armory exploded due to sabotage by the passengers.
Works related toRobur the Conqueror at Wikisource
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