 | A request that this article title be changed toJourney to the Centre of the EarthJourney to the Centre of the Earth isunder discussion. Pleasedo not move this article until the discussion is closed. |
 Front cover of an 1874 English translation | |
| Author | Jules Verne |
|---|---|
| Original title | Voyage au centre de la Terre |
| Illustrator | Édouard Riou |
| Cover artist | Édouard Riou |
| Language | French |
| Series | The Extraordinary Voyages #3 |
| Genre | Science fiction,adventure novel |
| Publisher | Pierre-Jules Hetzel |
Publication date | 25 November 1864; rev. 1867 |
| Publication place | France |
Published in English | 1871 |
| Preceded by | The Adventures of Captain Hatteras |
| Followed by | From the Earth to the Moon |
Journey to the Center of the Earth (French:Voyage au centre de la Terre), also translated with the variant titlesA Journey to the Centre of the Earth andA Journey into the Interior of the Earth, is a classicscience fiction novel written by French novelistJules Verne. It was first published in French in 1864, then reissued in 1867 in a revised and expanded edition. Professor Otto Lidenbrock is the tale's central figure, an eccentric German scientist who believes there arevolcanic tubes that reach to the very center of the earth.[1] He, his nephew Axel, and their Icelandic guide Hansrappel into Iceland's celebrated inactive volcanoSnæfellsjökull.[1] They then contend with many dangers, including cave-ins, subpolar tornadoes, an underground ocean, and living prehistoric creatures from theMesozoic andCenozoic eras (the 1867 edition inserted additional prehistoric material).[2] Eventually the three explorers are spewed back to the surface by the eruption of an active volcano,Stromboli, located insouthern Italy.
The category ofsubterranean fiction existed well before Verne. However, his novel's distinction lay in its well-researchedVictorian science and its inventive contribution to the science-fiction subgenre oftime travel—Verne's innovation was the concept of a prehistoric realm still existing in the present-day world.Journey inspired many later authors, includingSir Arthur Conan Doyle in his novelThe Lost World,Edgar Rice Burroughs in hisPellucidar series,[3] andJ. R. R. Tolkien inThe Hobbit.[4]
The story begins in May 1863, at the home of Professor Otto Lidenbrock[1] inHamburg,Germany. While leafing through an original runic manuscript of anIcelandicsaga, Lidenbrock and his nephew Axel[1] find a coded note written inrunic script along with the name of a 16th-century Icelandicalchemist, Arne Saknussemm. When translated into English, the note reads:
Go down into the crater of Snaefells Jökull, which Scartaris's shadow caresses just before the calends of July, O daring traveler, and you'll make it to the center of the earth. I've done so. Arne Saknussemm
Lidenbrock departs for Iceland immediately, taking the reluctant Axel with him. After a swift trip viaKiel andCopenhagen, they arrive inReykjavík. There they hire as their guide Icelander Hans Bjelke, a Danish-speakingeiderduck hunter, then travel overland to the base ofSnæfellsjökull.
In late June they reach the volcano and set off into the bowels of the earth, encountering many dangers and strange phenomena. After taking a wrong turn, they run short of water and Axel nearly perishes, but Hans saves them all by tapping into asubterranean river, which shoots out a stream of water that Lidenbrock and Axel name the "Hansbach" in the guide's honor.
Following the course of the Hansbach, the explorers descend many miles and reach an underground world. During this descent, Axel once again comes close to death as he diverges from Lidenbrock and Hans and suffers major injuries finding his way back, however he manages to do so and is saved by them. The travelers then build a raft out of semipetrified wood and set sail. While at sea, they encounter prehistoric fish and giant marine reptiles from the age ofdinosaurs (aPlesiosaur fighting an oversizedIchthyosaur). A lightning storm threatens to destroy the raft and its passengers, but instead throws them onto the site of an enormous fossil graveyard, including bones from thepterodactyl,Megatherium,mastodon, and the preserved body of a man.
Lidenbrock and Axel venture into a forest featuring primitive vegetation from theTertiary period. In its depths they are stunned to find a prehistoric humanoid more than twelve feet in height with a huge unshapely head and a mane that hid most of its heads. It was watching over a herd of mastodons as ashepherd. Fearing the humanoid may be hostile, they leave the forest.
Continuing to explore the coastline, the travelers find a passageway marked by Saknussemm as the way ahead, but it has been blocked by a recent cave-in. The adventurers lay plans to blow the rock open withgun cotton, meanwhile paddling their raft out to sea to avoid the blast. On executing this scheme, they find a bottomless pit beyond the impeding rock and are swept into it as the sea rushes down the huge open gap. After spending hours descending at breakneck speed, their raft reverses direction and rises inside a volcanic chimney that ultimately spews them via an eruption into the open air.[5] When they regain consciousness, they learn that they have been ejected fromStromboli, avolcanic island located offSicily.
The trio returns to Germany, where they enjoy great acclaim; Professor Lidenbrock is hailed as one of the great scientists of the day, Axel marries his sweetheart Gräuben, and Hans returns to his peaceful life inIceland.
In August 1859, Jules Verne visitedScotland, seeing Edinburgh, its castle and the local geological features, including the extinct volcanoArthur's Seat andCastle Rock, a volcanic plug.[7] These would have an influence on his writing.[7]Journey was written according to the mid-19th century scientific understandings of the time.[8] For example, Lidenbrock’s premise for why the group do not encounter elevated temperatures even as they near the base of the Earth’s crust is based onHumphry Davy’s geochemistry (including the chemical oxidation theory of volcanic eruption) which was later disapproved.[8] However, for an understanding ofgeology as well as other aspects of scientific information, Verne usedLouis Figuier's then recently published 1863 scientific workLa Terre avant le déluge (The World before the Deluge).[9] Verne had also made friends withCharles Joseph Sainte-Claire Deville, a noted geologist who specialised inseismic phenomena and who had descended into Stromboli.[6]Leonard Nimoy, in the Signet edition notes that Verne"was able to adapt nearly every important element in the story’s action from contemporary, intellectual, literary, scientific, and geographical thought”.[10] The source for the runic ciphered document of Arne Saknusseman that leads to the adventure was inspired byThe Gold-Bug (1843) byEdgar Allan Poe and the runic description came from that inL'univers pittoresque (1845,Ambroise-Firmin Didot).[6] The character Martha (Lidenbrock's housekeeper) was based on Mathurine Paris, a live-inmaid who served the Verne household in Jules early years.[11] It is believed that Lidenbrock's character parodies that of Jules' father, Pierre Verne, who was said to be multilingual, scientific and passionate.[6] The name itself was said to have been in honour ofFriedrich Lindenbrog (1573-1648), a Germanbibliophile.[6] Between January and August 1864, combining these influences, Verne wroteJourney.[6]
The original manuscript of Journey is in a private collection in the US.[12] The original French editions of 1864 and 1867 were issued by J. Hetzel et Cie, a major Paris publishing house owned byPierre-Jules Hetzel. The 1867 edition, originally in a large-octavo format, came out with two new chapters.[2] This included additional information on prehistory which had become a distinct focus of academic study in 1865.[2] This included discussion of remains from theQuaternary Era, a living herd ofmastodons, and other fictionalised prehistoric events.[2]
For non-French readers, the work has been translated into numerous interpretations.[13] The novel's first English edition, translated by an unknown hand and published in 1871 by the London house Griffith & Farran, appeared under the titleA Journey to the Centre of the Earth and is now available atProject Gutenberg.[14] A drastically rewritten version of the story, it adds chapter titles where Verne gives none, meanwhile changing the professor's surname to Hardwigg, Axel's name to Harry, and Gräuben's to Gretchen. In addition, many paragraphs and details are completely recomposed.[citation needed]
An 1877 London edition from Ward, Lock, & Co. appeared under the titleA Journey into the Interior of the Earth. Its translation, credited to Frederick Amadeus Malleson, is more faithful than the Griffith & Farran version, though it, too, concocts chapter titles and modifies details. Its text is likewise available at Project Gutenberg.[15] In 1877, Verne was sued by another author Léon Delmas alleging that Verne had plagiarised parts of Journey from the Delmas 1863 short story 'La Tete de Mimers' also involving a lost runic document and exploration underground.[16] However, when it reached court, the allegations by Delmas were not proven and Verne won the court case.[16]
There are two modern English translations: one byFrank Wynne with notes by Peter Cogman, published byPenguin Classics in 2009, and one by Matthew Jonas, published by Birch Hill Publishing in 2022. A prior Penguin Classics edition was translated byRobert Baldick and published in 1965. A translation byWillis T Bradley, was published in the USA by Ace Books asD-155 (D-397, 2nd printing) in 1956 (1959), that claimed to be the ‘first new Twentieth Century translation’. An Oxford World Classics paperback edition was translated by William Butcher and published in 1992.
Journey to the Interior of the Earth public domain audiobook atLibriVox| International | |
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