20,000 Leagues Under the Sea Abbreviated Edition Travel Light Reading Series

Author: (French) Jules Verne / Liu Zongwu
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2002-01-01
Features: World literature masters accompany you on a leisurely journey, foreign classics condensed for you to showcase, exquisite appreciation essays for you to savor after reading, and a collection of original essence at your fingertips. This book is a condensed version of one of the representative works of the French science fiction writer Jules Verne, "Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea." It mainly depicts the French marine biologist Professor Aronnax and his assistant Conseil, along with the whaling hunter Ned Land, who chase a giant monster believed to be a narwhal. Unfortunately, they are shipwrecked and swim to the back of the monster, only to discover it is a meticulously constructed submarine. This sets off an incredible 20,000-league journey under the sea.
Jules Verne (1828–1905) was a French novelist and one of the pioneers of science fiction. He wrote over 60 science fiction novels in his lifetime, collectively titled "Voyages in a World Known and Unknown." Due to his extensive contributions, he is hailed as the "Father of Science Fiction." Jules Gabriel Verne was born on February 8, 1828, in Nantes, France. His family had a tradition of seafaring, which deeply influenced his later writing. During his childhood, he secretly ran away to a merchant ship, attempting to sail to sea, but was discovered and returned to his parents, after which he was closely supervised. He promised his parents that he would only "travel in his imagination while lying in bed" from then on. In 1847, he was sent to Paris to study law. However, the bustling Paris ignited his passion for drama. By the late 1850s, his first play was published. When Verne's father learned that his son had no intention of continuing his legal studies, he flew into a rage and decided to cut off financial support. From then on, the young Verne had to rely on writing to earn a living. After spending considerable time in the Paris library studying geography, engineering, and aerospace science, Verne completed his first novel, "Five Weeks in a Balloon" (Cinq Semaines en ballon, 1863). However, the process of trying to publish this book was not smooth—16 publishers rejected Verne, and in frustration, he threw the manuscript into the fire. But his wife saved the manuscript; fortunately, the 17th publisher finally agreed to publish it. Soon after, he began writing works that later became classics of early science fiction: "A Journey to the Center of the Earth" (Voyage au centre de la Terre, 1864), "From the Earth to the Moon" (De la Terre à la Lune, 1866), and "Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea" (20,000 lieues sous les mers, 1873). The novel was a huge success, becoming a bestseller and immensely popular in Europe. Verne also became a millionaire. In 1876, he purchased a large yacht and began traveling around Europe. His last novel was published in 1905, "The Invasion of the Sea" (L'Invasion de la mer). When Pope Leo XIII met him in 1884, he said, "I am not unaware of the scientific value of your works, but what I cherish most is their purity, moral value, and spiritual strength." Jules Verne lost consciousness on March 24, 1905, and died at 8:00 a.m. on March 25.
[Editor]
Verne's main works were published in the late 19th century, and many of the ideas and descriptions in his science fiction novels became reality in the 20th century, so some of his works now read as if they are not "wildly imaginative." The most famous of these is undoubtedly the giant submarine, the Nautilus, captained by Nemo (a name that means "no one" in Latin), in "Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea." The first nuclear-powered submarine in the world, the USS Nautilus (SSN-571, launched in 1954), was named after it; France's unmanned robotic submarine is also named Nautilus. His main science fiction works include:
- The trilogy "The Children of Captain Grant," "Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea," and "The Mysterious Island"
- Adventures "Around the World in Eighty Days," "Five Weeks in a Balloon," "Robinson Crusoe," "From the Earth to the Moon," "A Round Trip to the Moon," "The Solar System," "A Journey to the Center of the Earth"
- National Independence and Revolution "Count Sandorf," "Island of Fire," "The Danube Pilot"
- Others "The Vanishing Peninsula," "The Captain at Fifteen," "The Machine Island," "The Invisible Bride," "The Adventures of Aventures," "The Five Billion Francs of the Indian Lady"