Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea

20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, original French title Vingt mille lieues sous les mers, is a 1869-1870 published novel by French writer Jules Verne. Verne takes in this book, the technical development of the submarine anticipated. Submarines were made at prior to publication of the book, but they were not well developed technically. Like other of his works, this includes a battle of ideas:

"That Indian, sir, is residents of an oppressed country, and I am also, and until my last breath, I'll be a resident of this country! "

Content

The novel is ostensibly an experience report of the French Professor Pierre Aronnax, author of a work on " The Secrets of the Deep". In the years 1866 and 1867 are piling up on all the oceans mysterious shipwrecks. The press speculated previously unknown sea monster or an " underwater vehicle with extraordinary mechanical force " have brought the vessels to capsize, Aronnax suspects a gigantic narwhal as the cause. Because of his expertise as an oceanographer in 1867 he is asked by the U.S. government to join an expedition to clarify the processes, and so stands Aronnax, accompanied by his imperturbable servant Conseil aboard the U.S. frigate Abraham Lincoln in the lake.

After weeks of searching in the North Pacific the object in question is sighted. During the ensuing chase Aronnax, Conseil and the Canadian harpooner Ned flushed land to the open sea, but ultimately found on the surface of the supposed lake monsters solid ground under their feet. It turns out that there actually is a built of iron submarine. After some time, opens a hatch and the three men are led by team members of the vehicle in a cell and later presented to the captain, then as "Nemo " is - Latin for "Nobody " - imagine.

By the time Aronnax experiences in conversations with the mysterious Nemo details about the technical capabilities of the submarine, the Nautilus, but very little about their team and their captain. Nemo has not only broken with humanity, but also with the ground and supplied himself and his team exclusively from the treasures of the sea; so it exploit undersea coal seams from to meet the fuel requirements of its driven with electricity ship, and also the catering team is composed exclusively of marine animals and plants. About his background Nemo are in the course of time, little price - only in the second volume of the novel, he suggests his tragic fate: country, wife and children had been taken from him by earthly powers, and so he had turned his back on the world to as the avenger of the voiceless, to sail the world's oceans. Since no one must know his secret, there is a release of the three castaways out of the question, and so they are forced to follow on board the Nautilus traveled around the world under water.

They experience all kinds of adventures; they meet an Indian pearl diver, salvage the treasures of sunken Spanish galleons, taking part in a funeral on an underwater cemetery, chase a dugong, driving through a subsea tunnel from the Red Sea into the Mediterranean, experiencing a volcanic eruption on the seabed near the island of Santorini, fight a giant octopus and a shark, see the Atlantic the ruins of the lost city of Atlantis and are on board, reached as Captain Nemo and his Nautilus the first man to the South Pole - at that time was not yet known that the south pole of the earth on the land mass of continent is Antarctica. During the journey, they fall several times in dangerous situations from which they are rescued by the Nautilus. Jules Verne describes the victory of technology over nature - the technology makes it all possible. However, he has told in the biography Nemo and the act or the dialogues again and again by implication, at the risk, involves the art without responsibility.

Professor Aronnax gets on the trip in an internal conflict. On the one hand he wants to stay as long as possible, scientists aboard the Nautilus and Captain Nemo to explore together with life in the sea, on the other hand is brought to him by Ned Land of the desire to escape the ship. Ned Lands dislike of Captain Nemo, which is also not overcome the fact that they mutually save his life in the course of the journey, means that the professor " caught between two stools " temporarily. This conflict is resolved only in the penultimate chapter of the second volume, as the professor and his companions to witness how Captain Nemo coolly sunk a ship.

After this incident, Nemo but obviously unsettled feelings of guilt and self-doubt, his team also seems weakened or inattentive. To succeed the three prisoners made ​​a daring escape to saving coast of Norway, as the Nautilus gets into the vortex of the maelstrom.

• Jules Verne: 20,000 miles beneath the seas, Fischer, Frankfurt am Main 2003 ( 3rd edition ), ISBN 978-3-596-15714-3
• Jules Verne: Twenty thousand leagues under the sea part 1, Diogenes, Zurich 1976, ISBN 978-3-257-20244-1 (Volume 1)
• Jules Verne: Twenty thousand leagues under the sea part 2, Diogenes, Zurich 1976, ISBN 978-3-257-20245-8 ( Volume 2 )

Adaptations

Stage adaptations

• Loosely based on the novel by Jules Verne Hamburg composer January Dvorák has a musical written 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, 28 May 2011 experienced as a commission of the State Theatre Eisenach its world premiere.

Films

• 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea 1907 you filmed by Georges Méliès under the title Deux milles sous les mers cents ou le cauchemar pêcheur first time.
• The next film adaptation of Stuart Paton from 1916 connects the two Jules Verne novels (20,000 Leagues Under the Sea and The Mysterious Island ) with each other. This version is notable for its real underwater images by John Ernest Williamson, which are among the earliest testimony of the underwater film.
• 1954 was another film adaptation of Walt Disney (20,000 Leagues Under the Sea ), directed by Richard Fleischer. Captain Nemo was played by James Mason, Ned Land of Kirk Douglas, the servant Conseil by Peter Lorre and Professor Aronnax of Paul Lukas.
• Herbert Lom was 1961 Captain Nemo in the film Mysterious Iceland ( The Mysterious Island ).
• In 1969 Robert Ryan 's role in the film Captain Nemo and the Underwater City ( German title: Captain Nemo ).
• In 1973 an Italian version of " The Mysterious Island " with the title L' isola misteriosa e il Capitano Nemo / La Isla misteriosa ( German title: ruler of a lost world ) with Omar Sharif as Nemo.
• 1974, a 78 -part television series entitled The Undersea Adventures of Captain Nemo was produced in the United States.
• Even in the Soviet Union enjoyed the work of Jules Verne a lot of popularity, which in 1975 TV movie Kapitan Nemo ( Капитан Немо ) led.
• The anime series The Secret of Blue Water from the year 1990 is very heavily based on the story of 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea.
• In the 1990s, two television films emerged after 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. In one version of Captain Nemo by Michael Caine was shown.
• In the comic book adaptation The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (2003 ) Captain Nemo was played by Naseeruddin Shah.
• Inspired by the literary material in 2007 was produced by The Asylum of low-budget film 30,000 miles under the sea.

Radio plays

• Maritim 1970: Adapted and directed by: Kurt Vethake.
• Starring: Eberhard Stein ( Nemo ), Moritz Milar ( Aronnax ), Peter Schiff ( Conseil ), Arthur Binder (country ).

• Editing: H. G. Francis.
• Director: Heikedine Körting.
• Starring: Horst Frank ( Nemo ), Richard Lauffen ( Aronnax ), Hans Hessling ( Conseil ), Heinz Trixner (country ).

• Editing: Helmut Peschina.
• Music: Pierre Oser.
• Director: Walter Adler.

As well as

Others

• The entry " 20,000 miles " in the title refers to the now uncommon metric French mile ( lieue ) which measures four kilometers of today's standard. An exact translation accurate translation would be " 80,000 km under the oceans ." The amount is a multiple of ( Jules Verne known ) Earth's diameter, and is therefore no depth, but a length specification is so in the sense magnification of 20,000 miles of travel below sea level, which corresponds to twice the circumference of the earth and are entitled to a deeper sense.
• The figure of Professor Aronnax to Jules Verne represent themselves what is proven from the illustrations in the original book or reprint.
• Initially it was planned that Captain Nemo should come from Poland and not from India.