Literature's classic race against the clock.
Part manhunt, part love story, part social satire, but mostly a race against the clock, Around the World in 80 Days is Jules Verne's most rollicking novel. When Phileas Fogg, a wealthy British gentleman who lives his life "with mathemetical predictability," bets the fellow members of his club £20,000 that he can circle the earth in just eighty days, he and his new valet, Passepartout, set out on a whirlwind tour of the globe that will challenge their luck, their wits, and their wallets. En route they ride an elephant smack into an exotic murder cult, steer an undersized sailboat through rampaging storms, and outrun sharp-shooting Sioux, man-eating wolves, and Scotland Yard's dimmest detective-only to see everything go hopelessly haywire until Verne springs the slyest of surprise endings. It's one of the planet's favorite thrillers, and Frederick Paul Walter's reader-friendly translation captures its roguish wit and humor, packages its Americana with exceptional accuracy (one-fourth of the tale takes place in the United States), and is complete and unabridged down to the smallest substantive detail.
Recenzijos
"Around the World in 80 Days is the entertainment gem in Verne's output." SirReadaLot.org
Daugiau informacijos
Literature's classic race against the clock.
Translators Preface
1. In which Phileas Fogg and Passepartout mutually accept each other as
master and manservant
2. Where Passepartout is convinced he has found perfection at last
3. Where a conversation takes place that could cost Phileas Fogg a fortune
4. In which Phileas Fogg astounds his manservant Passepartout
5. In which a new share shows up on the London stock market
6. In which Fix the investigator is understandably impatient
7. Which demonstrates once again that passports are no help in police work
8. In which Passepartout says a bit more than maybe he ought to
9. Where the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean cooperate with Phileas Foggs
objectives
10. Where Passpartout gets off easy with just the loss of his shoes
11. Where Phileas Fogg buys a fabulously expensive form of transportation
12. Where Phileas Fogg and his companions venture through the forests of
India and what comes of it
13. In which Passepartout proves once again that luck and pluck are
partners
14. In which Phileas Fogg goes down the whole wonderful valley of the Ganges
without even thinking to look at it
15. Where the bag of banknotes gets lighter by another couple thousand
pounds
16. Where Fix plays dumb when he hears certain things
17. Which deals with this and that during the crossing from Singapore and
Hong Kong
18. In which Phileas Fogg, Passepartout, and Fix go about their separate
business
19. Where Passepartout grows extremely concerned for his master and what
comes of it
20. In which Fix makes direct contact with Phileas Fogg
21. Where the Tankadčres skipper is in real danger of losing his £200
bonus
22. Where Passepartout finds that even halfway around the world, its wise
to have a little money in your pocket
23. In which Passepartouts nose gets outlandishly long
24. During which they cross the whole Pacific Ocean
25. Which gives a brief glimpse of San Francisco at election time
26. In which we ride an express train on the Pacific Railroad
27. During which Passepartout takes a course in Mormon history at a speed of
twenty miles per hour
28. In which Passepartout cant get anybody to use his head
29. Which will describe assorted incidents that are met with only on Union
railroads
30. In which Phileas Fogg simply does whats right
31. Where Insepctor Fix behaves in Phileas Foggs best interests
32. In which Phileas Fogg grapples with misfortune
33. In which Phileas Fogg rises to the occasion
34. Which gives Passepartout the chance to crack an outrageous but possibly
original joke
35. In which Passepartout doesnt ned to be told twice to do what his master
says
36. Where shares in Phileas Fogg are back at a premium on the stock market
37. Which demonstrates that Phileas Fogg didnt gain a thing by going around
the worldother than happiness
Textual notes
Recommended Reading
Jules Verne was born in 1828 into a French lawyering family in the Atlantic coastal city of Nantes. Though his father sent him off to a Paris law school, young Jules had been writing on the side since his early teens, and his pet topics were the theater, travel, and science. Predictably enough, his legal studies led nowhere, so Verne took a day job with a stock brokerage, in his off-hours penning scripts for farces and musical comedies while also publishing short stories and novelettes of scientific exploration and adventure.
His big breakthrough came when he combined his theatrical knack with his scientific bent and in 1863 published an African adventure yarn, Five Weeks in a Balloon. After that and until his death in 1905, Jules Verne was one of the planets best-loved and best-selling novelists, publishing more than sixty books. Other imaginative favorites by him include The Mysterious Island, Hector Servadac, The Begums Millions, Master of the World, and The Meteor Hunt. Verne ranks among the five most translated authors in history, along with Mark Twain and the Bible.
Frederick Paul Walter is a scriptwriter, broadcaster, librarian, and amateur paleontologist. A long-standing member of the North American Jules Verne Society, he served as its vice president from 2000 to 2008. Walter has produced many media programs, articles, reviews, and papers on aspects of Jules Verne and has translated many Verne novels, including Amazing Journeys: Five Visionary Classics and The Sphinx of the Ice Realm, both also published by SUNY Press. He lives in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
