eivind ,
@eivind@fribygda.no avatar

Reading in the foreword to 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea that Verne originally envisioned Captain Nemo as a Polish noble on an underwater campaign of vengeance against the Russian Empire that'd killed his entire family, but that this version was pronounced unprintable by his publisher for political reasons. @bookstodon

stevejohnson42 ,
@stevejohnson42@nerdculture.de avatar

@eivind @bookstodon in "The Mysterious Island" there is a version given that has Nemo similar with a different twist

dps952 ,
@dps952@clacks.link avatar

@eivind @bookstodon wait… was the original Nautilus the Red October???

n1xnx ,
@n1xnx@tilde.zone avatar

@eivind @bookstodon
That makes more sense than the way it was actually written...

Seanochicago ,
@Seanochicago@mastodon.sdf.org avatar

@eivind @bookstodon Verne’s Publisher did all sorts of editing crap like that. It was all for naught, because the Russians censored the book anyway.

mattmcirvin ,
@mattmcirvin@mathstodon.xyz avatar

@eivind @bookstodon Indeed. In the sequel "Mysterious Island" he decided that Nemo was Indian and his animus was toward the British Empire, which also works and has been used in some adaptations.

But there are a lot of discrepancies between the two books as well (the timelines don't match up), so you could regard that as an alternate continuity.

albnelson ,
@albnelson@lor.sh avatar

@mattmcirvin @eivind @bookstodon I like him as a mariner without a country

8petros , (edited )
@8petros@petroskowo.pl avatar

@albnelson @eivind @mattmcirvin Pretty much the epitome of then Polish emigrés' mindset - the Great Emigration is a half of the dialectical compound, defining Polish self-identification almost until now (and perhaps soon again).

Polish tradition is full of such figures, citizens of imagined, never-again-to-exist, homeland. Picture yourself, what a cultural shock was to see Polonia Rediviva - an ideal, unavoidably imperfectly embodied.

albnelson ,
@albnelson@lor.sh avatar
Seanochicago ,
@Seanochicago@mastodon.sdf.org avatar

@mattmcirvin @eivind @bookstodon Nobody got worried about continuity back then. In Barchester Towers, Archdeacon Grantly has two daughters. Later there’s only one. In the Palliser books, Lady Glencora has two daughters. Later there’s only one. The Victorian era was not a good time to be a supernumerary daughter.

SteveClough ,
@SteveClough@metalhead.club avatar

@Seanochicago @mattmcirvin @eivind @bookstodon In fairness, mortality was high in those days, so there is a possibility of one dying.

But there wasn't the same level of forensic assessment that we get these days. I am not saying it was better or worse, just different.

Seanochicago ,
@Seanochicago@mastodon.sdf.org avatar

@SteveClough @mattmcirvin @eivind @bookstodon Books were expensive and magazine issues were ephemeral. Also, it’s a story, it doesn’t have to be internally consistent. =)

patterfloof ,
@patterfloof@meow.social avatar

@eivind @bookstodon France would have been allied with Russia at the time?

albnelson ,
@albnelson@lor.sh avatar

@patterfloof @eivind @bookstodon yup, the Wikipedia page gets into the politics and editorial changes. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twenty_Thousand_Leagues_Under_the_Seas

I may be wrong, but I also think it’s safe to say that a Polish crusader (with the implication of the liberation of oppressed people in Europe) would have been more controversial in France than an Indian one (because screw those Brits)

albnelson ,
@albnelson@lor.sh avatar

@patterfloof @eivind @bookstodon if you’re willing to suffer through this old long book review by me, the middle part explains why revolutionary Poles were regarded with such suspicion in Western Europe.

https://lareviewofbooks.org/article/political-revolutionaries-international-conspiracies-fearful-frenzied-elites/

8petros ,
@8petros@petroskowo.pl avatar

@patterfloof @albnelson @eivind Fascinating stuff. I just started it and will finish tomorrow. I almost forgot such things are still being written nowadays. Thank you.

albnelson ,
@albnelson@lor.sh avatar

@8petros @patterfloof @bookstodon @eivind ha ha I'm not sure they are!! It's almost a decade old. But yeah I would love to still write stuff like this.

mattmcirvin ,
@mattmcirvin@mathstodon.xyz avatar

@albnelson @patterfloof @eivind @bookstodon Captain Nemo is a really fascinating character in that he's explicitly pro-revolutionary and anti-imperialist--openly venerating French Republicans and John Brown, bankrolling rebels in Crete with shipwreck treasure. And in some ways he's a villain, basically a terrorist with no scruples about mass murder, but Verne also clearly likes him.

I remember trying to get a feel for the political situation Verne was writing "20,000 Leagues" under: It was during the Second Empire of Napoleon III. And there are moments when it kind of seems like he's trying to draw parallels with the Emperor's famous uncle.

jgamble ,
@jgamble@fosstodon.org avatar

@mattmcirvin @albnelson @patterfloof @eivind @bookstodon

There's a Behind the Bastards episode on Napoleon III, and I think the best summary of his character as described by that show is "Incompetent Buffoon". It's possible Verne had a similar opinion.

https://www.iheart.com/podcast/105-behind-the-bastards-29236323/episode/part-one-napoleon-iii-the-worst-105234226/

SkipHuffman ,
@SkipHuffman@astrodon.social avatar

@albnelson @patterfloof @eivind @bookstodon fascinating review. Book ordered.

patterfloof ,
@patterfloof@meow.social avatar

@albnelson @eivind @bookstodon neat. It's been years since I read 20,000 leagues, but I have recently been reading about the major politics of that period, from about Victoria's birth to the outbreak of WWI. All of the alliances coming out of the woodwork

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