20.000 Meilen unter dem Meer: Walbreckers Klassiker - Neuerzählung

Von Dirk Walbrecker

Jules Verne ist der vielleicht erste Science Fiction-Autor und Verfasser von vielen fantastischen Romanen, die in alle wichtigen Sprachen der Welt übersetzt wurden.
Abtauchen mit Kapitän Nemo und seiner Crew in der futuristischen "Nautilus" (dem ersten U-Boot der Welt) in eine unterseeische exotische Welt, die von Ungeheuern und wundersamen Wesen belebt ist. Eine Welt, in der es unter größter Lebensgefahr schier unglaubliche Entdeckungen zu machen gilt.

• Sprache: Deutsch
• Herausgeber: Kuebler Verlag
• Erscheinungsdatum: 30. Apr. 2014
• ISBN: 9783863461713

Buchvorschau

W_09_20.Meilen_FCover.jpg

Dirk Walbrecker

20.000 Meilen unter dem Meer

Reihe: Walbreckers Klassiker

Kuebler Verlag

Das Buch:

Jules Verne ist der vielleicht erste Science Fiction-Autor und Verfasser von vielen fantastischen Romanen, die in alle wichtigen Sprachen der Welt übersetzt wurden.

Abtauchen mit Kapitän Nemo und seiner Crew in der futuristischen „Nautilus" (dem ersten U-Boot der Welt) in eine unterseeische exotische Welt, die von Ungeheuern und wundersamen Wesen belebt ist. Eine Welt, in der es unter größter Lebensgefahr schier unglaubliche Entdeckungen zu machen gilt.

Der Autor:

Dirk Walbrecker, geboren in Wuppertal, seit 1965 in München und jetzt in Landsberg am Lech lebend, Vater von 3 leiblichen Töchtern und inzwischen auch von zahlreichen literarischen Kindern.

Nach diversen Studien (u.a. Germanistik und Pädagogik) viele Jahre beim Film und einige Jahre in der Schule gearbeitet.

Seit 1986 freiberuflicher Autor: Drehbücher, Hörspiele, Hörbücher sowie Bilderbücher, Kinder- und Jugendromane. Zahlreiche Auszeichnungen und in 15 Sprachen übersetzt.

In den letzten Jahren häufig auf Lesereisen, um jungen Menschen live und lebendig Freude an Literatur und allem Musischen zu vermitteln.

Zudem Schreibwerkstätten verschiedenster Art und Thematik für Kinder, Jugendliche und Erwachsene.

Nähere Informationen, Unterrichts-Materialien etc. unter: www. dirkwalbrecker.de

Walbreckers Klassiker

20.000 Meilen

unter dem Meer

Neu erzählt von Dirk Walbrecker

239.png

Walbreckers „Klassiker für die ganze Familie"

im Internet: www.walbreckers-klassiker.de

Impressum

Neue vom Autor durchgesehene Ausgabe

© 2013 Kuebler Verlag GmbH, Lampertheim

Alle Rechte vorbehalten

Bildmaterial: © crop – fotalia.com,

ISBN Buchausgabe 978-3-942270-80-9

ISBN Digitalbuch: 978-3-86346-171-3

Auf den Spuren eines Ungeheuers

Es war im Jahre 1866, als die ersten Gerüchte auftauchten. Ein merkwürdiges Objekt, ein Körper von riesigen Ausmaßen, war kurz hintereinander von mehreren Schiffen gesichtet worden. Die Beschreibungen der Seeleute stimmten verblüffend genau überein: Das Monstrum sollte angeblich extrem lang sein, sich außerordentlich schnell und gewandt fortbewegen. Es konnte Wasserstrahlen mindestens einhundertfünfundfünfzig Fuß hoch in die Luft schleudern. Und was die Sache noch rätselhafter machte: Zuweilen ging von dem Objekt phosphoreszierendes Licht aus.

Im Nu verbreiteten sich die Sensationsmeldungen von Kontinent zu Kontinent. Kaufleute, Reeder, Kapitäne der Handelsflotten, Offiziere der Kriegsmarinen und sogar Staatsmänner waren beunruhigt. Und wo immer man auftauchte – ob in Kaffeehäusern, im Theater oder bei einer privaten Einladung –, überall gab es nur ein Thema: das Meeresmonster. Die Zeitungen waren voll von Spekulationen. Zeichnungen von gigantischen Untieren und unheimlichen Wesen wurden abgedruckt. Und selbst in gelehrten Gesellschaften und wissenschaftlichen Journalen diskutierte man sich die Köpfe heiß.

So ging das einige Monate. Alles war möglich, nichts war bewiesen. Das Thema war vorwärts und rückwärts durchgehechelt und es schien alles gesagt. Die Menschen brauchten neue Sensationen ...

Dann aber, man schrieb den 5. März 1867, wurde das Thema schlagartig wieder aktuell: Im Morgengrauen, fern von Festland oder Inseln, rammte die Moravian bei klarem Wetter ein unsichtbares Objekt! Ein fürchterlicher Stoß hatte das Passagierschiff durchgeschüttelt. Ein Teil des Kiels war zu Bruch gegangen. Der Ozean war auf drei Kabellängen gewaltig aufgewühlt ... ein Rätsel!

Nur drei Wochen später das nächste Unglück: Die Scotia, eines der modernsten Schiffe der berühmten englischen Cunard Line, wurde bei ruhiger See und günstigem Wind von einem Stoß unter Wasser erschüttert. Gleich darauf die Schreckensmeldung aus den Tiefen des Rumpfes: zwei Meter breites Leck am Kiel, das vier Zentimeter starke Eisenblech sauber durchschnitten! Zwar entging die Scotia dank ihrer modernen Mehrkammerkonstruktion einer Katastrophe und konnte die Fahrt mit halber Kraft fortsetzen. Aber ich sage es gleich: Nun war jeder, der etwas mit Schiffen oder dem Meer zu tun hatte, schlagartig hellwach. Und auch ich, meines Zeichens stellvertretender Professor am Naturhistorischen Museum in Paris, war plötzlich mit meinen Fachkenntnissen gefragt. Ich war soeben mit einem Schatz von mineralogischen, botanischen und zoologischen Funden von einer sechsmonatigen Expedition zurückgekehrt, an der ich im Auftrag der französischen Regierung teilgenommen hatte. Ich wartete in New York noch auf meine Einschiffung nach Frankreich, da erreichte mich ein hochoffizielles Schreiben vom amerikanischen Marineministerium an den „ehrenwerten Professor Pierre Aronnax, Verfasser des allseits gerühmten Buches ‚Die Geheimnisse der großen unterseeischen Tiefe‘". Mit aller Dringlichkeit wurde ich bei meiner beruflichen Ehre gepackt. Alle Welt erwartete auch von mir einen Beitrag: Handelt es sich bei dem gefährlichen Unterwassermonstrum um ein Ungeheuer von kolossaler Kraft? Oder ist eine unbekannte politische Macht im Besitz eines unterseeischen Fahrzeugs mit gigantischem Triebwerk?

„Conseil, sagte ich zu meinem Diener, der mir seit zehn Jahren treu zur Seite stand. „Pack sofort unsere Koffer!

Warum diese Eile? Weshalb sollte ich mich umgehend auf der Abraham Lincoln einfinden?

Sehr einfach: In den letzten Tagen hatten sich die Schreckensbotschaften gehäuft. Das Ungeheuer hatte nicht nur einmal seine grausamen Waffen gezeigt. Nein, es waren gleich mehrere Schiffe angegriffen worden. Es wurden Listen von vermissten Schiffen aufgestellt und die ungeheuerlichsten Spekulationen angestellt:

Trieb dieses rasende, zerstörungswütige Monstrum nicht schon länger sein Unwesen? Gingen die unzähligen Toten auf den Weltmeeren hauptsächlich auf seine Rechnung? Handelte es sich bei dem Untier vielleicht um ein Monsterexemplar des Gemeinen Narwals? Tatsächlich ist dieses Tier eine Art See-Einhorn, ausgerüstet mit einem Zahn, einem Degen aus Elfenbein, der bei den bislang gefangenen Tieren am Schaft eine Stärke von bis zu 48 Zentimetern misst. Wer will behaupten, dass sich in unerforschten Tiefen der Ozeane nicht Wesen versteckt halten, die es an Größe und Gewalt mit den ausgestorbenen Dinosauriern aufnehmen ...

Kurz gesagt: Die amerikanische Regierung hatte größtes Interesse, den Urheber der Unglücke zu finden und zu vernichten. Und dementsprechend war auch die Abraham Lincoln ausgerüstet. Als ich an Bord von Kommandant Farragut herzlich begrüßt wurde, konnte ich mich sogleich von der Tauglichkeit des Schiffes überzeugen: Es handelte sich um eine segeltüchtige Fregatte, die dank einer speziellen Heizungsapparatur den Dampfdruck bis auf sieben Atmosphären treiben konnte. Damit ließ sich immerhin eine mittlere Geschwindigkeit von 18,3 Meilen in der Stunde erreichen, Ob dies allerdings für einen Wettstreit mit dem gigantischen Ungetüm ausreichen würde ... ich wagte dies zu bezweifeln. Den letzten Meldungen zufolge narrte das Teufelswesen seine Widersacher, indem es in bisher nicht vorstellbaren Geschwindigkeiten seine Jagdplätze wechselte.

Nun gut, man musste abwarten. Zuletzt war das Monster in den nördlichen Gewässern des Pazifiks gesichtet worden. Und genau dieses Gebiet war auch das Ziel der Abraham Lincoln, als sie am 4. Juli 1867 vom Kai von Brooklyn ablegte. Sage und schreibe eine halbe Million Schaulustige hatten sich zum Abschied am East River eingefunden. Hunderte von Fähren, Tendern und Booten gaben uns das Geleit. Von den Forts, die das Ufer des Hudson säumten, wurde Salut geschossen. Und die Abraham Lincoln erwiderte die Ehrung durch das dreimalige Niederholen und Hissen des amerikanischen Banners mit den neununddreißig glänzenden Sternen. Schlag drei Uhr ging der Lotse von Bord und Kommandant Farragut ließ die Feuer schüren. Heftig schlug die Schraube Wellen und wir ließen die Leuchtfeuer hinter uns. Wir passierten die niedrige gelbe Küste von Long Island und um acht Uhr abends stieß die Fregatte mit voller Kraft in die dunklen Wasser des Atlantiks hinaus.

Wer nun glaubt, die Abraham Lincoln hätte eine kurze Reise vor sich, der sei gleich hier eines anderen belehrt: Die Geduld der Mannschaft wurde aufs Ärgste strapaziert. Ja, es kam auf dem langen Weg zu unserem großen Ziel fast zu einer Meuterei. Zu Anfang schienen nur zwei Leute Zweifel an unserer Unternehmung zu haben – ausgerechnet die, bei denen ich es am wenigsten gern sah. Der eine war mein flämischer Diener Conseil. Sonst ein Vorbild an Freundlichkeit, muffelte er die meiste Zeit in seiner Kabine rum. Letztlich konnte ich ihn verstehen. Er war ein Mensch, der immer etwas zum Katalogisieren brauchte. Egal, ob es sich um Pflanzliches oder Tierisches handelte, alle meine Funde wusste er stets vorbildlich zu ordnen. Nur hier und jetzt gab es nichts zu sortieren. Viel schlimmer: Das einzige, was wir jagten, war möglicherweise ein Phantom, eine pure Einbildung. Genau das vermutete auch der Mann an Bord, von dem ich das meiste erhoffte: Ned Land, unser kanadischer Harpunier, ein Meister seines Fachs, der beste unter den Walfängern. Ich war ihm gleich zu Anfang nahe gekommen – vielleicht weil er die gleiche Sprache wie ich sprach. Darüber hinaus war er aber auch ein hochintelligenter und wacher Gesprächspartner leider allerdings mit gänzlich anderen Ansichten als ich:

„Was wir suchen, gibt es nicht, erklärte er mir mehr als einmal. „Ich kenne mich aus bei den Walen. Was die Leute gesehen haben wollen, Herr Professor, ist reine Einbildung. Das sollten Sie als studierter Naturforscher eigentlich wissen.

Ich musste mich zum wiederholten Male beherrschen. Da fuhren wir über den Äquator, ließen den ganzen amerikanischen Kontinent hinter uns und umschifften Kap Hoorn. Da wechselten wir in das größte aller Weltmeere, den

Rezensionen für 20.000 Meilen unter dem Meer

[angelag86 · Bewertung: 4 von 5 Sternen]

I loved all the descriptions of underwater life, and the different places the characters visit. I wanted to become a marine biologist after I finished reading!

[csdaley-1 · Bewertung: 4 von 5 Sternen]

This rating is a childhood rating. Hooked me on Science Fiction when I read it.

[thereadingmermaid · Bewertung: 4 von 5 Sternen]

How to begin... there are some aspects of this book that were extremely fascinating and the adventure that Jules Verne writes is captivating. What I did not care for were the excessive uses of nautical terms as well as zoological/biological terms used to describe everything in the book. Perhaps it is just more evidence of the dumbing down of society as we no longer describe things in these fashions and makes it difficult for the reader of today to follow. Even with the author's fluent and graceful writing. The thing that most irritated me, was that all my life I've been led to think the Nautilus was attacked by a giant squid when that chapter in the book was described VERY differently! However, I guess I cannot fault the original story for how other interpretations have distorted it. Still, I can see why this book is so timeless and I encourage everyone to give it a read to enjoy the great adventure with mad Captain Nemo under the sea.

[empress8411 · Bewertung: 4 von 5 Sternen]

This book intrigued me more than I expect, given the profoundly boring first few pages. Once the narrator finally was aboard the Nautilus, Verne's ability as a science fiction adventure write bloomed. He described dazzling underwater worlds, strange men and animals, and mysteries of the depth with excellent prose. I can see why this is a classic science fiction novel. Recommend for the ocean lover and the nerd alike.

[bhabeck-1 · Bewertung: 3 von 5 Sternen]

I read this for the Steampunk category of the SF Reading Challenge on Shelfari.

Although the story was very interesting and well-written, I found that it dragged at times due to the great amount of detail that Verne included. It often seemed that I was reading a natural history reference on the flora and fauna of the world's oceans.

That said, I would recommend it since it was an enjoyable read. This would also qualify for the category of Work not originally published in English.

[armyangel1986 · Bewertung: 4 von 5 Sternen]

I loved all the descriptions of underwater life, and the different places the characters visit. I wanted to become a marine biologist after I finished reading!

[scott_hercher · Bewertung: 2 von 5 Sternen]

Good story, but too much biological minutiae.

[sarielle-2 · Bewertung: 3 von 5 Sternen]

I don’t know what I exactly expected from this book, but not exactly this. I think I anticipated more plot and action. And this book is very erudite.

This is not really my thing. But still I’m amazed with the amount of information and knowledge contained in this book. Nowadays, we do not have a problem with access to detailed information on any topic, you can search virtually anything on the internet. But at a time when Verne wrote his book, this amount of information had to be impressive and required some serious research. All these curiosities included in the book were then completely unknown to the readers. I imagine that they had to ignite the imagination back then.

Unfortunately, times have changed and now this accumulation of encyclopedic information is a bit boring. Enumeration of all kinds of fish and marine animals is simply uninteresting for today's reader who is looking for action and plot twists. And I am not an exception.

Nevertheless, the book is a wonderful record of the scientific knowledge on the seas and oceans at the time. And this aspect is especially interesting for me. It's fascinating to catch a glimpse of how people saw the world 150 years ago. What interested them, what they were afraid of and how they imagined the future. And even more interesting is what they did not know then and what we already know now. Like the South Pole, which in Verne’s book looks very like Greenland which is very far from truth. And although the south pole is still studied by scientists, it is not a white patch on the map anymore.

The same with regard to the use of electricity. The light bulb was not invented until around 1880. It was not until 1882 that factories in the United States began producing light bulbs. Verne published his book 10 years before this! The idea of an entire ship (and a submarine!) being electrically powered had to be something fantastic in the Verne era and beyond human imagination.

Another aspect that I noticed reading this book is the perception of the world at the time. Even more valuable that it is not presented from the perspective of today's political correctness or an attempt to point out certain problems but shown in a way that was then quite natural. In the book we have a very well illustrated approach to colonialism and a way of thinking about the ‘savage’. And although today we have a completely different approach to these topics, contact with a report from the past helps us understand how our ancestors thought and how the world changed over years. Therefore, Captain Nemo who would be considered an ecologist and social activist even in more recent standards is an extremely interesting character.

I’m glad I read this book even if it is not my favourite. It's fascinating to see how people imagined the future and what turned out to be true.

[kurtwombat · Bewertung: 3 von 5 Sternen]

I peaked at some reviews before reading this book and quite a few referred to it as boring. I thought, how can a classic novel of undersea adventure be boring. Well, I found out. You do by choking your novel with information about the geography, animal and plant life of the aquatic world that modern folks are either already familiar with or thought they were until confronted with a myriad of Latin terms. I’m sure many of his 1800’s audiences were as mind blown by these descriptions as they were by the action—but that just doesn’t translate. I was inspired to condense the novel to one phrase:

YOU CAN’T SEE THE STORY FOR THE SEAS!

This would be a cracker jack novel if it were 150 pages shorter—or if the interesting segments that pass all too quickly were fleshed out. The potentially fascinating Captain Nemo is too often off the page, as is the entire crew of the Nautilus. I appreciate not being told everything, but reading over 300 pages I deserve to be told something. Thinking of another equally vengeful sea captain, disappointed that Nemo didn’t get anywhere close the fleshing out of MOBY DICK’s Ahab. Of the other characters I most identified with the Canadian harpooner who almost from the start resents his captivity. Perhaps it’s the translation, but naming a character who longs to escape the sea Ned Land was a bit much. It’s his captivity I feel most keenly—after an interesting start the book really bogs down and I became captive myself.

I did learn one thing. I was always puzzled by the title because 20,000 leagues equals over 60,000 miles. How can they be that far under the sea. But the title refers to the number of miles traveled by the Nautilus during the course of the novel. This mystery solved just became another disappointment.

[muumuumousie · Bewertung: 5 von 5 Sternen]

Wow, what an amazing book! This science fiction adventure, so thoughtfully written that even the fantastical elements seem almost plausible, tells of an underwater journey that is grand in scale and full of excitement and danger. Although it is long, full of detail and digression, it is never the least bit dull. That is due, at least in part, to the care with which this underwater world is crafted; even the long descriptions serve to build excitement for this magical voyage. Another element that works well is the cast of characters. The distinctive personalities play off each other well, and the two supporting characters—the passionate and courageous Canadian and the calm Frenchman—appeal to different facets of the main character's personality. Even the mysterious Captain Nemo, who is perhaps the nearest thing this book has to an antagonist, still has enough nuance and depth to inspire empathy. A powerful tale from a man lauded as the father of science fiction.

[justifiedsinner_1 · Bewertung: 2 von 5 Sternen]

90% info dump. 10% plot

[librarianryan · Bewertung: 4 von 5 Sternen]

#BBRC #RealClassic
#ReadHarder
#booked2020
#Popsugar
#Beatthebacklist

I read this story as a Great Illustrated Classic when I was a child. I remember loving it, but now I just feel cheated. The origianl story is so expressive and amazing, and all that stuff was cut out to dumb the book down for younger readers. I am no longer a fan of GIC and have not been for a while. I hate when these are the only stories kids have in their home/class or in their libraries.

There were so many things I missed as a child that I catch now. Like how people thought they were hunting a giant dangerous narwhal, when actually it was the Nautilus. Or how the Nautilus was a type of prison. The same type of prison I sit in now for Covid-19. All the luxuries and things I love and plenty to keep me interested, but still isolated and scary. Until reading the full version of 20,000 Leagues I always thought of Captain Nemo as a type of pirate. He isn’t at all. He is a scared and lonely old man. Why else would he escape to the sea with no desire to see land again if he was not scared of something.

I listened to this book. And while it was a bit slow, and sometimes boring as they describe the various sea creatures, overall it was a great story that I would listen to again. And to think it was written almost 150 years ago. H.G. Wells knows or guessed more about the depths of the ocean than many modern scientists. This book has held the test of time, and I think that 100 years from now it will still be considered relevant.

[greeniezona · Bewertung: 4 von 5 Sternen]

One of those classics I'd somehow never gotten around to reading, so I was pleased when my oldest picked this out for bedtime story. The short chapters and limited cast of characters made it well-suited for reading aloud, though I could not make myself do a Canadian accent for Ned Land -- his gruff aggressive style just kept coming out more Scottish/Appalachian.

Anyway, there was some colonialist bullshit that we had to yell through/critique, but mostly this book is about marveling at the wonders of the ocean, which I can always get behind. (I mean, there's a bunch of engineering geekery that's partly devalued as just coming off foolish to modern readers.) I kept wanting to have an annotated version of this to explain to me what of the marine biology was fact vs. fiction, obscure vs. well-known at the time, etc.

A good read.

[cbloky · Bewertung: 5 von 5 Sternen]

this was my classic book i decided to read this year. it was a quick and easy read a little different then what i taught it was gonna be about but enjoyed it and would recommend it.

[haloedrain · Bewertung: 4 von 5 Sternen]

The narrator has a habit of listing by genus and phylum every single plant and animal he sees and every shipwreck that has occurred in each region he travels to, but I skimed those and the rest was pretty good. I enjoyed the odd combination of 19th-century-style entitlement with surprisingly modern-sounding environmentalism (that species has been nearly hunted to extinction and this may be the last of its kind...let's eat it! or praising nature for creating new coal deposits in the sargasso sea for humanity to use when the land-bound deposits run out, or berating the harpooner for wanting to kill a whale needlessly, then slaughtering a huge group of other whales that came to hunt the first group....) And of course, an ambiguous villain(?) is often enjoyable.

[codonnelly · Bewertung: 3 von 5 Sternen]

What do you get when you combine marine biology from the late 1800s and an action-adventure classic? 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne, of course!

If you haven’t already read it or seen one of the many film adaptations, the novel follows Professor Arannox, an educated gentleman, and Conseil, his servant, on their search for knowledge within the ocean’s depths. Along the way, they encounter many wonders and meet the acquaintance of some intriguing characters, including the mysterious Captain Nemo.

When the plot focuses on the conflicts our cast of characters face on their journey, the pages fly by. From kidnappings to shipwrecks, a lot happens in what could be considered a rather short novel. Unfortunately, where there’s adventure, there’s also quite a lot of seemingly unnecessary description. Much of the book focuses on various characters making observations about fish. Unless you’re a scientist with a keen interest in the biological classification of sea creatures, there’s not much that will intrigue you in those passages. The descriptions that did not bother me were those that detailed the intricacies of Captain Nemo’s vessel, the Nautilus. At the time the novel was published, submarines were still incredibly primitive, so it’s impressive that Verne was able to predict the future, in a manner of speaking.

All of the main and supporting characters are fascinating, to say the least. Professor Aronnax values knowledge over freedom, Conseil takes great pride in his subservient position, Ned Land has a bloodlust for the hunt, and Captain Nemo, well, we don’t know much about him, do we? The level of secrecy he exudes kept me engaged until the bitter end. Verne has a subtle way with dialogue too. There were many moments, particularly in interactions between Ned and Conseil, which left me chuckling to myself.

20,000 Leagues is a classic for a reason. As much as I disliked the long scientific passages, the novel certainly has its merits. If you’re bothered by the extensive marine life descriptions, I highly recommend skimming or skipping them completely if you’re concerned that they’re ruining your reading experience.

[jonfaith · Bewertung: 4 von 5 Sternen]

Not being familiar with the comparative criticism between Verne and Wells, can only offer that I while I enjoyed Nemo's narrative and the compelling saga presented, I felt it would've benefited from some of Wells' philosophy.

[m_k_m_1 · Bewertung: 3 von 5 Sternen]

"At ten o'clock in the evening the sky was on fire. The atmosphere was streaked with vivid lightning. I could not bear the brightness of it; while the captain, looking at it, seemed to envy the spirit of the tempest."

A disappointment, albeit one with some treats. The book is slow and wilfully digressive (all those fish), but in its characterisation of Captain Nemo it is superb: a man who would shut himself off from the world but is too angry to leave it alone; frustrated by the fact his anger does not mean more, using his grief to justify a position of moral arbiter despite his obvious crimes. 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea is a terrific character study entombed in an almost interminable record of imagined oceanography.

[geoffhabiger · Bewertung: 4 von 5 Sternen]

20,000 Leagues Under the Sea is one of those classic science fiction books that should be on any science fiction fans reading list. Being around so long (Verne originally published the book in 1869), and available in so many versions, translations, and media, can make reviewing the book difficult. Most readers either have read the book, or will want to read it because it is one of the "classics" of the science fiction genre.

That caveat being said, here's my review of 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. The story opens with reports of strange sightings and damage to ships by an unknown creature. The narrator, Pierre Aronnax, is a professor of the natural sciences and a medical doctor from Paris. While returning from a trip to collect fossils and other specimens from Nebraska he is given a chance to hunt down this mysterious monster aboard the ship, Abraham Lincoln. Aronnax has previously hypothesized that the creature responsible for the encounters is a large form of narwhal. Joining Aronnax on the trip is his servant, Conseil, and a whaler and harpooner, Ned Land. The Abraham Lincoln eventually encounters the supposed monster, and the three men are thrown overboard when the creature rams the ship. They are miraculously rescued when they discover that it was not a creature at all, but a submersible boat. The rest of the novel covers the various adventures and settings that Aronnax and the others discover while being the "guests" of Captain Nemo, the builder of the famed Nautilus.

As with most of Verne's works, the story is told in the form of a travelogue, with the story being recounted as if reading from a journal or interview with the narrator - Professor Aronnax. The stories of adventure - traveling under Suez, hunting in a kelp forest, seeking the South Pole and being trapped in ice, and the famous attack of the Nautilus by giant squid - are interspersed with more sedate discussions of the workings of the ship, or the Professor's enthrallment with Captain Nemo. That is quite interesting since Nemo has essentially captured the three men and refuses them to ever leave the Nautilus again.

Verne's gift is to create a thrilling adventure and to expound upon the wonders of technology. His description of the Nautilus and its operation is decades ahead of its time. He even describes a practical, and nearly identical to the modern equivalent, SCUBA system for breathing underwater that was about 80 years ahead of its time. Verne does miss the mark with many of his speculations about the natural world. He didn't foresee the theory of plate tectonics, and his description of Antarctica misses the mark. (And I give him creative license to include the fabled Atlantis - it was an adventure story after all.) But that doesn't detract from the adventure story that he is telling.

My biggest problem with the story is with the characters. Verne spends so much time recounting the travelogue of Aronnax that the characters are not fleshed out. The only one who seems real is Aronnax himself. His two companions, the forgettable Conseil and the stereotyped Ned Land (who's last name is entirely reflected in his constant desire to flee the Nautilus) are mere window dressings for Aronnax, somebody he can reflect his own ideas upon. But what is really annoying is that we get to know so very little about Captain Nemo himself. A suburb engineer, master of the sea, fearless and stoic in the face of danger, we learn so little about his character. There are many secrets about Nemo that Verne teases the reader with, but we are never shown the answers to them, such as his motivations, the reason he quit the land to forever roam the sea, or his past. That was a disappointment.

If you are a fan of science fiction I recommend that you read Verne's classic at some point. Even among his own works I do not consider it to be his best, but it is worth the read to see the early works of the science fiction genre. If you want to listen to the work (like I did) I do highly recommend the version from Tantor Media narrated by Michael Prichard. I am familiar with Prichard's narration from other works and he again delivers a great performance here. (I checked out this version from my local library.)

[m_mozeleski · Bewertung: 4 von 5 Sternen]

I suppose that as an 'abridged just for you' version of a book, I shouldn't have had my expectations up so high. But I did, and while the overall novel was great, I really, really wanted more out of this book. Especially description-wise. It kept cutting out halfway or jumping from item to item so quickly I got minor whiplash. I am unsure if an unabridged version exists, but I hope it finds its way to me at some point.

However, all that being said, I rather enjoyed the novel. It was fantastic, if a bit brief.

[jaredorlando-1 · Bewertung: 4 von 5 Sternen]

To be upfront, I thought there would be a lot more action in this story. I never read it in school, so coming at it as an adult was intriguing. That being said, I was not let down. Verne is very versed in sea life (this book is chock full of jargon) and as a science nerd, it was fascinating. And somehow, through all the science and tech, he was able to create a story that is often exhilarating.

[reenum_4 · Bewertung: 2 von 5 Sternen]

Started off with a bang, but then got bogged down with endless description of the scenery. I guess no one ever told Verne to show rather than tell.

[bridgey_1 · Bewertung: 4 von 5 Sternen]

20,000 Leagues under the sea - Jules Verne ****



Every now and then I get the urge to pick up a book that has become considered a classic, but all too often I find them far too stuffy and boring for my taste and grudgingly drag myself from cover to cover without any real enjoyment. Gulliver’s Travels bored me to tears, Robinson Crusoe cured my insomnia and Jane Eyre made me hide the razor blades… so I decided to try something a little more up to date and that had the potential for a decent adventure. 20,000 leagues seemed an obvious choice.


There can’t be many people in the western world that aren’t familiar with the Jules Verne masterpiece that follows the Nautilus as it make its journey beneath the waves. Professor Aronnax and his assistant Conseil, accompanied by master harpooner Ned Land find themselves prisoners aboard the Nautilus, the mastermind of Captain Nemo, a man who has shunned living on land and now utilizes his enormous submarine and the oceans to sustain his crew. As they traverse the globe it becomes more and more apparent that Nemo is a tortured genius who is intent on vengeance for the death of his family and the small band of prisoners must decide whether to resign their lives to the wonders of the Nautilus or make a break for freedom. With danger from both Nemo’s unpredictability and the wonders of the deep it soon becomes a race against time.


Many authors are called visionaries, and sometimes I think history has been a little too kind, but not in the case of Verne. The ideas he comes up with for underwater travel and the use of electricity still seem amazing now, and I can only imagine the response in 1870, and even though submarines were around then, none would have been able to undertake the voyage described. He takes the reader through the seven seas, from warm tropical waters, under Atlantic ice shelves to even mythical cities that have been lost to the waves. Obviously well researched the plant and animal life is described in immense detail and at times does come across a little bit like a school textbook, but I suppose you have to understand that the undersea world was really unknown to the majority of people at that time and this would most likely be their first introduction to it, so the more detail the better.


My biggest issue came not with the novel itself, but rather selecting which one I should read. Obviously the original text was written in French and since then there have been several translations, with each differing in the language used to previous. I had never really thought about this before, and just assumed a translation would be the same regardless of who wrote it, after all a sentence in French should in theory have only one way of being translated into English. This is not the case, and although the story remains unaltered the prose is dependent upon whoever undertakes the translating and what slant they use. My other problem was finding a text that was unabridged, my version was around 300 pages long with fairly small print, but there are others that run over 500 pages. I couldn’t find anywhere on my copy that advised whether it was complete or not, but I feel it was probably abridged and therefore I lost some of the experience.


All in all though, I really enjoyed the book, far more than I thought I would. I didn’t realize there was also a sequel written called ‘The Mysterious Island’. I will definitely be looking that up in the near future.

[sumisbooks · Bewertung: 4 von 5 Sternen]

How to begin... there are some aspects of this book that were extremely fascinating and the adventure that Jules Verne writes is captivating. What I did not care for were the excessive uses of nautical terms as well as zoological/biological terms used to describe everything in the book. Perhaps it is just more evidence of the dumbing down of society as we no longer describe things in these fashions and makes it difficult for the reader of today to follow. Even with the author's fluent and graceful writing. The thing that most irritated me, was that all my life I've been led to think the Nautilus was attacked by a giant squid when that chapter in the book was described VERY differently! However, I guess I cannot fault the original story for how other interpretations have distorted it. Still, I can see why this book is so timeless and I encourage everyone to give it a read to enjoy the great adventure with mad Captain Nemo under the sea.

[ironjaw-1 · Bewertung: 5 von 5 Sternen]

Review #16 - Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne (1870)

Captain Nemo and his Nautilus – a submarine so ahead of its time when you consider that this novel was written in 1870, is a story of such a grandeur, such wonder that the scientific progress and the explanations given by Prof. Aronnax, a naturalist and passenger on this journey seem so believable (and some quite accurate) that, in some moments you forget and believe that you are on the greatest voyage ever undertaken. Jules Verne was meticulous in his research and this is a marvellous adventure story. Alas I did not enjoy reading this on the Kindle for the illustrations alone and would recommend future readers to read this novel in a hardback that's profusely illustrated.

Originally serialized from March 1869 through June 1870, the first edition was published by Pierre-Jules Hetzel in 1870 in French. English translation appeared in 1872. This edition by Penguin translated by David Coward.

- IRONJAW’S BOOK REVIEW, Review #16. October 7, 2017

[nx74defiant · Bewertung: 5 von 5 Sternen]

I really enjoyed the descriptions

[mbmackay · Bewertung: 3 von 5 Sternen]

A classic that I had always meant to read . . .
The first thing I learned was that I had always been in error in my expectations from the title. I had thought that the ship had descended 20,000 leagues under the ocean, but, of course, the submarine had merely undertaken a journey of 20,000 league while submerged. As a result, the speculative science basis for the book was much better grounded, and Verne gets many things right - along with a series of clangers.
I had recently read Edgar Allan Poe, and found many similarities in their approach to early science fiction (to creating the genre of science fiction, really).
A good read.
Read March 2017

[krazy4katz · Bewertung: 4 von 5 Sternen]

This is the unabridged version. It was long — very long! But what language, what grace of phrase! And finally, what drama! I imagine the abridged version leave out the lengthy descriptions of the underwater animals and plants, but I think it was worth reading. I admit that part is tedious. Perhaps my 4 stars are too generous for all I have agonized over the ichthyology, but the ending is so dramatic, it probably skews my rating to more positive.
ETA: I just downgraded my star rating for the reasons stated above.

[bhutton_10 · Bewertung: 3 von 5 Sternen]

If you are interested in the state of ichthyology in the 1860's this is the book of you. Every new area visited starts with an extensive list of the flora & fauna of the ocean and as far as I can tell is the most scientifically accurate part of the book, the rest sadly does not hold up as well. This mostly feels like a research project hung over a very loose plot. There is little story or plot and no character development to be found. The central mystery of the who and why of Nemo is only resolved in the most superficial manner. While it is somewhat interesting to see what was state of the art in the mid 19 century this is a story crying out for an abridged version.

[sasham-1 · Bewertung: 5 von 5 Sternen]

This book shows the true roots of science fiction. A story so fully of carefully researched facts about the various oceans of the world and the fish and plant life in them that you could almost believe that the nautilus and captain nemo did exist and the wonders they showed our narrator exsisted as well.
Science fiction is about taking what we know and expanding it just that little bit more into the impossible. Or the one day maybe possible and then seeing what might happen.
Quiet apart from that this is a story that brings home the massive change in attitude our society has had in regard to the environment and its study. Nemo himself is somewhat of a conservationist "this would be killing for the sake of killing" he tells Ned the harpooner. He kills willingly for food or in his search for revenge but will not be party to senseless destruction.
We never learn what Nemo actually hopes to achieve or what happens to the nautilus in the end. In many ways I think this would have added to the believability of the story when it was first published.