Page:Works of Jules Verne - Parke - Vol 5.djvu/21

 INTRODUCTION TO VOLUME FIVE

''FTER the publication of "In Search of the Castaways," Jules Verne may be said to have entered on the second period of his fame. The tale was made the basis of a successful spectacular play, one of the first of those huge scenic panoramas built for the eye rather than for the ear.''

''While this could add nothing to the literary standing of its author, it placed his name in everybody's mouth. His next book, "Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea," and indeed whatever following books lent themselves to the purpose, were staged with similar splendor. The name of Verne became a household word throughout the world, implying wonder and magnificence.''

''"Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Sea" was published in 1870. It is the most widely known of all our author's works, perhaps deservedly so. To the mystery of its back-ground, the tremendously impressive appeal of the weird scenery of the ocean's deeps, it added a story, somber, terrifying, stern as some ancient tragedy of Euripides.''

''Of Verne's works in general it has been said, with some justice, that his stories overshadow his characters, that the latter are but automatons of little interest for themselves, unrealised as human beings, mere pegs existing only to hang adventures on. But surely from this criticism we must except, along with some few others, Captain Nemo. This tragic central figure of "Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Sea" is known to every boy among Verne's readers as a distinct personality, ingenious, inventive, strong and tender, dreaming softly over his organ, praying as a father over the graves of his men in their solemn cemetery under seas, yet grimly unrelenting in his oath of vengeance.''

The construction of Captain Nemo's submarine, as has 1