Jules Verne: Journeys in Writing by Timothy Unwin

Abstract

MLR, 102.2, 2007 517 In the thirdsection ofhis 'Livre II', Destruel examines thepivotal interrelated texts of I852, La Bohe^me galante and Petits chateaux de boheme.He shows how Nerval's aesthetic of continuous deferral,with its ironic digressions and fragmented narrative, its comings and goings between past and present, and its nods in the direction of the textual games of Sterne and Nodier, amounts to an abandonment of diachronic time in favour of a perpetual present open to the future.On theother hand, his study in 'Livre IIIF of the 'autofictional' prose texts of Les Filles du feu-in particular, of Sylvie-points toNerval's realization of the limitations ofmemory and the impossi bility of reliving thepast. The chapters on Les Chime'res consider thepoems as explo rations of intensemoments isolated from the duration ofTime: Destruel interprets these asNerval's ultimate attempts to transcend Time and reach towards the infinite. Destruel's original achievement in thisbook is to show how Nerval reappropriates his experience of time and reintegrates his own biography by recomposing itvia a radically new autobiographical project based not upon a return to thepast, but upon a continually evolving recombination of thepast and thepresent oriented towards the future lifeof the autobiographical subject. UNIVERSITY OFNEW SOUTHWALES MAURICE BLACKMAN J7ules Verne: journeys in Writing. By TIMOTHY UNWIN. Liverpool: Liverpool Uni versity Press. 2005. Xii+242 pp. ?20. ISBN 978-o-85323-458-6. In 2005 JulesVerne aficionados from around theworld commemorated the cente nary of thedeath of thisever-popular author.As a result, scores of new Verne-related publications-of varying quality-appeared in the marketplace. Some were by serious literaryscholars, some bywell-meaning but idolizing fans,and some bymediajournal ists who seemed toknow Verne only as theputative 'fatherof sci-fi'Jules Verne: Jour neys in Writing stands squarely in the firstgroup. In fact, itconstitutes one of thevery best scholarlymonographs on Verne to appear inEnglish or French in several years. As its title suggests, this study offers a refreshinglynew focus on the legendary French author. Rather than treatingVerne as a cultural icon of futurism or tech nological prophet (as most critics tend to do), Timothy Unwin chooses instead to concentrate on Verne as a writer. He argues thatVerne should be viewed firstand foremost as a nineteenth-century 'novelistwho renews and revitalises thegenre' (p. 6) and whose literary talents have too often been ignored,misunderstood, or underesti mated. Unwin explains: It is true thatVerne has been plundered, pilloried, and appropriated in such rich and inventiveways that his massive cultural legacy can quite simply overshadow his real literaryoutput. A significantpart of thepurpose of thepresent study, then, is to step back from themyths, indeed to challenge the cliches about Verne, and to re-examine his writing from amore strictly literaryperspective. [. . .] Inwhat ways ishis writing subversive, innovative or experimental?What are its ideological or philosophical under currents?How does he adapt the conventions of the realist novel tohis own particular enterprise? To what extent does he, literallyand literarily, push back the frontiersof fiction?(pp. 2-3) To answer these questions, Unwin examines themany building-blocks ofVerne's unique narrative recipe-his ubiquitous intertextuality (scientific and literary), his 'narrativization' of non-fictional discourses, his theatricalmodes of characterization, his self-reflexive narrative voice, his tongue-in-cheek use of irony, etc.-in order to highlight the stylistic originality ofVerne's Voyages extraordinaires. Interesting comparisons with other French authors of the 'realist' tradition such as Balzac and 5 I8 Reviews Flaubert are included. Pertinent studies by other Vernian scholars such as Pierre Macherey, Piero Gondolo della Riva, Volker Dehs, Andrew Martin, Alain Buisine, and especially Daniel Compere are referenced (in-text and/or via profuse footnotes). And, throughout thebook, Unwin showcases awonderfully broad selection ofVerne's fiction,underscoringthe 'polyphonic, composite nature' (p. 52) of this writer's ceuvre. The book is logically structured, reads smoothly, and contains almost no typos or other editorial glitches. It begins with a six-page introduction and ends with a six-page conclusion. In between are six chapters entitled 'Science, Literature, and theNineteenth Century', 'Textual Environments', 'All the World's aText', 'Theatre and Theatricality', 'Self-Consciousness: The Journey of Language and Narrative', and 'Writing and Rewriting'. A brief chronology of...