Around the World in Eighty Days

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Enjoyable but not enthralling - Rated
For some reason, I always envisioned a hot air balloon when I thought of Around the World in Eighty Days; in point of fact, a hot air balloon is about the only means of transportation not employed by Phileas Fogg in his circumnavigational sojourn (though it is given a fleeting thought by the hero at one point). Fogg is an interesting character, a man who takes punctuality to an unheard of degree. Basically, his whist partners at the Reform Club tell him there is no way to go around the globe in just 80 days, notwithstanding the fact that a detailed itinerary involving specific boats and trains promises to make it possible. Fogg immediately bets half his fortune that he can do it, setting out on his journey that very night. Passepartout, his newly hired manservant, finds himself dragged along on this historic journey. It so happens that someone matching a description of Fogg has just robbed the Bank of England of 55,000 pounds, and a detective named Fix "discovers" his robber when Fogg arrives in Suez. He wires England with the news and asks for an arrest warrant to be issued; before it arrives, Fogg is off again. Fix finds himself joining in on Fogg's epic journey, waiting for the warrant to reach him on his way, then waiting to arrest Fogg when he steps back on English soil. The travelers face many perils and stumbling blocks along their way, many brought about by Passeportout's naivete and later on by his selfless act of heroism. At every turn, Fogg finds himself in need of alternate transportation methods; he employs, among other vehicles, an elephant, a bridge-jumping train, and a wind-propelled sled. A series of uncommon adventures unfold, involving damsels in distress, Indian attacks, matters of honor, etc. All these events come to a climax the day on which he is due back at the Reform Club.

There is not really much science in this fiction; instead, there is a good bit of geography; the stretches of text explaining the route from one place to another is rather boring to me personally. Luckily, most of the book is full of action. Throughout, the interesting Mr. Fogg remains as calm and placid as a cucumber while Passepartout provides some comic relief by continually finding himself in some sort of trouble. Most of the actors come across as rather wooden and artificial, but the story is good and the ending is quite satisfactory. The reading of this book led me to conjecture that this was one of Verne's earlier works because the characters here are rather drab compared to those in From the Earth to the Moon and because the pages are not weighed down by scientific terminology as in 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea; actually, it is one of his later novels.

Around the World in Eighty Days would well serve the purpose of introducing a Verne newbie to his writing. If you want to see glimpses of Verne's prophetic scientific ideas, though, this is probably not the book for you; it is best suited for recreational reading.

The Right Stuff, 19th Century Style - Rated
I decided to read "Around the World in Eighty Days" after encountering an essay about Jules Verne's deep interest and belief in science as an almost God-like vehicle to carry mankind into a brave new world. I then decided to see how this work fit into this theme of Verne's world view. I found a story which, to the reader of Verne's day, may have seemed as inspiring as the tales of astronauts to contemporary readers.

Without giving too much away, "Around the World" is an improbable tale of Phileas Fogg, an English gentleman who carries his regularity to the extreme of eccentricity. After engaging a new servant, the Frenchman, Passepartout, Fogg engages his fellows at the Reform Club in a discussion over the possibility of the completion of an around the world journey. Immediately, Fogg engages in a bet that he can circumnavigate the globe in an eighty day period. Collecting Passepartout, they set off that very night on a journey which will take them, truly, around the world.

Verne's writing was driven, in large degree, by a desire to promote the public acceptance and advancement of science among the French people. In his journey of 1874, Fogg employs many types of conveyance, from the most primitive to the most technologically advanced of the day. Verne uses this novel to contrast the industrial might of the United States with the traditional cultural mores of India.

We can only try to imagine how this novel would have affected the reader of 1874. To a modern reader, the book is a light, fast moving novel with a stimulating thread of suspense and just a touch of romance. What little character development takes place is dwarfed by the demonstration of technological wonder which is depicted throughout the journey. We do, however, come to know a little about the main characters. We see Fogg as an eccentric, phlegmatic Englishman, seemingly single-mindedly devoted to achieving his goal of circumnavigation of the globe within the prescribed period. When Fogg does abandon his single-minded drive it is sidetracked and overwhelmed by his innate senses of honor and duty, almost leading to grave consequences. Passepartout comes across as a fairly simple-minded servant whose sole purpose in life is the faithful service of his master. Add in a beautiful damsel and a determined but feckless detective and we have the makings of a most entertaining read with a most unpredictable hero.