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TODAY’S LITERARY BIRTHDAY:
Jules Verne the "Father of Science Fiction".
Since he wrote sci-fi in the midst of the Victorian era,
he is TRULY the first STEAMPUNKer.

The French author, who pioneered the genre of science-fiction, is famed for such revolutionary science-fiction novels as 'Around the World in Eighty Days' and 'Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea.'

Jules Verne is one of the most influential and celebrated writers in the history of science fiction. But his novels contain more than just entertainment. His wild imagination and propensity for thorough research led not only to enthralling adventure stories, but some eerily accurate predictions in the realm of scientific advancement.

Verne wrote about space, air, and underwater travel before navigable aircraft and practical submarines were invented, and before any means of space travel had been devised.

BUT, DID YOU KNOW::

Before he wrote stories he wrote libretti (lyrics) for operas.
 

It's largely the fault of poor translations, which were filled with scientific mistakes and changes and omissions which conflicted with the political and religious views of Victorian England. For instance, the original translator of 20,000 Leagues deleted more than 20% of the book, largely because he was a conservative British Protestant and Verne was a liberal French Catholic. So much of the social and political content of his books was lopped out, they seemed like nothing more than trivial adventure stories to English-speaking readers.

Sadly, once inept translations like these fell into the public domain and could be reproduced free, they became the "standard" translations and can be still found in print today.


Verne began as very optimistic about how technical possibilities could influence the future of mankind. Over his career, he began more and more pessimistic about the future of civilization. Some say his good friend and publisher Peirre-Jules Hetzel edited out some of the more pessimistic aspects that were creeping into Verne’s works, but after his death, Hetzel’s son who took over the business did far less editing and left them in.

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