The novel, for example, mentions hundreds of explorers from the sixteenth century to the 1860s.

It is clear that 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea is not only an adventure story but also a research paper. It becomes easy to see how Marie-Laure, who read the novel repeatedly, would learn a lot about sea creatures.īetween Aronnax and Captain Nemo, we also learn a lot about sea exploration and the naturalists who described many of the creatures. The rock and sea floor formations, the seaweed and algae, the mussels and crustaceans, the fish and cetaceans, the seals and seabirds are all described in detail according to each location the boat spends time in. Very frequently our narrator, Professor Aronnax, describes the marine geology and life he encounters. Why not sea water? It makes more sense than hyperspace or wormholes for space craft. In Verne’s day, people experimented with batteries using a variety of solutions. The Nautilus’s batteries are somehow refreshed by salt water and carbon. All submarines use batteries, whether they have diesel engines or nuclear reactors to charge them. Verne describes the propulsion of the Nautilus, Captain Nemo’s underwater craft, as coming from batteries. It describes underwater travel before anyone had actually done it (1871) with propulsion that at least works on paper and which tells about some things that submarines actually have used since they were invented. 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea is not that different.

Today we often think of science fiction of having to involve space travel and hypothetical means of propulsion. Though we can point to other writings-the author Cyrano de Bergerac wrote about travel to the moon and sun while Verne here credits Poe-but Verne really brought science into fiction to create a plausible if slightly fantastic story.

Jules Verne is often rightly called the father of science fiction. But 20,000 Leagues is a great story in and of itself. There are actually a few connections that make this novel an appropriate backdrop to All the Light. In honor of Marie-Laure of All the Light We Cannot See, I had to read 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea.

Jules verne 20000 leagues under the sea