Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea (French: Vingt mille lieues sous les mers) is a classic science fiction novel by French writer Jules Verne published in 1870. It tells the story of Captain Nemo and his submarine Nautilus as seen from the perspective of Professor Pierre Aronnax. The first illustrated edition (not the original edition which had no illustrations) was published by Hetzel and contains a number of illustrations by Alphonse de Neuville and Édouard Riou.
Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Sea
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About the Author
Jules Gabriel Verne was a French author who helped pioneer the science-fiction genre. He is best known for his novels Journey to the Center of the Earth (written in 1864), From the Earth to the Moon (1865), Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea (1869-1870), and Around the World in Eighty Days (1873). 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. Consequently he is often referred to as the "Father of science fiction", along with H. G. Wells. Verne is the second most translated author of all time, only behind Agatha Christie, with 4162 translations, according to Index Translationum. Some of his works have been made into films.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
48 of 53 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Classic of science fiction, some minor flaws to a modern reader,
By T. Simons (Columbia, SC United States) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER) (VINE VOICE) (REAL NAME)
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This review is from: Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Sea (Kindle Edition)
This is Jules Verne's classic tale of undersea adventure, as best I can tell based on the 1873 translation by Lewis Mercier. Since that's been the standard English translation for over a hundred years, it's probably the one you remember reading way back when, and the edition you'll be familiar with.
Re-reading this as an adult, and an adult who's spent twenty-plus years since then reading science fiction, I did have to remind myself more than once how amazing the then-future technologies Verne describes, like electric rifles, undersea diving suits, electric motors, etc., would have been to his contemporary readers; the book was first published in 1869, a mere five years after the Confederate submarine Hunley became the first submarine to sink an enemy warship (and sank itself in the process). At times I found myself mentally substituting "outer space" for "under sea," just to help me analogize the situation. Despite that, the plot and action were as riveting now as they were when I first read it twenty years ago. I did find myself, now as then, skimming over much of Verne's extensive scientific descriptions of undersea flora and fauna, etc., but that might be my own failing as a reader -- when I did take the time to read Verne's descriptions, I did sometimes catch the same sense of aquatic wonder I remember from watching films like _The Life Aquatic_. From what I've read, the Mercier translation this is based on contains a number of translation errors, cuts out about 20% of the text, etc. Corrected, completed, updated ebook editions of this classic are available on Amazon, but they cost money -- I've been unable to find an out-of-copyright, corrected, complete, and free edition. For readers on a budget, though, this is probably the version you remember, and if read in the right way -- keeping in mind the era in which it was written, and skimming whenever the science gets too dry or detailed for you -- it's still quite entertaining. Verne did write a sequel, _The Mysterious Island_, also available in the kindle free store; the better translation is available here: The Mysterious Island.
4 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
20,000 feet under the sea in a submarine,
By A&D (New York, USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Sea (Kindle Edition)
20,000 Leagues Under the Seas is about the adventures of the famous Captain Nemo and his crew aboard the even more famous submarine, Nautilus.
Nautilus, the famous submarine,is shaped to look like a fish, with a large metal fin on top used to ram and sink the ships and to look almost like a whale. In this story, after sinking ships, Nautilus takes on a few passengers from one of the sinking ships. Captain Nemo does not like war, and thus, he uses his submarine to destroy all kinds of war related ships and killing lots of people at the same time. His methods of putting end to wars is not admirable because of the killings but you cannot help but liking this character after all...
3.0 out of 5 stars
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This review is from: Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Sea (Kindle Edition)
This is Jules Verne's classic tale of undersea adventure, as best I can tell based on the 1873 translation by Lewis Mercier.
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