Alchymie a tajemno již dlouhá léta patří mezi oblíbená témata mnoha čtenářů. V tomto románu rozhodně nepřijdou zkrátka, neboť právě alchymie zde hraje velmi podstatnou roli. A to v podání Wilhelma, syna zemřelého věhlasného alchymisty Otty Storitze. Wilhelm po svém otci zdědil recepturu na kapalinu, jejíž požití učiní člověka neviditelným. Účinek této řídké tekutiny je trvalý, pokud není požita druhá látka, která působení první zruší. Tuto látku chce Wilhelm využít pro získání Myry Roderichové, která ovšem miluje inženýra Henriho Vidala. Když Myra jednoho dne zmizí, Henri následně dokáže neviditelného Storitze zabít. Ten si však tajemství obou látek vezme s sebou do hrobu. Podaří se Myru učinit znovu viditelnou i bez receptu na potřebný elixír?

H.G. Wells beat Jules Verne to the punch with “The Invisible Man,” published in 1898. Probably inspired by Wells, Verne soon began writing his own novel about invisibility, which he called “The Secret of Wilhelm Storitz.” It was not published in France until after his death, but only after his son had badly mangled it with substantial editing and rewriting. Several of Verne's other late books suffered a similar fate.

Not until a decade ago was Verne's novel restored to the way he wrote it and, unlike so many other Verne novels in the past, given a decent English translation. The result is a book that, even if it came after the much more famous Wells book, is original and entertaining in its own way.

Henry Vidal travels from France to Hungary for the wedding of his brother, Marc, to a lovely young woman named Myra Roderich. Myra had previously spurned a proposal from Wilhelm Storitz, the son of a noted, if mysterious, Prussian scientist. Wilhelm has vowed to prevent the marriage of Marc to Myra from ever taking place.

As the wedding approaches, mysterious things begin to occur, such as disembodied voices and objects seemingly moving by themselves through the air. When it finally becomes clear that Wilhelm has found the secret of invisibility, panic overtakes not just the wedding party but the entire city. How can anyone be confident of privacy ever again? How can any secret be safe? How can Wilhelm be found, let alone captured, when he cannot even be seen? The story reaches it crisis point when Myra herself disappears.

Myra's importance to the plot is one reason this novel is considered noteworthy among Verne's work. Mostly he wrote books for boys, who had little interest in female characters. This novel appears to have been written more for an adult audience, especially as it contains romantic scenes and wedding details. Yet Verne perhaps does women no favors by making both Myra and her mother so fragile that they faint and must be carried to bed because of the shock caused by events.

I won't discuss Verne's dramatic ending, one of the things that his son had badly rewritten, except to say that it is exceptional. H.G. Wells may have wished he had thought of it. ( )

In “The Secret of Wilhelm Sotritz”, Verne is giving us a view of the scientific and spiritual aspects of being invisible.

On one hand he addresses the havoc that could ensue if one had the ability to become invisible; the concerns from personal family life to political security that would be breeched. On the other hand he gives us insight to some 19th century social concerns about spirituality.

Wilhelm is a bachelor, foreigner, and a stranger and as such is suspect from the beginning in the community that he is residing in.

Because Wilhelm is rejected by Myra’s family for her hand in marriage he socially becomes invisible and not able to become spiritually complete in marriage, basically a nobody. So in essence, because he cannot attach himself to the well respected Roderich family and become somebody, he then falls back on the power that invisibility gives him to create havoc and terror in the unenlightened superstitious population of the town.

The story is a quick read and very well written. I would recommend it to anyone who likes some of the late 19th century science fiction writings. ( )

Though well-written enough, it's not that interesting to the modern reader - but there's a lot of historical interest in the book, since this is the first English translation based on the actual Jules Verne manuscript and not changed by his son and by publishers.
I can see how at the time the novel would seem innovative, and the ending is quirky even by today's standards. Also, some of what Verne says about the paranoia of being observed by someone invisible, and what this would do to society, will resonate in this day of the almost ubiquitous videocamera. ( )

You're likely to get an odd look when someone asks what you're reading and you tell them it's the "new" Jules Verne novel. After all, Verne died 106 years ago and all of his work has been published. Yet therein is a tale itself.

The Secret of Wilhelm Storitz is a novel Verne hoped would be published before his death. It is, though, among roughly half a dozen novels and a short story collection published after he died. The problem is Verne's son rewrote many of them, recasting plots and adding characters. The Secret of Wilhelm Storitz is emblamatic of this. When first published, Verne's son placed the story in the 18th century rather than the 19th and changed the ending. Now, though, Peter Schulman, a professor of French literature at Old Dominion University and a trustee of the North American Jules Verne Society, brings us the first English translation of Verne's original manuscript.

The title character is the son of a famous German scientist, one many near his home regarded as possessing close to supernatural powers. The scientist's rumored secrets bring people to his grave on the anniversary of his death, many expecting him to rise from it. Yet it seems his son has possession of those secrets, one of which is the key to this blend of science fiction and fantasy.

The story is told by Henry Vidal, who travels from Paris to a fictional city in Hungary, where his brother intends to marry Myra Roderich, the daughter of a highly respected family. Myra and her family spurned Storitz's earlier marriage proposal. He invokes one of his father's secrets to prevent the marriage and take his revenge on the Roderichs. In fact, one of his misdeeds might shock even the modern reader. Who can imagine the effect it would have had on an early 20th century audience?

Naturally, The Secret of Wilhelm Storitz carries the style and tropes of the time in which it was written (1895). Thus, women who suffer an emotional shock must take to their bed until they recover their constitution. Geopolitical emotions and biases into play. Hungarians are portrayed as being prone toward superstition, far more ready to accept supernatural explanations than scientific ones. It also is not coincidence that Storitz is German as Verne displays an anti-German sentiment that set in following the Franco-Prussian War. For example, when Henry Vidal unknowingly encounters Storitz en route to Hungary, someone comments that Storitz "might be German twice over, as he's got to be a Prussian." Vidal's response? "And that's already once too many!"

Verne's style frequently incorporates references to contemporary scientific advances, artists and authors. Schulman does an excellent job footnoting names and terms that are of little or no significance today. These and more general footnotes also help explicate Verne's literary style, occasionally referring to Verne's life or other writings.

The Secret of Wilhelm Storitz may show its age to the modern reader. But there is never anything wrong with having something "new" from a classic author, particularly when earlier versions deviated from the author's original work.

(Originally posted at A Progressive on the Prairie.)