Maailman ympäri 80 päivässä (1872)

My votes for top 5 most enjoyable classic adventure novels of all time:

Around the World in 80 Days
Tarzan of the Apes
White Fang
Scaramouche
Treasure Island

I listened to a wonderful unabridged edition and found myself cheering along Mr. Fogg and his side-kick Passepartout. I even pounded my steering wheel in sympathetic frustration when they missed a ocean vessel connection that was crucial to the journey. This novel was written in 1873. Here I was, listening in my car 145 years later enjoying and every minute of Jules Verne’s still fresh and exhilarating story.

If that is not the definition of genius, I don’t know what is.
( )

Phileas Fogg is a rich British gentleman living a solitary life. Despite his wealth, Fogg lives a modest life with habits carried out with mathematical precision. Very little can be said about his social life other than that he is a member of the Reform Club, where he spends the best part of his days. Having dismissed his former valet, James Forster, for bringing him shaving water at 84 °F (29 °C) instead of 86 °F (30 °C), Fogg hires Frenchman Jean Passepartout as a replacement.

At the Reform Club, Fogg gets involved in an argument over an article in The Daily Telegraph stating that with the opening of a new railway section in India, it is now possible to travel around the world in 80 days. He accepts a wager for £20,000 (approximately £2.3 million in 2020), half of his total fortune, from his fellow club members to complete such a journey within this time period. With Passepartout accompanying him, Fogg departs from London by train at 8:45 p.m. on 2 October; in order to win the wager, he must return to the club by this same time on 21 December, 80 days later. They take the remaining £20,000 of Fogg's fortune with them to cover expenses during the journey.

Around the World in Eighty Days was written during difficult times, both for France and for Verne. It was during the Franco-Prussian War (1870–1871) in which Verne was conscripted as a coastguard; he was having financial difficulties (his previous works were not paid royalties); his father had died recently; and he had witnessed a public execution, which had disturbed him. Despite all this, Verne was excited about his work on the new book, the idea of which came to him one afternoon in a Paris café while reading a newspaper.

The technological innovations of the 19th century had opened the possibility of rapid circumnavigation and the prospect fascinated Verne and his readership. In particular, three technological breakthroughs occurred in 1869–70 that made a tourist-like around-the-world journey possible for the first time: the completion of the First Transcontinental Railroad in America (1869), the linking of the Indian railways across the sub-continent (1870), and the opening of the Suez Canal (1869). It was another notable mark in the end of an age of exploration and the start of an age of full global tourism that could be enjoyed in relative comfort and safety. It sparked the imagination that anyone could sit down, draw up a schedule, buy tickets and travel around the world, a feat previously reserved for only the most heroic and hardy of adventurers. ( )

Read this a long long time ago. But I remember enjoying this one. ( )

Wasn't expecting to be as enthralled and carried along by this as I was. Obviously has a few markers of its time but still a neat little narrative that moves at a lovely pace. ( )

I've been meaning to read some of Jules Verne's works, but somehow I never got around doing so. Until I saw this re-edition of 'Le Tour du monde en 80 jours'. This re-edition is part of an entire series of Verne works that Le Livre de Poche has (re)published, as you can see on their website (click here).

It was also my objective to read it in French. I usually read books in their original language (Dutch, English, French, German), but there are times I read the Dutch translation. If, however, the original language is one I don't understand, I will read whatever translation (in any of the four aforementioned languages) might suit me.

Anyway, 'Le Tour du monde en 80 jours' is one of Verne's most famous works. It's about a wealthy Englishman, Philéas Fogg (of whom not much is known, as he is quite closed, doesn't lay all his cards on the table, not even when playing Whist), who makes a bet with his comrades of the Reform-Club in London: Fogg will travel around the world in 80 days. Despite the winter season, Fogg is determined to start the journey asap, if not the day of the bet itself. And on that same day, he fires his assistant (for the lousy reason of his tea being 2 C° below the desired temperature) and hires a new one, a Frenchman called Passepartout. This guy hopes to finally find some rest in his job, seeing also how meticulous and calculated Mr Fogg is.

But then he hears of the bet and sees his hopes smashed to pieces. All goes pretty well, until Passepartout forgot to turn off the gas, which means a huge bill will await them when they return. But Fogg keeps his cool throughout the entire journey. Many of us would have lost it, shouted, cursed, whatever... maybe even called off the bet? Passepartout is also the kind of character who at several times worked seriously on my nerves, especially when he decided to wander off, play the tourist, and in this way jeopardize the entire undertaking. How Fogg managed to cope with it all is beyond me. Many times I felt sorry for him.

Fogg is determined to win the bet. He does not visit any towns or cities, he "simply" hops from one means of transport onto another, be it ship, boat, steamer, elephant, train, car/coach, ... You can't really play the tourist if you only have 80 days to go around the world. However, money is vital, lots of money, especially to accomplish certain goals quicker.

However, Fogg also encounters other problems, like being chased by the police, in this case inspector Fix, who got the message that (apparently) Fogg robbed the bank before undertaking the journey and used the journey as a means to escape to safer grounds. Fogg does indeed spend a lot and that is one element in the story to make him suspicious.

But as you can imagine, all's well that ends well (very well even for Fogg), although Jules Verne does know how to keep it exciting. He doesn't give too many details away, but he also leaves a lot out of the story. At some point, it seems Fogg and co. are in no need for food or drinks, or even a change of clothes. Wearing the same clothes for days on end, not having a decent shower or bath, ... Sure, we're talking about the 19th century, but they must have smelled, no?

Also a bonus: You get to read (obviously very limited) about India at the time of British occupation, China, Japan, ... and local traditions and how these images became (still are?) stereotypic of our (European) understanding of those countries, of those people, and of European dominance (so to speak).

Verne's writing style allows for smooth reading, obviously, but he did use enough words I had never heard of or read before, and for which a dictionary was needed. Why other people say they had to read this book in school, I don't know. Maybe it was a translated version (in their mother tongue), so they could understand it more easily?

Long story short: I'm not Verne connoisseur, but I can highly recommend 'Le Tour du monde en 80 jours' (in general, of course; it's up to you to read it in the language of your choice). ( )