As part of the Early Classics of Science Fiction series, this critical edition features extensive notes, all the illustrations from the original French edition, and a complete Verne biography and bibliography. Fusing adventure, comedy, and science fiction, Five Weeks has all the key ingredients of classic Verne: sly humor and cheeky characters, an innovative scientific invention, a tangled plot that's full of suspense and surprise, and visions of an unknown realm. It tells the tale of a 4,000-mile balloon trip over the mysterious continent of Africa, a trip that wouldn't actually take place until well into the next century. Initially published in 1863, Five Weeks in a Balloon was the first novel in what would become the author's 'Extraordinary Voyages' series. Evans, this edition honors not only Verne's farseeing science, but also his zest, style, and storytelling brilliance. Prepared by two of America's leading Verne scholars, Frederick Paul Walter and Arthur B. One of the great 'first novels' in world literature is now available in a complete, accurate English translation.

It documents an apocryphal jaunt across the continent of Africa in a hydrogen balloon designed by the omniscient, imperturbable and ever capable Dr Fergusson, the prototype of the Vernian adventurer.First complete English translation of Verne's debut novel from 1863 The dour Fogg’s obsession with his timetable is complemented by the dynamism and versatility of his French manservant, Passepartout, whose talent for getting into scrapes brings colour and suspense to the race against time.įive Weeks in a Balloon (1863) was Verne’s first novel. This volume contains two of his best-loved yarns, chosen from among the sixty-four titles of Les Voyages Extraordinaires, Verne’s pioneering contribution to the canon of modern science fiction.Īround the World in Eighty Days (1873) relates the hair-raising journey made as a wager by the Victorian gentleman Phileas Fogg, who succeeds – but only just! – in circling the globe within eighty days.

Jules Verne (1828-1905) possessed that rare storyteller’s gift of being able to present the far-fetched and the downright unbelievable in such a way as effortlessly to inspire his reader’s allegiance and trust. Translations are by Paul Desages (Around the World in Eighty Days) and Arthur Chambers (Five Weeks in a Balloon). With an Introduction and Notes by Professor Roger Cardinal.

Five weeks in a balloon book