What's with the balloon???
Verne's novel has become synonymous with that 18th and 19th
century icon of aerial endeavors...a gasbag with a wicker basket hanging
beneath...also known as the balloon.
It's become the symbol of the story, appearing on book covers and in
movie adaptations alike. Funny thing is,
in the story, a balloon is never used as part of the eighty-day journey around
the globe. It's discussed, but never
seriously considered. Phileas Fogg
preferred riding an elephant...much more British...the balloon being a bit too Frankish...liable to blow gas in your general direction.
As with many of Jules' stories...film seems to have been the
major culprit mixing-in and mashing-up many of his works into feature length
motion pictures. We'll talk about the
balloon in a later offering, as one does feature prominently in an earlier,
Verne story...in fact, his very first story published in English.
Around The World In
Eighty Days, or 80 Days, is one
of the few Verne novels having no trace of science fiction whatsoever. It's all on the "up and up" and
completely possible, should you have the spare change...no airship or submarine
required. The story was originally
serialized, readers actually believing it was occurring with each and every
installment. While the story is fiction,
a figment of Verne's cavernous imagination, several adventurous individuals
carried out the premise for real. The first
took place in 1889, taking only 72 days, and wouldn’t you know...it took a
woman to get it done. Elizabeth Cochrane
Seaman..."Nellie Bly" (who deserves much more historical recognition
for a whole host of achievements besides), did it, wrote about it, actually met
with Verne in France and sold a piggyback book to boot. I bet you can guess the number that replaced
80 in her knock-off, true to life travel log...
Here is the first American edition of Around The World In Eighty Days
...And just for fun...here's a digital copy of Nellie Bly's book, Around The World In Seventy-Two Days...you go girl...