Invasion Of The Sea Invasion De La Mer. English Project Muse Upcc Books

First published January 1, 1904 Translated by EDWARD BAXTER Invasion of the Sea takes place in a future 1930s and follows the story of European engineers and their military escort who seek to revive an actual 19th century proposal to flood the Sahara desert with waters from the Mediterranean Sea to create an inland "Sahara Sea" for both commercial and military purposes. The French military escort, led by Captain Hardigan, meet with conflict from Tuareg Berber tribes who fear the new sea will threaten their nomadic way of life. The Berber tribes, led by the warlord Hadjar, begin an insurgency campaign against the Europeans in an effort to derail their plans for the inland sea. Captain Hardigan attempts to retaliate against the Berbers and bring Hadjar to justice. Ultimately, however, a disastrous earthquake strikes. This earthquake floods the Sahara to an extent beyond even limits which were proposed by the Europeans, and drowns the insurgent Tuaregs.

First English edition of a classic Verne novel.

Publishers Weekly

Leading off Wesleyan's Early Classics of Science Fiction series, Verne's 1905 techno-thriller debuts in English, rendered by Baxter with supple decorum and reinforced by editor Arthur B. Evans's thorough scholarly notes, bibliography and Verne mini-biography. Inspired by the rage for canal-building obsessing the world's imperial powers around 1904, this novel draws on an aborted 1874 French proposal for an inland Sahara Sea, which would have involved digging a 200-kilometer Suez-type canal through Tunisia into eastern Algeria. Verne's self-confessed passion for travel writings and geographical detail illuminate the then-current events that Verne shaped into his fiction, but his deluge of scientific facts engulfs the story's slim teen-oriented literary content. Verne also radically shifts point of view, from the Tuareg tribespeople, who vow holy war against the foreigners because they will lose their lands to the inundation, to a European engineering expedition and its French military escort. Verne sympathetically focuses on the soldiers' heroic canine companion, Ace-of-Hearts, before plunging into an unlikely deus ex machina, producing a disjointed yet predictable narrative with negligible development of character and motivation except for the delightful dog. Students of early SF will appreciate Evans's and Baxter's efforts in bringing Verne's late work to light, but general audiences may find themselves swamped by Verne's quicksand of geographic minutiae. (Jan.) Forecast: Evans speculates that this last Verne novel wasn't translated earlier for political reasons as well as on account of tough competition from H.G. Wells's more sensational scientific romances. While the appeal here is primarily scholarly, this reader-friendly edition, which reproduces the original illustrations, may well have enough curiosity value to garner some trade sales. Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.

First English edition of a classic Verne novel. Jules Verne, celebrated French author of Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea and Around the World in 80 Days , wrote over 60 novels collected in the popular series "Voyages Extraordinaires." A handful of these have never been translated into English, including Invasion of the Sea , written in 1904 when large-scale canal digging was very much a part of the political, economic, and military strategy of the world's imperial powers. Instead of linking two seas, as existing canals (the Suez and the Panama) did, Verne proposed a canal that would create a sea in the heart of the Sahara Desert. The story raises a host of concerns — environmental, cultural, and political. The proposed sea threatens the nomadic way of life of those Islamic tribes living on the site, and they declare war. The ensuing struggle is finally resolved only by a cataclysmic natural event. This Wesleyan edition features notes, appendices and an introduction by Verne scholar Arthur B. Evans, as well as reproductions of the illustrations from the original French edition.

Jules Verne, celebrated French author of Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea and Around the World in 80 Days, wrote over 60 novels collected in the popular series "Voyages Extraordinaires." A handful of these have never been translated into English, including Invasion of the Sea, written in 1904 when large-scale canal digging was very much a part of the political, economic, and military strategy of the world's imperial powers.

Instead of linking two seas, as existing canals (the Suez and the Panama) did, Verne proposed a canal that would create a sea in the heart of the Sahara Desert. The story raises a host of concerns — environmental, cultural, and political. The proposed sea threatens the nomadic way of life of those Islamic tribes living on the site, and they declare war. The ensuing struggle is finally resolved only by a cataclysmic natural event. This Wesleyan edition features notes, appendices and an introduction by Verne scholar Arthur B. Evans, as well as reproductions of the illustrations from the original French edition.

"Instead of linking two seas, as existing canals (the Suez and the Panama) did, Verne proposed a canal that would create a sea in the heart of the Sahara Desert. The story raises a host of environmental, cultural and political concerns. The proposed sea threatens the nomadic way of life of those Islamic tribes living on the site, and they declare war. The ensuing struggle is finally resolved only by a cataclysmic natural event. This Wesleyan edition features notes, appendices and an introduction by Verne scholar Arthur B. Evans, as well as reproductions of the illustrations from the original French edition."--BOOK JACKET. First English edition of a classic Verne novel. Describes the exploits of Berber nomads and European travelers in Saharan Africa. The European characters arrive to study the feasibility of flooding a low-lying region of the Sahara desert to create an inland sea and open up the interior of Northern Africa to trade. In the end, however, the protagonists' pride in humanity's potential to control and reshape the world is humbled by a cataclysmic earthquake which results in the natural formation of just such a sea First English Edition Of A Classic Verne Novel. Jules Verne ; Translated By Edward Baxter ; Edited By Arthur B. Evans ; Introduction And Critical Material By Arthur B. Evans. Includes Bibliographical References (p. 229-250).