Review: 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, by Jules Verne
by
Stuart Holland
Another classic and as always, the classics are hard to “rate”. They persist to the modern day because they say something interesting and because audiences keep finding them captivating, but they’re also an artifact of their time (and that can be interesting in its own right).
I went into 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea knowing surprisingly little about it, aside from that it’s famous and has inspired a lot of nautical fiction since. I heard of this book as a kid and I remember thinking “but the sea isn’t that deep” - though of course the title is actually talking about distance traveled, not descended.
Actually listening to this book (I had an audiobook) it pulled together a lot of different inspirations that I’d seen in popular culture that I didn’t know were connected. Captain Nemo (who I did know wasn’t a clownfish) and the Nautilus (which isn’t the Ubuntu file manager) are names that have leaked out into all sorts of other ocean-and-not-adjacent works. There’s a definite air of Moby Dick in the hunting of the Nautilus at the beginning of the story (another classic that is on my list to read).
I knew enough going in to expected seafaring adventure, but what I wasn’t also expecting was “19th century naturalist enumerates a compendium of marine life”. The detail of all the various descriptions is fascinating not so much for the descriptions themselves, but for their inclusion in the story. To say that Dr Aronnax spends a long time listing species of fish is an understatement, and I’m not sure why Jules Verne decided to make that such a large part of the story. Between Aronnax and Conseil (whose name is clearly a title), they give the whole adventure a decidedly old world style to it, which is a part of this book being “an artifact of its time” that I touched on above. It feels very 19th century that one man could think to memorize and categorize all species of animals around the world just in his own head.
I do wonder how much 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea would’ve been seen as “hard sci-fi” of its time (not that that term would’ve existed). And it makes me wish to be able to jump forward into a future that looks back at present day hard science fiction. It’s seemingly obvious now that a ship like the Nautilus couldn’t exist in the manner that is described in the book. Electricity is powerful, but the energy densities don’t work out for Nemo’s batteries and the duration of his voyages (and despite their prodigious power output that defies entropy, the tech for oxygen scrubbers is nowhere to be found). I’m sure our current hard sci-fi would be equally as bizarrely off-track, but it’s hard to predict exactly how.
Overall the narrative is slow, but engaging. Aronnax’s thirst for knowledge is understandable and relatable. Conseil’s unflappable dedication less so. Ned Land’s desire for freedom and yearning for the sea are also believable and stand as a useful contrast to the other characters trapped aboard. The sea he yearns for is not the same one Aronnax immerses himself in on their voyage. Nemo is more force of nature than man, and I’d assume intentionally so.
It’s an interesting read, and worth it to see literature from that time.
