Jules' biography is correct. ​40 interesting facts about the brilliant French writer Jules Verne

Jules Verne is an internationally recognized classicist, writer and geographer.

Jules Verne, who is the recognized founder science fiction, was born on February 8, 1828 in the family of a lawyer in the city of Nantes.

At the age of 20 he went to Paris to study at law college. A year later, he presented his first literary work to the discerning Parisian public.

The play was staged on the stage of the theater, owned by Alexander Dumas the father. On his advice, he sent the play to print, but soon realized that dramaturgy would not bring him fame and livelihood.

Since childhood, he was attracted by distant countries, and he always dreamed of travel and adventure. While working part-time in a popular magazine, he wrote a column for which he wrote historical and popular science notes.

In 1862, in just a few months, he wrote his first fantastic work"Five weeks to hot-air balloon”, which was published in the same year by the famous Parisian publisher Etzel. From that moment on, Jules Verne began a close collaboration with publishing house Etzel, which lasted 25 years.

The novel created a real sensation and was soon translated into all European languages. Jules Verne began his very busy work, because according to the contract with the publishing house, he had to submit two novels a year or write one two-volume book.

Since 1857, Jules Verne has been married to a beautiful widow with two children. For the sake of marriage to Honorine Morel, Verne had to become a stockbroker and borrow 50,000 francs from his father in order to become a shareholder in the company and be able to support his family. A stable financial income allowed him to engage literary activity and travel.

Jules Verne really liked it. On a yacht he circumnavigated the Mediterranean Sea, visited Italy, England, Scotland and Scandinavian countries. Visited North America, saw the frozen Niagara Falls.

It can be assumed that the reason for Verne to write his first adventure novel was his acquaintance with an unusual person for his time. Gaspard-Félix Tournachon, who called himself simply Nadar, was a famous aeronaut, photographer, artist and writer. Nadar’s passionate, enthusiastic and even somewhat adventurous nature was in tune with Verne’s thirst for travel and adventure. He had long been interested in aeronautics and wrote his first novel very quickly.

The first work of Jules Verne appeared in a timely manner. The public was very enthusiastic and interested in covering the adventures of travelers who tried to find the sources of the Nile in the jungles of Africa. Therefore, by the way, there were works in which the writer, with great knowledge of the matter and even with diagrams, drawings and maps, described adventures in different parts light, under water and on the moon.

Most of the works contain predictions of discoveries and inventions, which were subsequently brought to life. Jules Verne considered this a mere coincidence, but before writing a new work, he always very carefully examined all available sources, drew conclusions and relied on many facts. Therefore, a seemingly fantastically unthinkable situation or technical device has always had a scientific basis.

But intrigued readers did not have to know the whole background behind the appearance of more and more new works by the science fiction writer. They sold like hotcakes. The novel "Around the World in 80 Days", published by Etzel's publishing house in 1872, became the best-selling novel for which the writer received the largest fee.

Jules Verne died at the very beginning of the 20th century in 1905, leaving behind about a hundred wonderful works, which are interesting not only to young people, but also to mature ones

Jules Verne great person, a legendary writer, he is from France, born on February 8, 1828 into a lawyer family. This writer considered the founder of science fiction, he wrote a lot of books on this topic. He always dreamed of traveling and since childhood he was drawn to see the world. Here are a few interesting facts from his life:

1. Jules Verne's stories have been translated into 148 languages. The UNESCO organization carried out statistics and found out that his books were printed all over the world in so many languages.
2. I loved adventures since childhood. When the writer was eleven years old, he hired himself as a cabin boy and wanted to escape to India, but he was stopped and was not allowed to do so.
   

   

3. He was not the kind of writer who sat in his office all the time. Jules Verne traveled all over the world and visited many countries. He also had three of his own yachts called Saint-Michel, on which he constantly sailed.
   

   

4. He was hired to write a prediction about America.. The writer wrote for the American people, at the request of Gordon Bennett, a work of prediction about one day of an American journalist who lived in 2889. However, it was never published.
   

   

5. Jules Verne was inspired to write Around the World in Eighty Days by a newspaper article.. This article explained that if you invent good vehicles, then it is quite possible to travel around the world in a short period.
   

   

6. Workaholic writer. Jules Verne could write for more than fifteen hours straight without really leaving his office; if he had some kind of insight, it was difficult to stop him.
   

   

7. The work “Journey to the Center of the Earth” was banned in Russia in the 19th century. The clergy of that time found anti-religious ideas in the work and decided that it would undermine the spirituality of the entire state.
   

   

8. Jules Verne never visited such a place big country like Russia. He did not have a chance to come to this country, but in two of his novels all the actions begin to unfold in this country.
   

   

9. The writer was a member of the Geographical Society of France. Since he traveled a lot, he was taken into this society.
   

   

10. Jules Verne was married to a widow. The writer fell in love and took a woman with two children, he even borrowed 50,000 francs from his father to support the family.
    

    

11. The book "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea" has been changed. Captain Nemo was originally a wealthy Pole who built the submarine only out of revenge against the Russians. Then the publisher intervened, because he sold books in Russia and asked to remake the captain.
    

    

12. From the novel “From the Earth to the Moon” main character is the prototype of his friend. Michel Ardant is a friend of the writer, he is an artist, photographer and known as Nadar.
    

    

13. The work “Five Weeks in a Balloon” was published in Russia simultaneously with a French publishing house. Then even Saltykov-Shchedrin reviewed this work, and it was published in the Sovremennik magazine.
    

    

14. The writer's first work was the play "Broken Straws". She was placed in famous theater Stories. However, Jules Verne soon realized that dramaturgy was not his thing and it did not bring profit, so he abandoned the matter.
    

    

15. Almost all of the writer’s books contain predictions and discoveries. Everything fantastic that the writer wrote in his books was later invented. When making discoveries, scientists even relied on his works and took ideas from him.
    

    

Biography, life story of Jules Verne

The romance of the port city could not but influence the boy’s worldview. Young Jules early childhood sailing ships and travel to distant lands beckoned. In 1839, an 11-year-old boy attempted to make his dream come true by hiring himself as a cabin boy on the schooner Coralie, which was sailing to India. Fortunately, the father managed to protect his son from a rash act.

According to his father's ideas, Jules was supposed to become a lawyer, which happened when he graduated from the Paris School of Law. But, having received his diploma in 1849, Jules Verne chose to devote himself entirely to literature and theater, remaining in Paris. By this he doomed himself to a half-starved existence, since his father did not like this decision. However, this did not stop Jules from enthusiastically mastering a new field for himself, writing various literary works, ranging from comedies to opera librettos.

Intuition led the aspiring writer to National Library, where he, listening to lectures and scientific reports, learned a lot interesting information in geography, navigation, astronomy, although he had little idea why he needed it. However, in 1851, the first creation with historical and geographical content was published - the story “The First Ships of the Mexican Fleet.” This work made a great impression on Alexandre Dumas and Victor Hugo, who began to patronize Jules Verne. It is believed that it was Dumas who advised the young protégé to start writing adventure stories. However, Jules Verne, as always, did his own thing, deciding to describe the whole Earth, starting from nature and ending with the customs of peoples, combining science and art in his novels.

CONTINUED BELOW

Further, as if trying to make up for the time lost in his youth, from the pen of the writer comes whole line masterpiece works. In 1864, “Journey to the Center of the Earth” was published, in 1865 – “The Voyage of Captain Hatteras” and “From the Earth to the Moon”.

After finishing “The Children of Captain Grant” in 1868, Jules Verne decided to combine previously written works with future books. The result of this decision was the trilogy " Extraordinary travels", which, in addition to "The Children of Captain Grant", included "20 Thousand Leagues Under the Sea" and "The Mysterious Island", published in 1870 and 1875, respectively.

By 1872, Jules Verne was finally tired of the fuss big city. The new place of residence was the provincial Amiens, located near Paris. From that time on, his life was reduced exclusively to literary creativity. According to biographers, the writer spent 15 hours a day at his desk. The practical result of such diligence was an extraordinary successful romance"Around the world in 80 Days".

In 1878, another world-famous adventure work, The 15-Year-Old Captain, was published, the theme of which - racial discrimination - was continued in the next novel, North vs. South, which was published shortly after the end of Civil War to the USA in 1887.

Jules Verne's life ended on April 24, 1905 in Amiens. The cause of death was diabetes. He left numerous works as a legacy to his descendants, which even today can provide an exciting pastime.

2. In 1863, young Jules Verne brought the novel “Paris in the 20th Century” to one of the publishing houses, in which he predicted the invention of the fax and the electric chair.

4. Jules Verne never visited Russia, but, nevertheless, several of his novels take place in Russia (in whole or in part).

5. For a writer, Jules Verne had an incredible ability to work. He could sit at his desk at five o'clock in the morning and leave it at eight in the evening.

6. The works of Jules Verne have been translated into 148 languages, this was found out by the UNESCO Organization, which conducted statistics and it turned out that his books were printed all over the world in 148 languages.

7. Jules Verne was married to a widow. The writer fell in love and took a woman with two children, he even borrowed 50,000 francs from his father to support the family.

8. It is believed that Jules Verne wrote about exciting adventures without leaving his office. This is wrong. Of course, he was not destined to go on a flight around the Moon or a trip to the center of the Earth. But he traveled around the world a lot.

9. The writer traveled on three Saint-Michel yachts that he owned. He visited the Mediterranean countries, Great Britain, and the USA.

10. Jules Verne really wanted to visit Russia, but in 1881 a strong storm forced the yacht captain to abandon his course to St. Petersburg.

11.The brilliant Frenchman predicted flights into space and the passage of the Northern Sea Route during one navigation, the appearance of an airplane and a helicopter.

12. The legendary submarine Nautilus of Captain Nemo stands apart. Yes, by the time Jules Verne wrote Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea, submarines had already been invented. But also in the second decade XXI century, not a single submarine has the characteristics of the Nautilus!

13. At the age of eleven, Jules almost ran away to India, hiring himself as a cabin boy on the schooner Coralie, but was stopped in time. Being already famous writer, he admitted, “I must have been born a sailor, and now I regret every day that a naval career did not fall to my lot from childhood.”

14. In Russia, the book “Five Weeks in a Balloon” appeared in the same year as the French edition, and the first review of the novel, written by Saltykov-Shchedrin, was published in Nekrasov’s Sovremennik.

15.American newspaper magnate Gordon Bennett asked Verne to write a story specifically for American readers - predicting the future of America. The request was fulfilled, but the story entitled “In the 29th century. One day of an American journalist in 2889” was never released in America.

16. Another list of predictions is related to a family myth. As if in 1863, Jules Verne wrote the novel “Paris in the 20th Century”, took it to the publisher, and after a while returned discouraged: the publisher, having read the manuscript, rejected it because it was too fantastic, and called the writer an idiot.

17.And in 1989, the great-grandson of Jules Verne discovered a forgotten manuscript in some safe. The list of inventions predicted by the writer is amazing: a car, a high-speed electric train, a skyscraper, a computer, a fax machine and even an electric chair!

18. Jules Verne signed his first contract with the publishing house in 1863. According to the terms of the contract, the writer had to prepare at least three works a year, for each of which he received 1,900 francs.

19. After 8 years, Verne’s income increased significantly - for each novel he received 6,000 francs.

20. The writer was inspired to write the novel “Around the World in Eighty Days” by a magazine article proving that if a traveler has good transportation, he can travel around the globe in eighty days. Verne also calculated that you could even win one day if you use the geographical paradox described by Edgar Allan Poe in the novel “Three Sundays in One Week.”

21. Many scientists and inventors admitted that in childhood they literally read the works of the French writer. As many rocket designers and spaceships, and the first cosmonauts and astronauts, Jules Verne’s books were on their desks.

22. The prototype of Michel Ardant from the novel “From the Earth to the Moon” was a friend of Jules Verne - writer, artist and photographer Felix Tournachon, better known under the pseudonym Nadar.

23.The writer’s first work was the play “Broken Straws.” It was staged at the famous History Theater. However, Jules Verne soon realized that dramaturgy was not for him, it did not bring profit, and he abandoned this business.

24.The novels “Flight to the Moon” and “Around the Moon” raise the question in readers: “How did he know?!” Judge for yourself. Aluminum was widely used in the construction of the Columbiad and Apollo. The main unit of Apollo 11 had given name"Colombia". The crews included three astronauts. (Evaluate the consonance of surnames: Barbicane-Nicole-Ardant on the Columbiad and Borman-Lovell-Anders on Apollo 8!) The launch site is the Florida peninsula. Splashdown location: Pacific Ocean.

25. An excellent writer is considered the founder of science fiction; he wrote a lot of books on this topic.

26.The writer was a member of the Geographical Society of France. Since he traveled a lot, he was taken into this society.

27.B Russian Empire for a long time Jules Verne's novel Journey to the Center of the Earth was banned. This was explained by the fact that anti-religious motives were clearly visible in the work.

28. In the Soviet Union, the writer’s works were incredibly popular.

29. Many readers treated the author’s predictions with distrust, assuring that “this cannot happen, because it can never happen.”

30. Contemporaries noted the writer’s incredible work capacity - he could be at his desk for 14-15 hours a day. This is not surprising: the writer’s novels were very popular, therefore, publishing houses often rushed the author.

31. In the original version of 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, Captain Nemo was a Polish aristocrat who built the Nautilus to take revenge on the “damned Russian occupiers.” And only after the active intervention of the publisher Etzel, who sold books in Russia, Captain Nemo first became “homeless”, and in the novel “The Mysterious Island” he turned into Prince Dakkar - the son of an Indian Rajah, taking revenge on the British after the suppression of the sepoy uprising.

32. Almost all of the writer’s books contain predictions and discoveries. Everything fantastic that the writer wrote about in his books was later invented. When making discoveries, scientists even relied on his works and took ideas from him.

33.But Jules Verne also had gloomy forecasts. The novel “Five Hundred Million Begums” features a German professor, Schulze, who dreams of nationalist ideas and world domination. To do this, he creates a giant weapon that fires projectiles containing poisonous gas. The novel was completed in 1878. There were 37 years left before the first use of chemical warfare agents.

34. For his brilliant talent as a writer and popularizer of scientific achievements, grateful humanity immortalized Jules Verne by naming a large crater in the Sea of ​​Dreams after him. back side Moons.

35. And when the European Space Agency decided to make ATV cargo ships sent to the International space station, “registered”, the very first received the name Jules Verne. He flew in 2008.

36.The late works of Jules Verne are imbued with fear of the use of science for criminal purposes. They never gained success with readers.

37. Over the years Soviet power the total circulation of the author's works exceeded 50,000,000 copies.

38. In the small Russian town of Kaluga, a modest teacher at the diocesan girls’ gymnasium, Konstantin Tsiolkovsky, carefully reread “From the Earth to the Moon,” making notes and calculations. And then, rejecting the idea of ​​a manned cannon projectile, he writes: “A skyship must be like a rocket.” For nothing is stronger than an idea whose time has come.

39.Jules Verne died in 1905 from diabetes.

40. The writer went blind shortly before his death, but did not give up - he dictated his works to his assistants.

The future writer was born in 1828 on February 8 in Nantes. His father was a lawyer, and his mother, half-Scottish, received an excellent education and took care of the house. Jules was the first child, after him another boy and three girls were born in the family.

Study and writing debut

Jules Verne studied law in Paris, but at the same time was actively involved in writing. He wrote stories and librettos for Parisian theaters. Some of them were staged and even had success, but his real literary debut was the novel “Five Weeks in a Balloon,” which was written in 1864.

Family

The writer was married to Honorine de Vian, who by the time she met him was already a widow and had two children. They got married, and in 1861 they had a common son, Michel, a future cinematographer who filmed several of his father’s novels.

Popularity and travel

After the first novel was successful and favorably received by critics, the writer began to work hard and fruitfully (according to the recollections of his son Michel, Jules Verne spent time at work most time: from 8 am to 8 pm).

It is interesting that since 1865, the cabin of the yacht “Saint-Michel” has become the writer’s study. This small ship was purchased by Jules Verne while working on the novel “The Children of Captain Grant.” Later, the yachts “San Michel II” and “San Michel III” were purchased, on which the writer sailed around the Mediterranean and Baltic Seas. He visited the south and north of Europe (Spain, Portugal, Denmark, Norway), and the north of the African continent (for example, Algeria). I dreamed of sailing to St. Petersburg. But this was prevented by a strong storm that broke out in the Baltic. He had to give up all travel in 1886 after being wounded in the leg.

Last years

The writer's latest novels differ from his first. They feel fear. The writer renounced the idea of ​​the omnipotence of progress. He began to understand that many achievements of science and technology would be used for criminal purposes. It should be noted that latest novels The writer was not popular.

The writer died in 1905 from diabetes. Until his death he continued to dictate books. Many of his novels, unpublished and unfinished during his lifetime, are published today.

Other biography options

• If you follow short biography Jules Verne, it turns out that over the 78 years of his life he wrote about 150 works, including documentaries and scientific works(only 66 novels, some of which are unfinished).
• The writer’s great-grandson, Jean Verne, a famous opera tenor, managed to find the novel “Paris of the 20th Century” (the novel was written in 1863 and published in 1994), which was considered a family legend and in the existence of which no one believed. It was in this novel that cars, the electric chair, and the fax were described.
• Jules Verne was a great soothsayer. He wrote in his novels about an airplane, a helicopter, video communications, television, about the Trans-Siberian Railway, about the Channel Tunnel, about space exploration (he almost exactly indicated the location of the cosmodrome at Cape Canaveral).
• The writer's works have been filmed in different countries world, and the number of films based on his books has exceeded 200.
• The writer has never been to Russia, but in 9 of his novels the action takes place in the then Russian Empire.