Resumen
Resumen de Around the World in Eighty Days
Para quién es
For readers who love quick plots, travel, and a gentle sense of humor. It is a good first adventure novel for anyone new to Verne.
De qué trata este libro
Around the World in Eighty Days is an adventure novel by the French writer Jules Verne. It appeared as a newspaper serial in 1872 and as a book in 1873. It follows a calm English gentleman who bets that he can circle the globe in eighty days. When Verne wrote it, the Suez Canal had just opened and railways were crossing India and North America. For the first time, such a trip looked possible on paper.
The book is built like a clock. Phileas Fogg lives by exact habits, and he treats the whole planet as a timetable. His French servant Passepartout brings warmth and mishaps. A detective named Fix follows them, sure that Fogg is a thief. Every delay is counted in hours, and every rescue costs minutes that cannot be spared.
What does the book give you? It gives you a fast tour of 1870s travel, from London to Suez, India, Hong Kong, Japan, San Francisco and New York. It gives you a hero who stays polite while elephants, storms and attackers get in his way. And it gives you a story where the clock is the true villain. Let us begin with the bet itself, made in a London club over a newspaper article.
En este resumen
- 1A wager made in a London clubFree
- 2A detective who suspects the wrong man
- 3Across India by rail and elephant
- 4Rescue in the jungle and a new companion
- 5Arrests, delays and a lost ship in Hong Kong
- 6From Japan to the American plains
- 7What the book says about time and chance
- 8Three travelers and a man who follows
- 9How Verne tells the tale
Idea clave 1 de 9
A wager made in a London club
The story opens in London in 1872, at number seven Savile Row. Phileas Fogg lives there alone, and almost nothing is known about him. He is rich, but nobody knows where the money comes from. He is a member of the Reform Club, and he spends his days there reading newspapers and playing whist, a card game. Every habit is timed to the minute.
His old servant James Forster is dismissed because he brought shaving water at the wrong temperature. This tiny failure shows how Fogg sees the world. A mistake of two degrees is a serious fault, and it ends a job. Fogg then hires a Frenchman who calls himself Passepartout, a name that means goes everywhere. Passepartout has tried many trades and hopes for a quiet life at last. He has no idea what is coming.
At the Reform Club, Fogg's whist partners are discussing a newspaper report. It says a new railway section in India has made a journey around the world possible in eighty days. Most of the men doubt it, and they point out that delays, storms and accidents are common. Fogg answers that a careful traveler can allow for them. The argument grows until Fogg bets twenty thousand pounds, a huge sum, that he can do it.
The terms are strict. Fogg must leave London at a quarter to nine in the evening on the second of October. He must be back at that same place, the same hour, on the twenty-first of December. If he is even a minute late, he loses. He calmly packs a carpet bag, gives Passepartout a few minutes' notice, and tells him they are leaving for the whole world.
The opening matters because it sets the rules of the book. Time is exact, and so is Fogg. Money is a tool for buying speed, and Fogg spends it without fuss. The comic tension begins at once, because Passepartout is excitable and Fogg is not. Their opposite natures will drive much of what follows. Meanwhile, a much bigger event in London is about to put a stranger on their trail.
That’s 1 of 9 key points.
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Who’s who
- Phileas Fogg
- A wealthy, precise English gentleman, he employs Passepartout and wagers that he can circle the globe in eighty days.
- Passepartout
- Fogg's lively French servant hopes for quiet employment but accompanies his exacting master on an extraordinary journey.
- Detective Fix
- A police detective who suspects Fogg of bank robbery, he follows the travelers and tries to delay them.
- Aouda
- A young, educated Indian widow, she joins Fogg and Passepartout after they rescue her from a funeral pyre.
- Sir Francis Cromarty
- A British army officer traveling across India, he accompanies Fogg and Passepartout and helps them rescue Aouda.
- Andrew Stuart
- A fellow member of the Reform Club, he challenges Fogg's travel calculations and takes part in the wager.
About this edition
Every format is free to start, and print and large print are at cost.
- LengthAbout 64,000 words
- Reading timeAbout 4 h 15 min
- FormatseBook, large-print eBook, audiobook, 15-minute summary; paperback, hardcover and large print at cost
- LanguagesEnglish and 14 other languages
Questions about Around the World in Eighty Days
What is Around the World in Eighty Days about?
It is about Phileas Fogg, an English gentleman who bets that he can travel around the world in eighty days. He sets out with his servant Passepartout while a detective follows him, believing he is a bank thief.
Who is Phileas Fogg?
Fogg is a rich, calm and extremely punctual Englishman who lives in London and belongs to the Reform Club. He is a man of strict habits, and the book slowly shows his kindness and courage.
Is Around the World in Eighty Days a true story?
No, it is a work of fiction by Jules Verne, first published in 1872 and 1873. It was inspired by real travel advances of the time, such as new railways, steamships and the Suez Canal.
Is Around the World in Eighty Days hard to read?
No. The plot is simple, the chapters are short, and the tone is light and humorous.
What is the main message of Around the World in Eighty Days?
The book shows that planning and discipline matter, but chance and kindness matter too. It also celebrates the age of steam and the idea that the world was becoming smaller and more connected.