Riassunto
Riassunto di Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Sea
A chi è rivolto
For readers who love voyages, inventions and strange places, and anyone who wants to see where modern science fiction began.
Che cos’è questo libro
Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Sea is an adventure novel by the French writer Jules Verne. It appeared in installments in a Paris magazine from 1869 and came out as a book in 1870. Verne wrote it at a time when engines, electricity and ocean science were changing how people saw the world. He wanted to turn that new knowledge into a story that readers could follow like a voyage.
The tale is told by Professor Pierre Aronnax, a French expert on sea life. He sets out to hunt a mysterious sea monster and ends up as a prisoner aboard something far stranger. His captor is Captain Nemo, a brilliant and bitter man who has left the land behind and lives in a submarine called the Nautilus. Along with Aronnax come his loyal servant Conseil and a fierce Canadian harpooner, Ned Land.
You get a tour of the oceans of the whole world, from coral reefs and pearl beds to sunken wrecks and the ice of the far south. You also get a puzzle in human form, because no one on board can fully read the captain. Let us begin where the story begins, with a rumor that frightens every sailor of the year 1866.
In questo riassunto
- 1A sea monster alarms the world's shipsFree
- 2The hunt ends in a fall overboard
- 3Captain Nemo sets the terms of their stay
- 4Life aboard the Nautilus and under the waves
- 5Pearls, sharks and a coral trap
- 6Through the Red Sea and into old Mediterranean waters
- 7Ice, the pole and monsters of the deep
- 8Freedom, knowledge and the cost of leaving the world
- 9How Verne tells it: voice, lists and a mystery man
Punto chiave 1 di 9
A sea monster alarms the world's ships
The story opens in 1866, when ships on several oceans report a strange thing in the water. Sailors describe a long, glowing shape, faster than any whale and able to rise and sink at will. Some vessels say they have been struck by it. Newspapers fill with argument, and people on both sides of the Atlantic talk of little else.
Professor Pierre Aronnax is in New York at the time. He is a scholar from the Natural History Museum in Paris and has just finished a book about the mysteries of the deep sea. Because of that book, the press asks him what he thinks. He answers that the best explanation is an enormous narwhal, a whale with a single long tusk, far bigger than any known.
His opinion makes him a public figure. The government of the United States decides to send a fast warship to clear the seas of the beast, and it invites Aronnax to join the hunt as a scientific adviser. He accepts with some excitement, though he is not sure he wants to see the creature destroyed. The scientist in him wants to study it alive.
He is not alone. His servant Conseil, a calm young man who loves sorting animals into classes and families, agrees to come along when Aronnax asks him. Conseil follows his master with a loyalty that never wavers, and he becomes the voice of patient good humor in the tale.
This opening matters because it sets the tone of the whole book. Verne begins with a puzzle and invites us to solve it with reason, the way a scientist would. The first chapters are full of guesses, measurements and arguments about what living things can do. The reader is already inside a world in which knowledge is the real adventure.
That’s 1 of 9 key points.
The rest of the summary, written and spoken, and the whole book: free to start.
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Who’s who
- Professor Pierre Aronnax
- A French marine biologist and narrator, he explores the oceans as Captain Nemo's captive alongside Conseil and Ned Land.
- Captain Nemo
- The secretive master of the Nautilus, he rejects life ashore and keeps Aronnax and his companions aboard.
- Conseil
- Aronnax's calm, faithful servant, he shares his master's adventures and enjoys classifying the creatures they encounter.
- Ned Land
- A skilled Canadian harpooner, he accompanies Aronnax and Conseil but resents captivity aboard Captain Nemo's submarine.
- Commander Farragut
- The determined commander of the Abraham Lincoln, he leads the expedition carrying Aronnax to hunt the supposed monster.
About this edition
Every format is free to start, and print and large print are at cost.
- LengthAbout 106,000 words
- Reading timeAbout 7 h 5 min
- FormatseBook, large-print eBook, audiobook, 15-minute summary; paperback, hardcover and large print at cost
- LanguagesEnglish and 14 other languages
Questions about Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Sea
What is Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Sea about?
It follows a French professor and two companions who are taken aboard the submarine Nautilus by the mysterious Captain Nemo. They travel the oceans of the world, seeing marvels and facing dangers, while being unable to leave.
Who is Captain Nemo?
Nemo is the secretive commander and builder of the Nautilus. He has cut his ties with human society and lives at sea. His name is Latin for no one, which suits his hidden past.
Does 20,000 leagues mean the ship goes down 20,000 leagues?
No. The number is the distance travelled across the seas, not the depth. A league is an old measure of distance, and twenty thousand of them is a journey of about the whole round of the world and more.
Is Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Sea a true story?
No, it is fiction. Verne wrote it from 1869 and published it as a book in 1870. He used the science and ocean knowledge of his day, but the Nautilus and Nemo are invented.
Is Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Sea hard to read?
No. The story is easy to start because Professor Aronnax tells it in a warm, curious voice, and it opens with a simple puzzle: what is the sea monster? Each chapter then brings a new place or danger, like a travel diary.