8 h 51 minAudiobook7 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at costPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
What if the world beneath your feet makes your own society look stranger than anything underground?
In Ludvig Holberg’s A Journey to the World Under-Ground, Niels Klim enters a cave and discovers an entire world below. A young Norwegian scholar, he returns from studies in Copenhagen eager to prove his learning. But the countries he encounters offer more than curiosities: their habits, laws and beliefs turn his gaze back toward Europe.
Nazar holds many countries, and its inhabitants are often not even human in shape. Klim brings his vanity along for the journey. Quick to boast and sure of his own cleverness, he is a flawed guide through Holberg’s comic sketches of society. Courts, schools and churches all come under scrutiny as strange customs become a mirror for familiar ones.
What you’ll discover
- A world below Follow a curious scholar into a hidden world where European habits offer no reliable guide.
- The peoples of Nazar Encounter varied societies whose unfamiliar shapes and customs invite a fresh look at human life.
- A delightfully flawed traveller Watch Klim’s eagerness to prove himself rub against his certainty that he knows best.
- Power under scrutiny Explore comic portraits that question the ways courts, schools and churches shape a society.
- Strange lands, familiar questions Let an imaginary voyage sharpen your curiosity about learning, manners and the beliefs people defend.
Who will love it
Readers who enjoy imaginary voyages, witty satire and odd societies will delight in this book, as will anyone drawn to Gulliver style travel tales or who likes seeing familiar customs turned upside down for a laugh.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- A student drops into a hollow Earth
- Walking trees put the stranger on trial
- A quick mind earns a low post
- The prince judges the visitor and sets him to work
- The laws of Potu turn Europe upside down
- A tour reveals the limits of good things
- Among fast monkeys a wig makes him noble
- Strange shores end with a rescue from the sea
- What Holberg is really mocking
Who’s who
- Nicholas KlimiusA poor Norwegian graduate and eager natural philosopher who falls into the hollow Earth and longs to be honoured for his talents.
- PalmkaA slow-thinking young tree who serves as chief judge of Keba and rules wisely, showing how the Potuans choose office holders.
- The Prince of PotuA gentle, composed ruler who pardons Klimius, gives him work as a messenger and upholds the old laws.
- The KadokiThe High Chancellor of Potu, who needs fourteen days to grasp any matter and never has a decree overturned.
- AbelineA learned friend of Klimius in Bergen, who studies the strange cave and later hears the tale of the journey.
- The Syndic of MartiniaA frivolous, quick-witted senator who takes Klimius into service and delights in the new fashion of wigs.
- PtarnusaThe Syndic's wife, who sends Klimius a love letter and takes revenge when he refuses her.
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- Read by Lucas Linden, complete. It opens once the recording is online.
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- Large print hardcover
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A Journey to the World Under-Ground
by Ludvig Holberg · 1741
A Norwegian student falls into a cave on Fløyen and lands among walking, talking trees on the planet Nazar.
Challenging5–10 hours to readEnglish
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In short
A poor graduate climbs a mountain to explore a deep cave and falls out of the world. Ludvig Holberg's satirical novel A Journey to the World Under-Ground sends Nicholas Klimius through a cave near Bergen in 1665 into a hollow Earth.
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
A student drops into a hollow Earth
In 1664 Klimius returns to Bergen from Copenhagen with honours but no money. Norway offers him no path forward unless he behaves badly, and he refuses that road. He turns to natural philosophy and sets his eye on a deep cave on the mountain Fløyen, whose mouth murmurs at regular intervals as if the mountain were breathing.
On a clear Thursday in 1665 he climbs up with four hired men and their ropes. The men fasten the rope around him, and he takes a harpoon in his right hand. He has gone down barely ten or twelve cubits when the rope breaks.
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- 15-minute summary
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Details
- First published
- 1741
- Language
- English
- Reading time
- 5 h 45 min
- Level
- Challenging
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What is A Journey to the World Under-Ground about?
It follows Nicholas Klimius, a poor Norwegian graduate who falls through a cave into a hollow Earth. There he meets intelligent trees, monkeys and other peoples whose odd customs mirror and mock the manners of Europe.
Who is Nicholas Klimius?
He is the hero and narrator, a student from Bergen who loves natural philosophy and longs for honour. He is quick, proud and often foolish, and he tells the tale of his own mistakes.
What is the planet Nazar and who are the Potuans?
Nazar is the planet Klimius lands on, circling a small sun inside the hollow Earth. Its people are reasoning trees. The Potuans are the trees of the leading empire, known for careful laws, plain religion and slow, firm judgment.
The author
Ludvig Holberg
1684–1754 · Danish Norwegian playwright and historian
Ludvig Holberg (1684–1754) was a Danish-Norwegian writer, historian and philosopher. He was born in Bergen, Norway, and spent much of his life in Copenhagen, Denmark, where he taught at the university. He wrote plays, histories and essays. His novel A Journey to the World Under-Ground appeared in Latin in 1741.
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