Journey to the Centre of the Earth
288Journey to the Centre of the Earth
288Paperback(Reprint)
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Overview
Product Details
ISBN-13: | 9780141441979 |
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Publisher: | Penguin Publishing Group |
Publication date: | 09/29/2009 |
Edition description: | Reprint |
Pages: | 288 |
Sales rank: | 363,744 |
Product dimensions: | 5.10(w) x 7.80(h) x 0.64(d) |
Age Range: | 18 Years |
About the Author
NORMAN NODEL (Nochem Yeshaya) was a noted artist and illustrator of children's books and magazines. Nodel began his illustrious career as a field artist in the army, drawing military maps during World War II. After the war, he pursued a successful career as an artist in a variety of styles, notably illustrating a great many issues in the famous 'Classics Illustrated' series in the 1950s. In the 1940s, he had previously been an assistant to George Marcoux, and he has done comic book art for True Comics and Sun Publications.His contributions to 'Classics Illustrated' varied from 'Ivanhoe' to 'Faust' and 'The Invisible Man'. He was also a regular on Charlton's teen, horror and romance titles of the 1960s and 1970s. In the 1960s he contributed to the Warren magazines Eerie and Creepy, using the pen name Donald Norman.During the last twelve years of his life, Mr. Norman Nodel devoted a major amount of his time and energy to illustrating books and magazines specifically for Jewish children, which gave him great pleasure and satisfaction. Norman Nodel worked to the last day of his life. He died on the 25th of February, 2000.
Date of Birth:
February 8, 1828Date of Death:
March 24, 1905Place of Birth:
Nantes, FrancePlace of Death:
Amiens, FranceEducation:
Nantes lycée and law studies in ParisRead an Excerpt
I
(Continues…)
Excerpted from "Journey to the Centre of the Earth"
by .
Copyright © 2009 Jules Verne.
Excerpted by permission of Penguin Publishing Group.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.
Table of Contents
1 | My Uncle Lidenbrock | 1 |
2 | The Stange Parchment | 7 |
3 | My Uncle is Baffled | 13 |
4 | I Find the Key | 21 |
5 | Hunger Defeats Me | 26 |
6 | I Argue in Vain | 33 |
7 | Getting Ready | 42 |
8 | The First Stage | 50 |
9 | We Reach Iceland | 58 |
10 | Our First Dinner in Iceland | 66 |
11 | Our Guide Hans | 72 |
12 | Slow Progress | 79 |
13 | Icelandic Hospitality | 85 |
14 | A Final Argument | 92 |
15 | The Summit of Sneffels | 99 |
16 | Inside the Crater | 106 |
17 | Our Real Journey Begins | 113 |
18 | Ten Thousand Feet Below Sea-Level | 119 |
19 | Upwards Again | 126 |
20 | A Dead End | 132 |
21 | The New Columbus | 138 |
22 | I Collapse | 144 |
23 | We Find Water | 148 |
24 | Under the Sea | 154 |
25 | A Day of Rest | 159 |
26 | Alone | 165 |
27 | Lost and Panic-Stricken | 169 |
28 | I Hear Voices | 173 |
29 | Saved | 179 |
30 | An Underground Sea | 184 |
31 | The Raft | 193 |
32 | We Set Sail | 199 |
33 | A Battle of Monsters | 207 |
34 | The Great Geyser | 215 |
35 | The Storm | 221 |
36 | An Unpleasant Shock | 228 |
37 | A Human Skull | 235 |
38 | The Professor Gives a Lecture | 240 |
39 | Man Alive | 247 |
40 | We Meet an Obstacle | 255 |
41 | Down the Tunnel | 261 |
42 | Going Up | 267 |
43 | Shot Out of a Volcano | 274 |
44 | Back to the Surface | 281 |
45 | Home Again | 288 |
Reading Group Guide
The intrepid Professor Lindenbrock embarks upon the strangest expedition of the nineteenth century: a journey down an extinct Icelandic volcano to the Earth's very core. In his quest to penetrate the planet's primordial secrets, the geologist—together with his quaking nephew Axel and their devoted guide, Hans—discovers an astonishing subterranean menagerie of prehistoric proportions. Verne's imaginative tale is at once the ultimate science fiction adventure and a reflection on the perfectibility of human understanding and the psychology of the questor. As David Brin notes in his Introduction, though Verne never knew the term "science fiction," Journey to the Centre of the Earth is "inarguably one of the wellsprings from which it all began."
1. Deciphering Arne Saknussemm's parchment does not come easily to Professor Lidenbrock, the profound analyst. Indeed, Verne has shown us, right from the start, that he will not take his audience's suspension of disbelief for granted. Discuss the role of logic in the novel; how does Verne's meticulous manipulation of science and history increase the believability–and ultimately the reader's enjoyment–of the adventure?
2. Dwelling on their shared hardships, Axel says, "My uncle bore them like a man who is angry with himself for yielding to weakness: Hans, with the resignation of his placid nature; and I, to speak the truth, complaining and despairing the whole time. I could not bear up against this stroke of ill-fortune." Compare Professor Lidenbrock, Axel, and Hans in terms of intellect, bravery, determination, and humor. How does each of their personal skills come into play in times of crisis, and how do theirshortcomings complicate the journey? Does Hans, the Icelandic guide of superhuman devotion, even have a weakness? If not, how does this affect your evaluation of him as a whole character?
3. Ingenuity and adaptability are vital to the explorers' success. Trace the many instances of resourcefulness in the novel, considering the adventurers' ingenious use of simple phenomena such as gravity, acoustics, and natural propulsion. How does this relate to David Brin's assertion in the Introduction: "Destiny– readers learned–was something you might craft with your own clever hands."
4. The long and often monotonous trek down to the earth's core poses some plot challenges for Verne. With only three characters, one goal, and little change in scenery, how does Verne create suspense in order to sustain the reader's interest?
5. Compare the competing characterizations of science in the novel: "When science has spoken, it is for us to hold our peace" versus "Science is eminently perfectible." Discuss how Verne's novel can be read as a tribute to scientific progress and the pluck of the explorer who contradicts accepted fact in search of greater truths.
6. Describe Axel's sublime hallucination on the subterranean ocean and the "abyss attraction" which overtakes him earlier in his descent. Why is Axel particularly affected by the romantic conception of the sublime?
7. How is Gräuben a "necessary" character, not only in the beginning but throughout the novel? Evaluate Brin's assertion in the Introduction that "science fictional women tend to be bolder than their eras, and science fictional men seem to like it that way."
8. Describe the subterranean world that the journeyers discover. How does Verne account for the underground ocean and the blanched species of flora and fauna? Did Verne's exposition of this primitive world meet your expectations? What surprises would have been in store in your own imaginative rendering of this peculiar environment?
9. How can Journey to the Centre of the Earth be interpreted as a psychological quest? Consider the roles of ambition, despair, and hope in the novel. Is the journey ultimately more important than the final outcome?
10. Jules Verne's extraordinary tales continue to fascinate readers because they capture the thrill of the unknown. In his Introduction, David Brin writes, "Verne knew what his contemporaries did not. . . . For his tales to continue taking hardy adventurers into strange locales, he would have to redefine the very idea of wilderness, the whole notion of a frontier." Why does the notion of the frontier continue to fascinate us? In this Internet age of globalization and routine space travel, what frontiers are left to science fiction? If not physical, might these remaining frontiers be mental and moral?