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Recently Read: The Meteor Hunt, by Jules Verne
A recent trend in science fiction has been the juxtaposition of the intimate and the cosmic, the domestic and the infinite (see the films The Tree of Life, Interstellar and Arrival, for example).
Jules Verne, nearly 125 years ago, anticipated the formula with his posthumously published The Meteor Hunt, the gentle, whimsical and satirical tale of a meteor composed of gold and the residents of a small Virginian town, Whaston. Beginning and ending with weddings and filled with many droll observations on relationships (as well as brash American characteristics in general), the crux of the novel is two amateur astronomers and friends who both discover the orbiting object at the same time and claim it as their own. This creates first division and then animosity between the friends, dragging their families and their affairs along with them (a planned marriage between two of the family's members is put in jeopardy during the process). Once world powers get involved the story becomes a fast-paced free-for-all, with a journey to Greenland ending in delicious irony.
The Meteor Hunt was first published as The Chase of the Golden Meteor, editorially butchered by Verne's son, Michel, who added chapters, characters and inventions, deleted aspects of the novel he didn't like, and altogether transformed the novel into a different work. For most of the 20th century, this was the only version available. This publication by University of Nebraska Press, translated and edited by Frederick Paul Walter and Walter James Miller, is the one to get. Though the tale gets a bit repetitive, Verne's amusing observations, asides, and dialogue are worth the read.
This edition is annotated in detail and includes a forward, an afterward and a bibliography.
Friday, November 17, 2023
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