Biography Jules Gabriel Verne

Jules Gabriel Verne was born in 1828, in Nantes, France. Jules' parents were of a seafaring tradition, one factor which influenced his writings. He is considered to be the founding father of science fiction with H.G. Wells.
As a boy, Jules Verne ran off to be a cabin boy on a merchant ship, but he was caught and returned to his parents. In 1847 Jules was sent to study law in Paris. His uncle introduced him into literary circles and he started to publish plays under the influence of such writers as Victor Hugo and Alexander Dumas (fills), whom Verne also knew personally. While there, his passion for theatre grew. Later in 1850, Jules Verne's first play was published. His father was outraged when he heard that Jules was not going to continue law, so he discontinued the money he was giving him to pay for his expenses in Paris. This forced Verne to make money by selling his stories.
After spending many hours in Paris libraries studying geology, engineering, and astronomy, Jules Verne published his first novel Five Weeks in a Balloon (1851), under the influence of Edgar Allan Poe.
Verne's stories, written for adolescents as well as adults, caught the enterprising spirit of the 19th century, its uncritical fascination about scientific progress and inventions. His works were often written in the form of a travel book, which took the readers on a voyage to the moon in From the Earth to the Moon (1865) or to another direction as in A Journey to the Center of the Earth (1864). Many of Verne's ideas have been hailed as prophetic. Among his best-known books is the classic adventure story Around the World in Eighty Days (1873).
In Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Sea, Verne introduced one of the forefathers of modern superheroes, the misanthropic Captain Nemo and his elaborate submarine, Nautilus, named after Robert Fulton's steam-powered submarine. The Mysterious Island was about industrial exploits of men stranded on an island. In these works, filmed several times, Verne combined science and invention with fast-paced adventure.
Verne's novels gained soon a huge popularity throughout the world. Without the education of a scientist or experiences as a traveler, Verne spent much of his time in research for his books. In the contrast of fantasy literature, exemplified by Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland (1865), Verne tried to be realistic and practical in details.
In Robur the Conqueror (1886) Verne predicted the birth of heavier-than-air craft, but in the sequel, Master of the World (1904), the great inventor Robur suffers from megalomania, and plays cat-and-mouse game with authorities.
Verne had married at age 28 Honorine de Viane, a young widow, and acquiring two step-children. He lived with his family in a large provincial house and yachted occasionally. To the horror of his family, he started to admire Prince Pyotr Kropotkin (1842-1921), who devoted himself to a life as a revolutionary, and whose character possibly influenced the noble anarchist of The survivors of the 'Jonathan' (1909). Kropotkin wrote of an anarchy based on mutual support and trust. Verne's interest in socialistic theories was already seen in Mathias Sandorf (1885).
Because of the popularity of these and other novels, Jules Verne became a very rich man. In 1876, he bought a large yacht and sailed around Europe. The last novel before Jules Verne's death was The Invasion of the Sea. Verne's early work, Paris in the 20th Century was turned down by the publisher, and it did not appear until 1997 in English.
Verne's oeuvre includes 65 novels, some twenty short stories and essays, thirty plays, some geographical works, and also opera librettos. Verne died in Amiens on March 24, 1905.