Books - Why is Around the world in 80 days a classic

linn_lewisa · 01-11-2004, 03:58 PM

Why is Around the world in 80 days a classic?

I have to answer that in my book report and I can't come up with anything! [img]smilies/eek.gif[/img]

All my answers are: "Because its Jules Verne who wrote it" "And its a great book"
But it need something more.. [img]smilies/rolleyes.gif[/img]

elisheva · 01-14-2004, 10:58 PM

Heh, I dunno. I remember reading it in elementary school and loving it. It's just a fun book. Maybe, hmm because you can see various parts of the world depicted as they were (or as they were viewed) back then?

StellaSlight · 01-15-2004, 07:41 AM

I think the book Around the World in 80 Days was a success and is a classic for many reasons (the Author, the style etc...) but the main reason is its theme : the travel, and most precisely in this case, the travel around the world for a number of days. Therefore the author could deal with his two favourite topics : the space (the travel, with lots of geograpic places and countries description), and time (the notion of time as the clock would show through the numerous references to hours, clock and the counting, but also the time, as epoch, the 19th century with all its industrial revolutions, especially in transports and travelling).

At that time, travelling was something that only few people did, and yet, everyone dreamt of some adventurous travels all around the world.It was exotic and very much �-la-mode since the 17th century. And the only way for people to 'travel' was through books.
Jules Verne also used to put very exact scientific details in his works, which made them all the more realistic (description of the balloon, book written as a diary as if the author had really travelled this way...). For those numerous reasons, people was passionate by Jules Verne's adventurous books. It is important to stress how ahead of his time Jules Verne was. The guy imagined lots of things that are real today : balloons (10 years before the Montgolfier brothers invented one), rockets, submarines, travels on the moon, etc...

Finally, a simple question/bet was the beginning of the novel : will Philas Fogg be able to travel around the world in 80 days? This simple bet is also a good way to maintain a certain rythm and keeps the readers interested on a level other than the adventurous/scientific aspect.

I hope it helps. I wish I could link to a good analysis of the book, but unfortunately it's in French, so I don't think it'll help you much...

Anne

[ 01-15-2004: Message edited StellaSlight ]

Carrie99 · 01-19-2004, 12:26 AM

I agree with Anne. The simple fact of attempting to travel that far in that short a time period (for the 19th century) and the character's reactions to it.