Journey Through the Impossible Read Free Page A

Censorship Office of the French Third Republic and
discovered a copy of Journey Through the Impossible, ending nearly a
century of speculation. The text was published in 1981 by the great Vernian specialists Francois Raymond and Robert Pourvoyeur.55
Until the archived copy came to light, Vernian scholars had only the
reviews of the play to know what it was about and to imagine the text.
To give an idea of what the play was like when staged in 1882, we have
added two contemporary reviews. One, anonymous, was printed in
the New York Times a few days after the play opened in Paris. The
other is by French reviewer and playwright Arnold Mortier. Year after
year, Mortier published a book where he reviewed the plays of the
previous season. The two reviews we have included give a good idea
of the set, the music, the ballets, and the public reception of the work.

    Even in 1969, a former president of the Societe Jules Verne published an article about the Journey Through the Impossible, based only
on the reviews.56 And in 1978, Robert Pourvoyeur, just before
Lacassin's discovery, published a long article also based on the
reviews,57 where he pointed out the importance of the music in
Journey Through the Impossible. Ballets characterize these pieces a grand
spectacle, making them predecessors of modern music theater. Oscar
de Lagoanere51 wrote the music for The Impossible; the first ballet concludes Act I (the center of the Earth) and features a profusion of red
costumes and fireworks. The second ballet takes place in Atlantis,
where the indefinable sets mix many styles: Egyptian, Indian, Syrian,
Roman, Greek, and Arab. The last ballet shows Altorians dancing and
singing in brief costumes. According to the reviews, the third ballet
was the best of the three.
    The play can be read in two ways. The first and easiest-wellreceived by Parisian spectators-focuses on the music, the colors, the
journey through diamond caves, the Nautilus, and the colossal
cannon (for travel from Earth to Altor). The more difficult reading
gets at the philosophy and the message of the work: glorifying the triumphant inventions of science, but showing that science, badly used,
can bring death and devastation.
    This publication is the first translation (in any language as far as
we know) of Journey Through the Impossible, and is certainly the first to
restore Act II, Scene 7 ("The Platform of the Nautilus"). Thus the
complete script is now available to readers ... and later perhaps to
spectators.

     

erne has selected the most striking incidents of his romantico-
scientific productions, such as "Doctor Ox," Journey to the
Center of the Earth, From the Earth to the Moon, and Twenty Thousand
Leagues under the Sea.
    In a little town in Denmark lives the Widow Traventhal, whose
daughter Eva is betrothed to young George Hatteras. George is a son
of that famous Captain Hatteras whose voyage in search of the North
pole terminated fatally. His friends have always concealed the
parentage: they feared lest the example of the father might tempt the
child. But it is all in vain; no man can escape his destiny. The blood of
the bold navigator courses through his veins; he thirsts after the
unknown. Hatteras lives in the midst of maps and charts and globes,
and in his delirium dreams of exploration such as none other has ever
imagined. He would attempt the impossible.

    "Quite mad!" say his fellow-citizens. "Certainly very sick!" reply
Madame and Mademoiselle Traventhal, who immediately send for
Dr. Ox and ask him to prescribe. Now, Dr. Ox is an excellent scientist
by reputation but, instead of administering chloral or bromide of
potassium, he works up the diseased brain of his patient, first, by
revealing to Hatteras his connection with the deceased Arctic explorer; second, by the assurance that he can help Hatteras to realize
his desire.
    The doctor is a species of Mephistopheles; and he, too, is in love
with Eva. The savant's