amazing journeys five visionary classics

Amazing Journeys

Five visionary classics, alternative formats available from:.

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Table of contents

1. Science and Showbiz: Going Places with Jules Verne

2. JOURNEY TO THE CENTER OF THE EARTH

3. FROM THE EARTH TO THE MOON

4. CIRCLING THE MOON

5. 20,000 LEAGUES UNDER THE SEAS

6. AROUND THE WORLD IN 80 DAYS

Textual Notes

Recommended Reading

New, superbly translated omnibus of five of Jules Verne's most renown stories.

Description

"One of the best storytellers who ever lived. "--Arthur C. Clarke

In one dazzling decade, French novelist Jules Verne took readers places they'd never gone before. . . the age of dinosaurs. . . the undersea realm of Atlantis. . . the craters and crevices of the moon. . . and a whirlwind aerial tour of the planet earth!

Though he penned his unforgettable yarns in French, Verne plunked big parts of them down in America. And he himself possessed an American sassiness, nerve, and sense of humor, so Americans have returned the compliment: we've released dozens of Hollywood films based on his astonishing tales, and we've created the U. S.S. Nautilus, the NASA space missions, and other technological triumphs that have turned Verne's visions into practical reality.

Here are Jules Verne's best-loved novels in one convenient omnibus volume, but with a huge difference. This book features new, accurate, accessible, and unabridged translations of these five visionary classics, translations that are complete down to the smallest substantive detail, that showcase Verne's farseeing science with unprecedented clarity and accuracy, capture the wit, prankishness, and showbiz flamboyance of one of literature's leading humorists and satirists. This is a Verne almost completely unknown to Americans. . . yet a Verne who has an uncannily American mindset!

So these heroes and happenings are part of our heritage: Phileas Fogg chugging across the wild, wild west. . . the impossible underground journey of Professor Lidenbrock. . . the deep-sea exploits of secretive Captain Nemo. . . and a moon shot so realistic, it inspired U. S. astronaut Frank Borman a full century later.

Jules Verne was a science buff with a showbiz background, and finally these classic storiess have a translator with the same orientation: Frederick Paul Walter is one of America's foremost Verne scholars. . . But he's also a scriptwriter, broadcaster, and part-time fossil hunter!

Enriched with dozens of classic illustrations, The Amazing Journeys of Jules Verne will be a family favorite in every home library.

Jules Verne was born in 1828 into a French lawyering family in the Atlantic coastal city of Nantes. Though his father sent him off to a Paris law school, young Jules had been writing on the side since his early teens, and his pet topics were the theater, travel, and science. Predictably enough, his legal studies led nowhere, so Verne took a day job with a stock brokerage, in his off hours penning scripts for farces and musical comedies while also publishing short stories and novelettes of scientific exploration and adventure.

His big breakthrough came when he combined his theatrical knack with his scientific bent and in 1863 published an African adventure yarn, Five Weeks in a Balloon. After that and till his death in 1905, Jules Verne was one of the planet's best-loved and best-selling novelists, publishing over sixty books. In addition to the five visionary classics in this volume, other imaginative favorites by him include The Mysterious Island, Hector Servadac, the Begum's Millions, Master of the World, and The Meteor Hunt. Verne ranks among the five most translated authors in history, along with Mark Twain and the Bible

. Frederick Paul Walter is a scriptwriter, broadcaster, librarian, and amateur paleontologist. A Trustee of the North American Jules Verne Society, he served as its Vice President from 2000 to 20008. Walter has produced many media programs, articles, reviews, and papers on aspects of Jules Verne and has collaborated on translations and scholarly editions of three Verne novels: The Meteor Hunt, The Mighty Orinoco, and a special edition of 20,000 Leagues Under the Seas for the U. S. Naval Institute in Annapolis. Known to friends as Rick Walter, he lives in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

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Amazing Journeys: Five Visionary Classics (Excelsior Editions)

Description.

"One of the best storytellers who ever lived."--Arthur C. Clarke

In one dazzling decade, French novelist Jules Verne took readers places they'd never gone before. . .the age of dinosaurs. . .the undersea realm of Atlantis. . .the craters and crevices of the moon. . .and a whirlwind aerial tour of the planet earth

Though he penned his unforgettable yarns in French, Verne plunked big parts of them down in America. And he himself possessed an American sassiness, nerve, and sense of humor, so Americans have returned the compliment: we've released dozens of Hollywood films based on his astonishing tales, and we've created the U.S.S. Nautilus, the NASA space missions, and other technological triumphs that have turned Verne's visions into practical reality.

Here are Jules Verne's best-loved novels in one convenient omnibus volume, but with a huge difference. This book features new, accurate, accessible, and unabridged translations of these five visionary classics, translations that are complete down to the smallest substantive detail, that showcase Verne's farseeing science with unprecedented clarity and accuracy, capture the wit, prankishness, and showbiz flamboyance of one of literature's leading humorists and satirists. This is a Verne almost completely unknown to Americans. . .yet a Verne who has an uncannily American mindset

So these heroes and happenings are part of our heritage: Phileas Fogg chugging across the wild, wild west. . .the impossible underground journey of Professor Lidenbrock. . . the deep-sea exploits of secretive Captain Nemo. . .and a moon shot so realistic, it inspired U.S. astronaut Frank Borman a full century later.

Jules Verne was a science buff with a showbiz background, and finally these classic storiess have a translator with the same orientation: Frederick Paul Walter is one of America's foremost Verne scholars. . . But he's also a scriptwriter, broadcaster, and part-time fossil hunter

Enriched with dozens of classic illustrations, The Amazing Journeys of Jules Verne will be a family favorite in every home library.

Jules Verne was born in 1828 into a French lawyering family in the Atlantic coastal city of Nantes. Though his father sent him off to a Paris law school, young Jules had been writing on the side since his early teens, and his pet topics were the theater, travel, and science. Predictably enough, his legal studies led nowhere, so Verne took a day job with a stock brokerage, in his off hours penning scripts for farces and musical comedies while also publishing short stories and novelettes of scientific exploration and adventure.

His big breakthrough came when he combined his theatrical knack with his scientific bent and in 1863 published an African adventure yarn, Five Weeks in a Balloon. After that and till his death in 1905, Jules Verne was one of the planet's best-loved and best-selling novelists, publishing over sixty books. In addition to the five visionary classics in this volume, other imaginative favorites by him include The Mysterious Island, Hector Servadac, the Begum's Millions, Master of the World, and The Meteor Hunt. Verne ranks among the five most translated authors in history, along with Mark Twain and the Bible

.Frederick Paul Walter is a scriptwriter, broadcaster, librarian, and amateur paleontologist. A Trustee of the North American Jules Verne Society, he served as its Vice President from 2000 to 20008. Walter has produced many media programs, articles, reviews, and papers on aspects of Jules Verne and has collaborated on translations and scholarly editions of three Verne novels: The Meteor Hunt, The Mighty Orinoco, and a special edition of 20,000 Leagues Under the Seas for the U.S. Naval Institute in Annapolis. Known to friends as Rick Walter, he lives in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

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Amazing Journeys: Five Visionary Classics (Excelsior Editions) Kindle Edition

• Print length 683 pages
• Language English
• Sticky notes On Kindle Scribe
• Publisher Excelsior Editions
• Publication date Feb. 1 2012
• File size 10313 KB
• Page Flip Enabled
• Word Wise Enabled
• Enhanced typesetting Enabled
• See all details

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Product details

• ASIN ‏ : ‎ B004I6DFOK
• Publisher ‏ : ‎ Excelsior Editions; Illustrated edition (Feb. 1 2012)
• Language ‏ : ‎ English
• File size ‏ : ‎ 10313 KB
• Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
• Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
• Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
• X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
• Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
• Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
• Print length ‏ : ‎ 683 pages
• #2,679 in Classic American Literature
• #18,224 in Science Fiction Adventure
• #35,498 in Adventure Science Fiction (Books)

About the authors

Jules verne.

Jules Verne (1828-1905) was a French author best known for his tales of adventure, including Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Sea, Journey to the Center of the Earth, and Around the World in Eighty Days. A true visionary, Verne foresaw the skyscraper, the submarine, and the airplane, among many other inventions, and is now regarded as one of the fathers of science fiction.

Frederick Paul Walter

About Frederick Paul Walter

Scriptwriter, fine arts broadcaster, translator, and theater director, Frederick Paul Walter has worked for Lyric Opera of Chicago, Houston Grand Opera, Opera Southwest, and other performance organizations, likewise for NPR stations KUHF in Houston and KQED in San Francisco. He's also moderator of HomageToArthurRubinstein@groups. io, a celebration of one of history's greatest concert pianists. Walter has written about classical music and opera for nearly half a century, generating countless reviews, program notes, and pre-concert talks, plus on-air presentations of Wagner's The Nibelung's Ring and Master Singers of Nuremberg.

Donning a different hat, Walter is past vice president of the North American Jules Verne Society. He has penned acclaimed modern translations of eight science-fiction thrillers by this ever-popular French novelist, his publishers including State University of New York, University of Nebraska, U.S. Naval Institute Press, and Wesleyan University. Walter lives in Albuquerque, New Mexico, where his hobbies include fossil collecting, lap swimming, and devouring classic detective novels.

********* TRANSLATOR OF THE RINGS *********

An Interview of FPW by best-selling Sci-Fi author JANE LINDSKOLD

(http://janelindskold.com/wp/)

Have you ever known someone in one context, only to discover that they have a secret identity? That’s what happened to me with Rick Walter. I met Rick as one of the librarians at my local library. Quite a few years went by before I learned that he was also a translator, at that time working on new translations of Jules Verne novels.

Only recently did I learn Rick had another secret identity: as an authority on Wagner, classical music, and opera. As Frederick Paul Walter, Rick is responsible for a new translation of Wagner’s The Rhine Gold (Das Rheingold). Even better, this translation is lovingly annotated and includes the original German text side by side. An added bonus are the lavish illustrations, taken from a wide variety of sources, up to and including new illustrations in a graphic-novel style by Cliff Mott, commissioned for this project.

This week, I’m interviewing Rick both about his new project and about what goes into the art of translation.

JANE: So, Rick, what drew you to translation? Have you done translations from other than French (for the works of Jules Verne) and German?

RICK: It all started with my first job after grad school. I got hired as a college theater director, then ended up collaborating with the Music Department in their operatic programs—which they felt would benefit from being sung in English. They had me do the Toreador Song, which was great fun, and everywhere I taught, this would happen—I’d stage their operatic evenings for them and supply English lyrics for material originally issued in Italian, French, and German. I have to admit, translating opera for live performance is the toughest type of translating I’ve ever done: my words would need to rhyme, convey the sense, and fit the composer’s notes. Yikes!

JANE: As your introduction and annotations make clear, you've had an intense interest in The Ring Cycle for a long time.

RICK: I grew up in the 1960s, when complete commercial recordings didn’t exist. So the appearances of rival versions conducted by Georg Solti and Herbert von Karajan were big news—and I purchased both.

JANE: From our conversations over the years, I know you’re an avid reader of SF and Fantasy. Jules Verne has an obvious connection to SF, but what I found fascinating about your annotations is how they showed the many ways that The Ring Cycle might be considered “background music” to a lot of Fantasy fiction. Could you share some of your thoughts on these influences?

RICK: Don’t forget, the 1960s were the era of those Ace reprints of Tolkien’s trilogy, which I promptly gobbled up. Well, another 1960s development was the publication of a 1-volume edition of Margaret Armour’s translation of Wagner’s Ring Cycle—it was worded in Shakespearean English and was tough sledding, but I could read it like a fantasy novel and was fascinated by it.

However, I felt that a much more readable modern translation was called for, and I actually attempted one back then. I didn’t complete it, yet I always wanted to. Five years ago I returned to this project and finished it at last.

JANE: Despite your deep love for the material in The Rhine Gold, as you make clear in your “One Minute Ring” summary of the entire 4-opera Cycle, you also have a sense of humor about the material. Do you think that helps you as a translator?

RICK: My target audience is the general public, fans of Tolkien, Rowling, George Lucas, George R.R. Martin, et al. So I want my work to be enjoyed by that audience. Humor helps and Wagner himself infused the Ring Cycle with plenty.

JANE: Translation is a complex art, very far from the awkward, fill-in-the-blank, process that computer programs can provide. Is there anywhere my readers can get a peek behind the scenes at your process?

RICK: Absolutely! Pages ix-xi of my introduction deal with both the substantive priorities and the verbal issues of my translating, especially developing equivalents for Wagner’s alliteration.

JANE: One of the great things about your annotated Rhine Gold is that the annotations are visual as well as verbal. There are the original illustrations by Cliff Mott that were created for this edition, of course. However, you also provide many from older productions. Are these from your collection or did the publisher find them?

RICK: : No, I tracked them all down myself. A huge amount of public domain artwork is available on the Ring. Thank God I’ve been acquainted with it for several decades.

JANE: Are you going to continue translating the rest of the Ring Cycle? I believe there are three more operas to go.

RICK: That’s right, and they’re all done. After querying many publishers, I sold them as a package to Rowman and Littlefield, and they’re committed to the whole thing. The Valkyrie is due out this coming July, Siegfried and Twilight for the Gods during the summer of 2022.

JANE: I look forward to them! Thanks for taking the time to chat with me, and sharing some of what went into this landmark edition of Wagner’s most famous work.

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Follow the authors

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Amazing Journeys: Five Visionary Classics (Excelsior Editions) Kindle Edition

• Print length 683 pages
• Language English
• Sticky notes On Kindle Scribe
• Publisher Excelsior Editions
• Publication date 1 Feb. 2012
• File size 10313 KB
• Page Flip Enabled
• Word Wise Enabled
• Enhanced typesetting Enabled
• See all details

Product details

• ASIN ‏ : ‎ B004I6DFOK
• Publisher ‏ : ‎ Excelsior Editions; Illustrated edition (1 Feb. 2012)
• Language ‏ : ‎ English
• File size ‏ : ‎ 10313 KB
• Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
• Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
• Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
• X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
• Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
• Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
• Print length ‏ : ‎ 683 pages
• 20,484 in Science Fiction Adventure (Kindle Store)
• 33,391 in Fiction Classics (Kindle Store)
• 38,639 in Science Fiction Adventure (Books)

About the authors

Jules verne.

Jules Verne (1828-1905) was a French author best known for his tales of adventure, including Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Sea, Journey to the Center of the Earth, and Around the World in Eighty Days. A true visionary, Verne foresaw the skyscraper, the submarine, and the airplane, among many other inventions, and is now regarded as one of the fathers of science fiction.

Frederick Paul Walter

About Frederick Paul Walter

Scriptwriter, fine arts broadcaster, translator, and theater director, Frederick Paul Walter has worked for Lyric Opera of Chicago, Houston Grand Opera, Opera Southwest, and other performance organizations, likewise for NPR stations KUHF in Houston and KQED in San Francisco. He's also moderator of HomageToArthurRubinstein@groups. io, a celebration of one of history's greatest concert pianists. Walter has written about classical music and opera for nearly half a century, generating countless reviews, program notes, and pre-concert talks, plus on-air presentations of Wagner's The Nibelung's Ring and Master Singers of Nuremberg.

Donning a different hat, Walter is past vice president of the North American Jules Verne Society. He has penned acclaimed modern translations of eight science-fiction thrillers by this ever-popular French novelist, his publishers including State University of New York, University of Nebraska, U.S. Naval Institute Press, and Wesleyan University. Walter lives in Albuquerque, New Mexico, where his hobbies include fossil collecting, lap swimming, and devouring classic detective novels.

********* TRANSLATOR OF THE RINGS *********

An Interview of FPW by best-selling Sci-Fi author JANE LINDSKOLD

(http://janelindskold.com/wp/)

Have you ever known someone in one context, only to discover that they have a secret identity? That’s what happened to me with Rick Walter. I met Rick as one of the librarians at my local library. Quite a few years went by before I learned that he was also a translator, at that time working on new translations of Jules Verne novels.

Only recently did I learn Rick had another secret identity: as an authority on Wagner, classical music, and opera. As Frederick Paul Walter, Rick is responsible for a new translation of Wagner’s The Rhine Gold (Das Rheingold). Even better, this translation is lovingly annotated and includes the original German text side by side. An added bonus are the lavish illustrations, taken from a wide variety of sources, up to and including new illustrations in a graphic-novel style by Cliff Mott, commissioned for this project.

This week, I’m interviewing Rick both about his new project and about what goes into the art of translation.

JANE: So, Rick, what drew you to translation? Have you done translations from other than French (for the works of Jules Verne) and German?

RICK: It all started with my first job after grad school. I got hired as a college theater director, then ended up collaborating with the Music Department in their operatic programs—which they felt would benefit from being sung in English. They had me do the Toreador Song, which was great fun, and everywhere I taught, this would happen—I’d stage their operatic evenings for them and supply English lyrics for material originally issued in Italian, French, and German. I have to admit, translating opera for live performance is the toughest type of translating I’ve ever done: my words would need to rhyme, convey the sense, and fit the composer’s notes. Yikes!

JANE: As your introduction and annotations make clear, you've had an intense interest in The Ring Cycle for a long time.

RICK: I grew up in the 1960s, when complete commercial recordings didn’t exist. So the appearances of rival versions conducted by Georg Solti and Herbert von Karajan were big news—and I purchased both.

JANE: From our conversations over the years, I know you’re an avid reader of SF and Fantasy. Jules Verne has an obvious connection to SF, but what I found fascinating about your annotations is how they showed the many ways that The Ring Cycle might be considered “background music” to a lot of Fantasy fiction. Could you share some of your thoughts on these influences?

RICK: Don’t forget, the 1960s were the era of those Ace reprints of Tolkien’s trilogy, which I promptly gobbled up. Well, another 1960s development was the publication of a 1-volume edition of Margaret Armour’s translation of Wagner’s Ring Cycle—it was worded in Shakespearean English and was tough sledding, but I could read it like a fantasy novel and was fascinated by it.

However, I felt that a much more readable modern translation was called for, and I actually attempted one back then. I didn’t complete it, yet I always wanted to. Five years ago I returned to this project and finished it at last.

JANE: Despite your deep love for the material in The Rhine Gold, as you make clear in your “One Minute Ring” summary of the entire 4-opera Cycle, you also have a sense of humor about the material. Do you think that helps you as a translator?

RICK: My target audience is the general public, fans of Tolkien, Rowling, George Lucas, George R.R. Martin, et al. So I want my work to be enjoyed by that audience. Humor helps and Wagner himself infused the Ring Cycle with plenty.

JANE: Translation is a complex art, very far from the awkward, fill-in-the-blank, process that computer programs can provide. Is there anywhere my readers can get a peek behind the scenes at your process?

RICK: Absolutely! Pages ix-xi of my introduction deal with both the substantive priorities and the verbal issues of my translating, especially developing equivalents for Wagner’s alliteration.

JANE: One of the great things about your annotated Rhine Gold is that the annotations are visual as well as verbal. There are the original illustrations by Cliff Mott that were created for this edition, of course. However, you also provide many from older productions. Are these from your collection or did the publisher find them?

RICK: : No, I tracked them all down myself. A huge amount of public domain artwork is available on the Ring. Thank God I’ve been acquainted with it for several decades.

JANE: Are you going to continue translating the rest of the Ring Cycle? I believe there are three more operas to go.

RICK: That’s right, and they’re all done. After querying many publishers, I sold them as a package to Rowman and Littlefield, and they’re committed to the whole thing. The Valkyrie is due out this coming July, Siegfried and Twilight for the Gods during the summer of 2022.

JANE: I look forward to them! Thanks for taking the time to chat with me, and sharing some of what went into this landmark edition of Wagner’s most famous work.

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