Christopher L. Bennett
World History II
The
Sun Never Sets: European Globalism in
Verne=s Around the World in Eighty Days
Jules Verne was one of the first great proponents of the literary genre now known as science fiction: literature based on events and phenomena which are not real, but are credibly extrapolated from known science and technology. His speculations were far-ranging, but all within the realm of possibility as perceived by nineteenth-century Europeans, and many of them have come to pass in one form or another. Certainly one of his most attainable visions is the one depicted in his 1873 work Around the World in Eighty Days. At the time, circling the globe safely in a fraction of a year was certainly possible; the only thing about Phileas Fogg=s journey which challenges credibility is the timeframe, representing the theoretical minimum duration of such a circuit. But the journey itself is not the real subject of the novel. Around the World is both a celebration of the British Empire and a gentle satire of its builders.
The plot, predicated on a flimsily motivated wager, is basically an excuse for a travelogue of the portions of the world mastered by, or at least comfortably familiar to, the British. The novel illustrates the scope of Anglo-European civilization throughout the world, and the key role that transportation, communication and timekeeping technologies have played in spreading that (version of) civilization. Fogg=s intended itinerary is an uninterrupted sequence of railroad and steamship journeys forming a continuous loop around the globe, as illustrated in the Daily Telegraph estimate which Fogg seeks to prove accurate.[1] This transport system is well-enough established that regular schedules are printed well in advance in a book which Fogg expects to be completely accurate throughout the journey.[2] Fogg=s purpose in making his wager and his journey is not to undertake a grand adventure, but to demonstrate the utterly routine and predictable nature of the trip -- and by extension of the control which Britain has over global transportation. Fogg is unshakeably certain that Athe unforeseen does not exist.@[3]
Along the way, Verne illustrates the things that Britain brings to the rest of the world through its modern transportation system. Fogg=s whist partners on a ship travelling to India via the Suez Canal are a tax collector, a missionary and a brigadier general -- clearly symbolizing the principal facets of British power in the subcontinent.[4] Verne acknowledges the negative effects of English commerce in China, describing the English trade in opium and its devastating consequences to the Chinese population.[5] Yet he portrays Britain essentially as a force for good and civilization. Though the purpose of Fogg=s journey is coldly mathematical, the stoic protagonist performs numerous good deeds. Most notable (and most representative of European stereotypes of their imperial subjects) is his rescue of the Parsi princess Aouda from a ritual which is a confused mix of the distinct cults of Kali and Jagganath and the rare Bengali practice of sati or Asuttee,@ the ritual widow-burning which was grossly exaggerated and sensationalized by the British, in part to assert a Aneed@ for British law and order in India. The rescued widow, European in aspect and highly Anglicized in behavior, is suitably grateful to the Englishman, who dispassionately insists his generosity Ais in the interest of my journey -- a part of my programme.@[6] It is difficult to see how this act could be part of Fogg=s wager or experiment in transportation, but it can be seen as symbolic of the British ideal and ambition to spread civilization at the speed of steam power, to make the world a better, more British place and get home in time for tea.
While Verne commemorates this sense of mastery, he also criticizes it. As Fogg and his party travel around the world, Verne gives us enthusiastic descriptions of the exotic scenery and cultures along the way, an enthusiasm somewhat shared by his fellow Frenchman Passepartout; but Fogg continues his regimented life as though he were still in Savile Row. AAs for the wonders of Bombay... he cared not a straw to see them.@[7] Fogg symbolizes a Britain which seeks to encompass the world but has no wish to experience it, choosing rather to take Britishness wherever it goes and overlay it on the native state of affairs. In their supreme confidence, Verne seems to be saying, the British are missing a great deal. (Yet this ethnocentric arrogance is somewhat reflected in Passepartout=s adamant insistence on keeping his watch on London time. If the sun disagrees with his timepiece, A[t]he sun will be wrong, then!@[8])
Fogg is an enigmatic character whose motives are never clear, but perhaps this is intentional satire of a British national character which Verne finds paradoxical. We see reflected in Fogg a people who pride themselves on rationality and scientific mastery, yet who go to absurd lengths for an affair of honor such as a wager or a duel. We see a people who are casually generous and noble when it suits them, but who will barrel over any obstacle in their way. Fogg unhesitatingly jumps bail in Calcutta, showing contempt for local laws,[9] and even commits the blatant piracy and half-destruction of an American=s steamer, a felony of high order, merely in the pursuit of a whimsical bet.[10] Fogg gets away with this high-handed disregard for other people=s rules by throwing around enough money to soothe the wronged parties -- symbolizing one of the key ingredients of British power, namely their great economic success and wealth.
Yet despite the eccentricities and ambivalence Verne sees in the British, he also uses Fogg to characterize an indomitable spirit and adaptability which he sees as key to their global success. Fogg=s utter confidence in his ability to succeed is justified by his effortless ability to adjust to any hardship. The perfect itinerary of trains and ships does not run as smoothly in reality as Fogg envisions -- an illustration that the world is not fully under British control. Yet Fogg finds a way to keep going despite these departures from plan. When a railway in India is incomplete, he deigns (for the only point in his journey) to employ the traditional mode of travel by elephant -- a diversion into wilderness necessary to bring him upon the savage ritual he is destined to halt.[11] In America, when an Indian attack (more non-European savagery) disrupts rail service, Fogg resorts to a sail-driven sledge, which must have seemed a highly exotic and innovative mode of transport to Verne=s readers.[12]
While Around the World in Eighty Days is to some extent a satire of the British and their Empire (not to mention a satire of Americans, which is a whole other essay), it is an affectionate and neighborly satire. Jules Verne=s fiction celebrates technology and the mastery of the world which it affords to humans. Phileas Fogg may be an oddball Englishman, but he is a heroic oddball Englishman, whose conviction in the power of technology, reason and European civilization embodies the values of Verne=s contemporary audience.
[1]Jules Verne, Around the World in Eighty Days, collected in The Omnibus Jules Verne (Philadelphia & New York, J. B. Lippincott Company, 1933), p. 308.
[2]Ibid., p. 312.
[3]Ibid., p. 309.
[4]Ibid., p. 328.
[5]Ibid., p. 383.
[6]Ibid., p. 388.
[7]Ibid., p. 333.
[8]Ibid., p. 324.
[9]Ibid., p. 366-67.
[10]Ibid., pp.464-70.
[11]Ibid., pp. 341ff.
[12]Ibid., pp. 455-59.