Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea, by Jules Verne

Jules Verne’s late nineteenth century classic Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea (1869) is part adventure story, part science fiction extravaganza and part disturbed psychological portrait. It’s central character, the enigmatic and mysterious Captain Nemo, roams the ocean’s depths in self-imposed exile from land-based societies, and one must presume, their political systems.

It is this political exile that is the most fascinating. The reader is led to believe that Captain Nemo has been the victim of some outrageous injustice, and has lost his wife and children as a result. Verne never discloses the reason for Captain Nemo’s misanthropy, which is terrifying in places. Near the end of the novel he indulges in mass killings while at sea. Yet the overall presentation of Captain Nemo invites sympathy. He is a learned and cultural man, scientist and art curator.

Jules Verne’s Propulsive Narrative Energy

Verne’s greatest achievement with Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea is his compelling narrative. Despite the various adventures the crew of the Nautilus undergo, not a lot happens in terms of character interaction and dramatic events. Mostly, the novel is an extraordinary scenic trip under water, with page after page of minute descriptions – more catalogues really – of the life of the sea. Verne writes with a propulsive energy that keeps the reader eagerly turning the pages.

The novel begins in 1866, with the world convulsed by the appearance of a menacing sea monster. Theories abound as to what the monster actually is. Most conjecture that it is a giant narwhal. A French marine biologist, Professor Pierre Aronnax, gamely suggests that the sea monster may just be a large metal vessel.

An expedition to locate and destroy the sea monster is instigated by the United States government. Professor Aronnax and his assistant Conseil join this team, along with Canadian harpoonist, Ned Land. The sea monster hits the naval ship the Abraham Lincoln, and Professor Aronnax, Conseil and Ned Land find themselves thrown into the sea. Soon they are stranded on the sea creature, which turns out to be a huge metal vessel, the Nautilus, run by Captain Nemo.

The rest of the story is a scenic cruise, interspersed with various rollicking adventures. Captain Nemo shows off the various technical feats the Nautilus is capable of, astonishing his captives / guests. Amazingly, the vessel lives entirely off the natural resources provided by the ocean’s deep.

Professor Aronnax, who narrates the story, is duly impressed. As a fellow scientist, he is almost the alter ego of Captain Nemo. The only difference is that Captain Nemo has the chutzpah and nerve to attempt what Professor Aronnax could only dream of. Yet by the novel’s end the psyches of the two men have come to resemble each other more closely. Professor Aronnax’s final question to the reader is, quoting the Book of Ecclesiastes, ‘Who can fathom the soundless depths?’ to which he answers ‘Captain Nemo and I’. The two men are almost one.

A Long, Brooding, Prose Poem Set Under the Sea

Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea is a novel that is both strangely dark and light. The magical world of the Nautilus, with its wide-open windows onto a nautical fantasia of wonderful images, shows that technological progress can achieve absolutely anything. Yet Captain Nemo, who is the driving force behind that technology, is such a dark and brooding character, that the novel ends in a mysterious black hole. The Nautilus simply disappears into a whirlpool off the coast of Norway. Why does Captain Nemo hate the world so much? The reader is invited to sympathise with the Captain, yet we never find out the reasons for this dark attitude.

The unresolved ending – not knowing what happens to Captain Nemo and his vessel – shouldn’t work. The reader has been led along for 500 or so pages, and it seems should be given a final explanation for Nemo’s character. Yet Verne manages to get away with this mystery, as Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea is in many ways a long, brooding prose-poem, a dark romance about the unfathomable depths of the sea in which a deeply damaged man seeks refuge and healing.