Book Review: Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea

I wanted to read this book ever since it was referenced in ‘All the Light We Cannot See’. It is one of the first books that the main female protagonist, Marie-Laure, learns to read braile and it is a book that enchants her and, in turn, enchanted me to read it.

Jules Verne is a master of science fiction and fantasy; his works tend to be written in the latter part of the 19th century to reflect the vast advancements in science and our knowledge of the world. Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Sea is one of those books. His writing is fantastical, yet grounded in reality. The characters of Captain Nemo seem otherworldly, as does his ship, the Nautilus and yet we have the character of Professor Aronnax, who is a natural scientist that grounds the whole book. He also serves as our narrator in the novel.

I can only imagine what reading the book must have felt like in the late 19th to early 20th century. While modern science was slowly rationalising and shaping human thought, chasing away the monsters, myths and legends that hide under the bed, along comes The Nautilus and Captain Nemo, finding Atlantis, hidden passages under continents, exploring volcanoes under the sea and battling sea monsters. Perhaps it is an acknowledgement that not everything is known. Even today, we have only explored around 20% of our oceans. Perhaps the tales of mermaids and secret underwater kingdoms are real; one can only dream. However, I also think this is why the book has stood the test of time: blending the fantastical with the modern is not an easy thing to do.

Let’s think about some of the themes in the book. We must discuss the comparison between the ship Abraham Lincoln and the Nautilus. The Abraham Lincoln is an American ship set out to destroy a mysterious sea monster that has been terrorising the seas and sinking many ships it meets along the way. It is a symbol of America, of new thoughts and ideas, a new start. Then you have the Nautilus, a futuristic ship that travels the world - a vessel to escape terrestrial life and humanity altogether. Its mysterious leader, Captain Nemo, is in self-imposed exile, rather like Odysseus. And yet Nemo is a man of science and rational thought, but haunted by the trapping of empire and colonialism. The old clashing with the new in opposite ways is fantastical. The American ship is of the assumed world, whereas the Nautilus takes us on a tour of the fantastical, full of startling truths and scientific advancements that should be unbelievable but are true. The juxtaposition is a fascinating and really rather clever one.

I do wish that my copy of the book had better illustrations; the ones created by Pierre-Jules Hetzel are stunning, yet mine were crappy black and white reproductions, which were rather disappointing. While I enjoyed the book, I think I may have hyped it up a little too much in my head after reading ‘All the Light We Cannot See’. But I’m glad I got to delve into this marvellous classic and wouldn’t mind reading Verne’s other works.