Product Description

Based on the true story of Alexander Selkirk, who survived alone for almost five years on an uninhabited island off the coast of Chile, The Mysterious Island is considered by many to be Jules Verne’s masterpiece. “Wide-eyed mid-nineteenth-century humanistic optimism in a breezy, blissfully readable translation by Stump” (Kirkus Reviews), here is the enthralling tale of five men and a dog who land in a balloon on a faraway, fantastic island of bewildering goings-on and their struggle to survive as they uncover the island’s secret.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #438275 in Books
• Published on: 2002-12-10
• Released on: 2002-12-10
• Original language: French
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 672 pages

From Publishers Weekly
The second title in Wesleyan's new Early Classics of Science Fiction series is Sidney Kravitz's translation (14 years in the making) of Jules Verne's castaway epic, The Mysterious Island. Like the new Modern Library edition (noted in Forecasts, Dec. 24), it boasts black-and-white illustrations and is unexpurgated; unlike it, this volume contains a Verne chronology and brief biography, endnotes, appendixes and information about previous translations.

Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal
Wesleyan launches its "Early Classics of Science Fiction" line in style with this first English translation of Verne's 1904 novel Invasion of the Sea. The series will feature scholarly editions of popular sf works, with illustrations, bibliographies, textual notes, etc. Though long available in English, The Mysterious Island here receives a new and much more spry and exciting translation to replace the drab version that has been boring readers for years. This also features illustrations and an introduction by Caleb Carr.
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review
?The reason Verne is still read by millions today is simply that he was one of the best storytellers who ever lived.? ?Arthur C. Clarke -- Review

Customer Reviews

Is Mysterious Island Verne's best novel?
Many of Verne's novels have become cultural icons for Americans though Verne was French and we read him in translation. Nevertheless, his philosophy that enlightened good will and scientific advancement would save society is so close to American idealism, he seems much more American than almost any of his contemporaries.

Everyone is familiar with Around the World in 80 Days and 20,000 Leagues. For some reason, The Mysterious Island is not read as widely. Yet, in my opinion, it is Verne's best and most rewarding novel.

The opening of Myserious Island reads a bit like a serious version of "Wizard of Oz." Cyrus, Pencroft, Herbert, Neb and Gideon, and a dog named Top make a daring escape from a Civil War prison in a balloon, but the balloon is blown way off course to an uncharted volcanic island. These men are worthy souls; Captain Cyrus is an inspiring leader, Pencroft, an earthy but hardworking sailor. Gideon is kind of a "everyman" -- observant, strong and resourceful and loving, and Herbert a young, knowlegeable naturalist. These men and their dog Top conquer the island's challenges and make the very best out of their isolation on the small island. But are they prepared for the surprises the island has for them--and the ultimate surprise in the second half of the book. The suspense keeps the reader turning the pages through a great deal of descriptive information about nature, chemistry, physics and engineering. This is classic Verne and what really put the Science in Science Fiction.

One reason Mysterious Island may not have developed the strong audience of the other Verne novels is that there is so much detail and scientific discussion. That is rough going if you have little interest in such subjects. There are abridged versions that cut a lot of the description, but frankly, the science is what I love best about the book. How Cyrus and company make nitroglycerin and use it to reshape their island home is one of my favorite chapters in sci-fi literature.

If you liked Swiss Family Robinson as a child, you would surely enjoy Mysterious Island. It's one of Verne's best works and deserves to be read.

Not So Mysterious Thanks To Caleb Carr
I had never read Jules Verne's wonderful book, The Mysterious Island. I was delighted that there was a new translation available, so I happily bought a copy and dove into it.

Imagine my shock and disappointment to find, in reading Caleb Carr's introduction, that he tells me the secret of the island! I could have reached through the pages and slapped him silly! My heart just sank. It was like reading a movie review of the Sixth Sense that flat out tells you the twist in the story! Thus, all through the book, I knew what the colonists did not. I felt cheated. Even in the short introductory piece on Jules Verne there is vital information given that is best avoided unless you have already read the book. My advice to you is to go straight to Chapter 1 and skip all the preliminaries until you have finished the book.

With that caveat, I just loved the book. Jordan Stump's translation is breezy reading, which makes this 600+ page book just glide by. The colonists, which is what they become after crash landing on the island, are all "upright, energetic, and bound by brotherly affection". These are not a bunch of modern hunky narcissists or brooding, introspective hand-wringers, my friends. These are men of good cheer who, with faith in one another and a healthy respect for the Almighty, turn this most fascinating (and surely improbable) island into a new land.

This takes place in a time when the world itself still held mystery and adventure, and there was a boundless optimism in what man could achieve when honest and civilized men pooled their efforts and added a little scientific knowledge to their endeavors (well, a lot, actually). Most certainly, because of the time in which it was written, it is not politically correct. The "negro" Neb, though a free man, still calls Cyrus Smith "Master". However, there is every indication that Neb was given equal and fraternal treatment and was respected by all, blunting somewhat the inherent offensiveness of such a situation to modern readers.

In the end, this is a rich and wonderful story that, with this new translation, is a joy to read and a treasure to keep.

Caleb Carr does deserve a trip to the woodshed, however.

An Epic Of Early Science Fiction
"The Mysterious Island" is the second book in the Early Classics of Science Fiction series which is being published by Wesleyan University Press. This novel is a much better choice for the series than Verne's "Invasion of the Sea". Although not as well known as some of Verne's novels, it is certainly a better representation of his style than "Invasion of the Sea" was. As with the first in the series, this release features a new and unabridged translation, which is much superior to previous translations. They also include a wealth of material about the history of previous translations, the inception of the novel, the historical context of the novel, and they have done a fantastic job of including notes in the novel itself, explaining where Verne is making references to other works, where he has made errors, and other interesting information regarding the text of the novel itself.

The novel was first published in "Magasin" from January 1st, 1874 through December 15th of 1875. It is not as good as his more famous works, but it is still worth reading, especially this new translation. It is the tale of five men who find themselves stranded on an island, and who through the course of trying to survive notice mysterious happenings and become convinced that there is one or more benefactors helping them. The one movie I saw bearing the name of this novel, bears little resemblance to Verne's story. Absent from the novel are the giant animals (chicken, crab, bees), nor are there any women on the island. Verne considered his stories to be scientific fiction, as opposed to science fiction, and so an island of giant creatures is far from the kind of story he would write.

The main characters in this story are Cyrus Smith, who was a Union staff officer who was captured by the South, and he is also the scientist of the group. Next is Gideon Spilett, a reporter who was also captured and met Smith when both were prisoners of war. The next is Neb, who is described as "a Negro born of slave parents into the engineer's estate" who stayed with Smith after he was freed by him. He came to find Cyrus Smith, in Richmond when he learned Smith was a prisoner. The next man is Pencroft, a sailor who found himself trapped in Richmond because of the siege. The last is Harbert Brown, a fifteen year old boy who is an orphan that Pencroft takes care of as if he were his own son.

The novel is divided into three main sections. The first of these is titled "The Castaways from the Sky". It opens with the men desperately trying to keep their balloon aloft until they are able to reach land. Verne quickly fills the reader in on the history of these men, who have escaped from Richmond in a hot-air balloon, only to have been swept away in a storm which has taken them into the South Pacific. There they are fortunate to get near to an Island which they name Lincoln Island. The first section is devoted to them building a home on the island; there are a few unusual events, but nothing which can not be explained away. The section ends with the first undeniable evidence that someone else either is, or recently was on the island with them; a lead bullet.

The second section is titled "The Abandoned One". In this section they do a more thorough search and survey of Lincoln Island, and they find it is a very diverse island, which can provide for most all their needs. While searching their island, a group of apes take over their residence. Under unusual circumstances they are able to regain their home, and with it they gain an Ape servant (Jup). They build a small ship to investigate a nearby island when they find a note in a bottle. There they find a man (Ayrton) who has been abandoned there and become more animal than man. As with the first section, there are many unusual events which lead them to suspect they are not alone on the island. This section ends with the sighting of a ship.

The third section is titled "The Secret of the Island". In this section they deal with the pirates who appear to have come to make the island their own personal base. At the end, they do find their mysterious benefactor who has helped them throughout their time on the island. With the volcano nearing an eruption which threatens to destroy the island, they rush to build a ship in a last ditch effort to save themselves. When time runs out, they find their benefactor has reached out to them one last time.

I recommend this book to those who are interested in early science fiction or in the works of Jules Verne. However, I do expect that other people are likely to find the pacing rather slow. It is over 600 pages long, and the mysterious part of the tale builds slowly. In today's fast-paced action world, it could easily be viewed as slow and/or lacking in action.