Around the World in 80 Days / Five Weeks in a Balloon

Resumen del libro

With an Introduction and Notes by Professor Roger Cardinal. University of Kent at Canterbury. Translations are by Paul Desages (Around the World in Eighty Days) and Arthur Chambers (Five Weeks in a Balloon).

JULES VERNE (1828-1905) POSSESSED that rare storyteller's gift of being able to present the far-fetched and the downright unbelievable in such a way as effortlessly to inspire his reader's allegiance and trust. This volume contains two of his best-loved yarns, chosen from among the sixty-four titles of Les Voyages Extraordinaires, Verne's pioneering contribution to the canon of modern science fiction. Around the World in Eighty Days (1873) relates the hair-raising journey made as a wager by the Victorian gentleman Phileas Fogg, who succeeds - but only just! - in circling the globe within eighty days.

The dour Fogg's obsession with his timetable is complemented by the dynamism and versatility of his French manservant, Passepartout, whose talent for getting into scrapes brings colour and suspense to the race against time. Five Weeks in a Balloon (1863) was Verne's first novel. It documents an apocryphal jaunt across the continent of Africa in a hydrogen balloon designed by the omniscient, imperturbable and ever capable Dr Fergusson, the prototype of the Vernian adventurer.

Biografía del autor

Jules Verne (1828-1905) es uno de los grandes nombres de la literatura universal y una figura clave en el nacimiento de la ciencia ficción. Escribió más de sesenta novelas que combinan aventura, precisión científica y un inconfundible espíritu explorador. Obras como Veinte mil leguas de viaje submarino , Viaje al centro de la Tierra o La vuelta al mundo en ochenta días han inspirado a generaciones de lectores y creadores, y siguen siendo puerta de entrada al asombro y la imaginación. Su legado permanece vivo en cada historia que se atreve a pensar más allá de lo posible.