Saturday, July 2, 2016

2016 read #55: Master of the World by Jules Verne.

Master of the World by Jules Verne
Translator unknown
111 pages
Published 1904
Read from July 1 to July 2
Rating: ½ out of 5

Progress: While Master of the World is utter garbage, it is at least not vile, hateful, despicable, racist garbage, so we're already a step above its predecessor, Robur the Conqueror. Master also breaks with the established Vernean formula, at least in the early chapters; the conceit of a federal police inspector arriving in the mountains of North Carolina to investigate potential volcanic activity is laughably naive (the USGS had been in existence for 25 years by the time this book was published), but the scenario seems practically Wellsian in comparison to the brain/brawn/manservant triad populating most of the Verne narratives I've read to date. These early chapters provide most of Master's meager entertainment value, reminding me of serial cinematic shorts like Radar Men from the Moon. I find the notion of the entire Eastern Seaboard being menaced by a fantastic future-car -- capable of driving in excess of 120 mph! -- adorably quaint. Verne's Master seems poised to take over the entire world with no more than the transportation technology freely available to any dickhead in the Hamptons today.

The narrative falls apart once our intrepid police inspector gets inadvertently Shanghaied by Robur's car-boat-sub-plane. Robur's character never develops beyond a single dimension, and gets foiled by his own hubris when he attempts to reenact a much more compelling scene from 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. The ending can only be conveyed via sound cue.

No comments:

Post a Comment