Jules Verne’s Transylvania: Cartographic Omissions
179
land that, at the time, was a part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.
From a modern (or anachronistic) perspective we could see how, in
their enthusiasm, the Romanian readers embraced this omission from
a nationalist and patriotic point of view. To twentieth-century readers,
it may appear natural to talk about Romania in relation to Le Château
des Carpathes. But to Verne’s contemporaries, this should have been
seen at least as an anachronism, since Transylvania had become a part
of Romania only in 1918. Subsequently, its northern part was taken
back by Hungary in 1940, and was returned to Romania only after the
Second World War.
The national identities in Le Château des Carpathes are thus
perplexing: “While the local population speaks Romanian, as Verne
clearly indicates, most of the place names are Hungarian (Koloswar,
Maros, Thorda) and most of the characters’ names are German (Werst,
Frik, Koltz, Deck, Gortz, Franz).”
34 We may think that he is confused
about the Romanian names since in Le Beau Danube Jaune one of the
characters is called “le Hongrois Miclesco”: Miclesco is the French
spelling of a very common Romanian name. At the same time, how
confused or misinformed could Verne be since he is the author who
seemed to be informed about everything? Roxana Verona raises this
question: “Do such errors indicate a lax attitude toward the accuracy
of sources, as Hobana claims? Is this negligence toward local names
the sign of an ideological stance − an indifference toward the places of
reference − or is it simply that Verne sped through the process of writing without double-checking his facts?”
35
In 1895, one of Verne’s contemporaries, Charles Canivet,
commented on the writer’s excellent documentation and concern with
world politics: “Qu’un fait plus ou moins important se produise en un
point quelconque du globe, ou bien en quelque endroit isolé des plus
vastes mers, il n’est pas douteux que Jules Verne ait passé par là.”
36
As an author whose fiction rivals with geography or history books,
Verne may appear here almost like his own character, Paganel, who
inadvertently learned Portuguese instead of French: his documentation
seems accurate, yet his version of Transylvania, as a land inhabited
only by Romanians, diverges from historical fact. Not only do all the
___________________________
34 Verona, “Jules Verne in Transylvania”, p. 141.
35 Verona, “Jules Verne in Transylvania”, p. 146.
36 Jean-Michel Margot, Jules Verne en son temps vu par ses contemporains
francophones (1863-1905). Cahiers Jules Verne II (Amiens: Encrages, 2004), p. 194.
179
land that, at the time, was a part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.
From a modern (or anachronistic) perspective we could see how, in
their enthusiasm, the Romanian readers embraced this omission from
a nationalist and patriotic point of view. To twentieth-century readers,
it may appear natural to talk about Romania in relation to Le Château
des Carpathes. But to Verne’s contemporaries, this should have been
seen at least as an anachronism, since Transylvania had become a part
of Romania only in 1918. Subsequently, its northern part was taken
back by Hungary in 1940, and was returned to Romania only after the
Second World War.
The national identities in Le Château des Carpathes are thus
perplexing: “While the local population speaks Romanian, as Verne
clearly indicates, most of the place names are Hungarian (Koloswar,
Maros, Thorda) and most of the characters’ names are German (Werst,
Frik, Koltz, Deck, Gortz, Franz).”
34 We may think that he is confused
about the Romanian names since in Le Beau Danube Jaune one of the
characters is called “le Hongrois Miclesco”: Miclesco is the French
spelling of a very common Romanian name. At the same time, how
confused or misinformed could Verne be since he is the author who
seemed to be informed about everything? Roxana Verona raises this
question: “Do such errors indicate a lax attitude toward the accuracy
of sources, as Hobana claims? Is this negligence toward local names
the sign of an ideological stance − an indifference toward the places of
reference − or is it simply that Verne sped through the process of writing without double-checking his facts?”
35
In 1895, one of Verne’s contemporaries, Charles Canivet,
commented on the writer’s excellent documentation and concern with
world politics: “Qu’un fait plus ou moins important se produise en un
point quelconque du globe, ou bien en quelque endroit isolé des plus
vastes mers, il n’est pas douteux que Jules Verne ait passé par là.”
36
As an author whose fiction rivals with geography or history books,
Verne may appear here almost like his own character, Paganel, who
inadvertently learned Portuguese instead of French: his documentation
seems accurate, yet his version of Transylvania, as a land inhabited
only by Romanians, diverges from historical fact. Not only do all the
___________________________
34 Verona, “Jules Verne in Transylvania”, p. 141.
35 Verona, “Jules Verne in Transylvania”, p. 146.
36 Jean-Michel Margot, Jules Verne en son temps vu par ses contemporains
francophones (1863-1905). Cahiers Jules Verne II (Amiens: Encrages, 2004), p. 194.