Alfred Jarry: Liquidizing Paris and Debunking Verne
213
the monkey Bosse-de-Nage’s practical vocabulary is limited and repetitive:
“Ha ha!” disait-il en français; et il n’ajoutait rien davantage. (I, p. 672)
“Ha ha!” dit-il compendieusement; et il ne se perdit point dans des considérations
plus amples. (I, p. 678)
“Ha ha!” dit-il, mais nous n’écoutâmes point la suite de son discours. (I, p. 684)
His earlier parallel in Verne is the Icelander Hans, “personnage grave,
flegmatique et silencieux”;
15 it is perhaps as well that he says very little, as it has been shown that what Verne presents as Icelandic or Danish vocabulary is in fact Swedish.
16
Whatever its enduring appeal as an adventure, in scientific
terms Le Voyage au centre de la Terre gives every appearance of being intended mainly for the young, to instil scientific knowledge and
in particular a sense for investigative deduction; its status as a children’s book has attracted serious academic discussion.
17 Thus however complicated the Lidenbrocks’ journey may appear to be, from
their descent in Iceland to their re-emergence among the lava of
Stromboli, at heart the novel has a straightforward linear plot where
every mystery has a solution; even the deciphering of the clues in
Arne Saknussemm’s runic manuscript is an essentially methodical
process in which one step follows logically upon another.
18 These directions allow Verne’s three explorers to enter the deepest bowels of
the Earth, even if they never actually reach the centre of the globe. But
in terms of scientific method, reason conquers all.
Jarry does not believe in inductive reasoning of this kind. The
doubt expressed in Les Jours et les nuits has become all but an explicit
refutation in Faustroll:
La science actuelle se fonde sur le principe de l’induction: la plupart des hommes
ont vu le plus souvent tel phénomène précéder ou suivre tel autre, et en concluent
___________________________
15 Jules Verne, Le Voyage au centre de la Terre (Paris: Livre de Poche, n.d.), p. 93.
16 Daniel Compère, Un Voyage imaginaire de Jules Verne: “Voyage au centre de la
Terre” (Paris: Minard, 1977), pp. 50-51.
17 Isabelle Jan, “Le Voyage au centre de la Terre est-il un livre pour enfants?”, in
Colloque d'Amiens [11-13 novembre 1977], Jules Verne, écrivain du XIX
e siècle, 2
vols (Paris: Minard, 1978), vol. 1, pp. 81-88.
18 Verne, Le Voyage au centre de la Terre, pp. 9-40.
213
the monkey Bosse-de-Nage’s practical vocabulary is limited and repetitive:
“Ha ha!” disait-il en français; et il n’ajoutait rien davantage. (I, p. 672)
“Ha ha!” dit-il compendieusement; et il ne se perdit point dans des considérations
plus amples. (I, p. 678)
“Ha ha!” dit-il, mais nous n’écoutâmes point la suite de son discours. (I, p. 684)
His earlier parallel in Verne is the Icelander Hans, “personnage grave,
flegmatique et silencieux”;
15 it is perhaps as well that he says very little, as it has been shown that what Verne presents as Icelandic or Danish vocabulary is in fact Swedish.
16
Whatever its enduring appeal as an adventure, in scientific
terms Le Voyage au centre de la Terre gives every appearance of being intended mainly for the young, to instil scientific knowledge and
in particular a sense for investigative deduction; its status as a children’s book has attracted serious academic discussion.
17 Thus however complicated the Lidenbrocks’ journey may appear to be, from
their descent in Iceland to their re-emergence among the lava of
Stromboli, at heart the novel has a straightforward linear plot where
every mystery has a solution; even the deciphering of the clues in
Arne Saknussemm’s runic manuscript is an essentially methodical
process in which one step follows logically upon another.
18 These directions allow Verne’s three explorers to enter the deepest bowels of
the Earth, even if they never actually reach the centre of the globe. But
in terms of scientific method, reason conquers all.
Jarry does not believe in inductive reasoning of this kind. The
doubt expressed in Les Jours et les nuits has become all but an explicit
refutation in Faustroll:
La science actuelle se fonde sur le principe de l’induction: la plupart des hommes
ont vu le plus souvent tel phénomène précéder ou suivre tel autre, et en concluent
___________________________
15 Jules Verne, Le Voyage au centre de la Terre (Paris: Livre de Poche, n.d.), p. 93.
16 Daniel Compère, Un Voyage imaginaire de Jules Verne: “Voyage au centre de la
Terre” (Paris: Minard, 1977), pp. 50-51.
17 Isabelle Jan, “Le Voyage au centre de la Terre est-il un livre pour enfants?”, in
Colloque d'Amiens [11-13 novembre 1977], Jules Verne, écrivain du XIX
e siècle, 2
vols (Paris: Minard, 1978), vol. 1, pp. 81-88.
18 Verne, Le Voyage au centre de la Terre, pp. 9-40.