Novel
Around the World in Eighty Days
Le Tour du monde en quatre-vingts jours
Jules Verne · 1873
Opening lines
En l'année 1872, la maison portant le numéro 7 de Saville-row, Burlington Gardens—maison dans laquelle Sheridan mourut en 1814—, était habitée par Phileas Fogg, esq., l'un des membres les plus singuliers et les plus remarqués du Reform-Club de Londres, bien qu'il semblât prendre à tâche de ne rien faire qui pût attirer l'attention.
In the year 1872, the house at No. 7 Savile Row, Burlington Gardens, the house in which Sheridan died in 1814, was occupied by Phileas Fogg, Esq., one of the most singular and conspicuous members of the Reform Club in London, though he seemed to make it his business to do nothing that might attract attention.
Translation by Erostrate
Text quoted from gutenberg.org
Synopsis
At the Reform Club in London, the gentleman Phileas Fogg asserts that it is now possible to travel round the world in eighty days, and bets that he will do it himself. He sets off with his French servant, Passepartout. Inspector Fix, who suspects him of being the author of a bank robbery, dogs his steps to have him arrested, while the two travellers go from steamers to trains and even an elephant, from India to Japan.
Context
The novel first appeared as a serial in Le Temps, from 6 November to 22 December 1872, then in a single volume from Hetzel on 30 January 1873, in the Voyages extraordinaires series. Phileas Fogg's wager serves as the thread of a race in which what matters above all is the modern means of transport of its day, steamships and railways. The book has had many adaptations, for the stage and then for the cinema.
Who it is for
A short, fast-moving novel, without scholarly apparatus, readable without preparation; the calendar of the wager can be followed day by day.
Prizes and reception
One of the most famous works by its author; Michael Glencross translated it for Penguin and William Butcher for Oxford.
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