Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea
by Jules Verne
'Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea' Summary
The expedition leaves Brooklyn aboard the United States Navy frigate Abraham Lincoln, then travels south around Cape Horn into the Pacific Ocean. After a five-month search ending off Japan, the frigate locates and attacks the monster, which damages the ship's rudder. Aronnax and Land are hurled into the sea, and Conseil jumps into the water after them. They survive by climbing onto the "monster," which, they are startled to find, is a futuristic submarine. They wait on the deck of the vessel until morning, when they are captured, hauled inside, and introduced to the submarine's mysterious constructor and commander, Captain Nemo.
The rest of the novel describes the protagonists' adventures aboard the Nautilus, which was built in secrecy and now roams the seas beyond the reach of land-based governments. In self-imposed exile, Captain Nemo seems to have a dual motivation — a quest for scientific knowledge and a desire to escape terrestrial civilization. Nemo explains that his submarine is electrically powered and can conduct advanced marine research; he also tells his new passengers that his secret existence means he cannot let them leave — they must remain on board permanently. Professor Aronnax and Conseil are enthralled by the prospect of undersea exploration, but Ned Land increasingly hungers to escape.
Book Details
Language
EnglishOriginal Language
FrenchPublished In
1870Genre/Category
Tags/Keywords
Author
Jules Verne
France
Verne is considered to be an important author in France and most of Europe, where he has had a wide influence on the literary avant-garde and on surrealism. His reputation was markedly different in an...
More on Jules VerneDownload eBooks
Listen/Download Audiobook
Related books
Danger! and Other Stories by Arthur Conan Doyle
The story describes Britain's need to update its naval preparations. Norland, a fictional small country in Europe has been fighting England and is now...
Almayer's Folly by Joseph Conrad
Almayer's Folly is Joseph Conrad's first novel, published in 1895 by T. Fisher Unwin. Set in the late 19th century, it centres on the life of the Dutc...
The Magnificent Adventure by Emerson Hough
"The Magnificent Adventure" in 1916 was set at the time of the Louisiana Purchase and the Lewis and Clark Expedition. This fictional story is brimming...
Into the Frozen South by James W. S. Marr
James Marr was a Boy Scout selected to go along with Sir Ernest Shackleton aboard the Quest in 1921 for the Shackleton–Rowett Expedition to Antarctica...
From the Earth to the Moon by Jules Verne
One of the earliest examples of literature written in the science fiction genre, From the Earth to the Moon is a part of the Voyages Extraordinaires s...
The Gods of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs
Burroughs’ second book in the classic Barsoom series, The Gods of Mars is a scientific fiction novel following the adventures of John Carter as he ret...
The People that Time Forgot by Edgar Rice Burroughs
The People That Time Forgot is a fantasy novel by American writer Edgar Rice Burroughs, the second of his Caspak trilogy. The sequence was first publi...
Zwanzigtausend Meilen unter'm Meer by Jules Verne
20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, French original title Vingt mille lieues sous les mers , is a 1869-1870 novel by the French writer Jules Verne with the...
Facing the Flag by Jules Verne
Thomas Roch, a brilliant French inventor, has designed the Fulgurator, a weapon so powerful that "the state which acquired it would become absolute ma...
Off on a Comet by Jules Verne
The story starts with a comet called Gallia, that touches the Earth in its flight and collects a few small chunks of it. The disaster occurs on Januar...
Reviews for Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea
No reviews posted or approved, yet...