Paris in the Twentieth Century - Hardcover

Jules Verne

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0679444343 ISBN 13: 9780679444343

Publisher: Random House, 1996

Synopsis

This newly rediscovered novel, written by Jules Verne in 1863, is set in Paris in 1960. Money and technology have taken over society and the narrator, a young poet, is forced to work in a bank. Verne's vision of our mechanized time is prescient: there are fax machines, automobiles, computers, subways, and electronic musical instruments. Illustrations.

About this title

From the Publisher:

Like I can turn down a novel by Jules Verne.

What can you say about the man who wrote 20,000 LEAGUES UNDER THE SEA, MYSTERIOUS ISLAND, JOURNEY TO THE CENTER OF THE EARTH? It's thanks to Verne that the genre of science fiction even exists! His works led to those of Arthur C. Clarke, Larry Niven, Michael Crichton--an entire century worth of masters of adventure. His genius led generations of talented people to write, compose music, make movies, and most important of all, read.

Not that we were likely to be publishing his next novel.

But lo! and behold, there was a next novel. And it was science fiction! Woo-hoo!

In PARIS IN THE 20TH CENTURY, Verne hypothesized some pretty bizarre stuff: automobiles, fax machines, elevators, even mega-corporations. Too weird to publish, so he was rejected--just waiting for Lester and Judy Lynn Del Rey to get their imprint off the ground. And I was lucky enough to be around when the time was right.
                        --Steve Saffel, Senior Editor        

From the Back Cover:

"Jules Verne was the Michael Crichton of the 19th century."
--The New York Times

"For anyone interested in the history of speculative fiction . . . this book is an absolute necessity."
--Ray Bradbury

"Verne's Paris is a bustling, overcrowded metropolis teeming with starving homeless and 'vehicles that passed on paved roads and moved without horses.' Years before they would be invented, Verne has imagined elevators and fax machines. It was a vision Verne's editor flatly rejected. Contemporary readers know better."
--People

About this edition

• Publisher: Random House
• Publication date: 1996
• ISBN 10: 0679444343
• ISBN 13: 9780679444343
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 222
• Illustrator: Anders Wenngren