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Zusatztext “The reason Verne is still read by millions today is simply that he was one of the best storytellers who ever lived.”—Arthur C. Clarke Informationen zum Autor Jules Gabriel Verne was a French novelist, poet, and playwright, best known for his pioneering work in science fiction and adventure. Born on February 8, 1828, in Nantes, France, he grew up to become one of the most influential writers of the 19th century. Verne's collaboration with the publisher Pierre-Jules Hetzel resulted in the famous "Voyages extraordinaires," a series of adventurous tales that captured the imagination of readers worldwide. His works, which include classics like "Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea" and "Around the World in Eighty Days," are notable for their remarkable foresight into future technological advancements, blending adventure with scientific speculation. Verne was deeply influenced by writers such as Victor Hugo, Alexandre Dumas, and Edgar Allan Poe, whose works helped shape his storytelling style. In 1857, he married Honorine Anne Hébée Morel, with whom he had one son, Michel Verne. Verne's ability to weave engaging narratives with groundbreaking scientific ideas made him a major figure in literature. He passed away on March 24, 1905, leaving a lasting legacy in both adventure and science fiction genres. Klappentext The intrepid Professor Lindenbrock embarks upon the strangest expedition of the nineteenth century: a journey down an extinct Icelandic volcano to the Earth's very core. In his quest to penetrate the planet's primordial secrets, the geologist—together with his quaking nephew Axel and their devoted guide, Hans—discovers an astonishing subterranean menagerie of prehistoric proportions. Verne's imaginative tale is at once the ultimate science fiction adventure and a reflection on the perfectibility of human understanding and the psychology of the questor. As David Brin notes in his Introduction, though Verne never knew the term "science fiction,” Journey to the Centre of the Earth is "inarguably one of the wellsprings from which it all began.” I It was on Sunday, the 24th of May, 1863, that my uncle, Professor Lidenbrock, came rushing suddenly back to his little house in the old part of Hamburg, No. 19, Königstrasse. Our good Martha could not but think she was very much behindhand with the dinner, for the pot was scarcely beginning to simmer, and I said to myself: “Now, then, we’ll have a fine outcry if my uncle is hungry, for he is the most impatient of mortals.” “Mr. Lidenbrock, already!” cried the poor woman, in dismay, half opening the dining-room door. “Yes, Martha; but of course dinner can’t be ready yet, for it is not two o’clock. It has only just struck the half-hour by St. Michael’s.” “What brings Mr. Lidenbrock home, then?” “He’ll probably tell us that himself.” “Here he comes. I’ll be off, Mr. Axel; you must make him listen to reason.” And forthwith she effected a safe retreat to her culinary laboratory. I was left alone, but not feeling equal to the task of making the most irascible of professors listen to reason, was about to escape to my own little room upstairs, when the street-door creaked on its hinges, and the wooden stairs cracked beneath a hurried tread, and the master of the house came in and bolted across the dining-room, straight into his study. But, rapid as his flight was, he managed to fling his nutcracker-headed stick into a corner, and his wide-brimmed rough hat on the table, and to shout out to his nephew: “Axel, follow me.” Before I had time to stir he called out again, in the most impatient tone imaginable: “What! Not here yet?” In an instant I was on my feet and in the study of my dreadful master. Otto Lidenbrock was not a bad man. I grant that, willingly. But, unless he mightily changes, he will live and die a terrible origi- n...
