Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea | Part 1

Welcome to our new slow read, Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea, by Jules Verne! In this episode, Shari and Rhea introduce Jules Verne to one another and fellow readers. They talk about their mutual surprise and enjoyment of the story as much as they do, and about the fun of Verne’s wit and gentle jabs at all the countries and their cultures. They discuss Verne’s influences and how they see these at work within the text. They talk about his choice of the first person narrator, and how it this “historical” diary/journal style of telling lends itself to giving a “conferred authority” to the tall tale he’s telling. They wondered what the central conflict will ultimately be (man v. man? man v. God? man v. nature?…. ) They discussed other stories they’ve read (or watched) that Twenty Thousand Leagues seems to be in conversation with—however distantly (Rhea’s looking at you, Princess Bride movie!). They scratched their heads over what “Mobilis N Mobili” might come to mean—for the characters AND for us as readers. And they talk about Twenty Thousand Leagues as a genre-bending tale: the “scientific romance.” (Verne’s label, not ours.)

Just a reminder, we begin our new subscription options with Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea for access to episode outlines—which act as extensive discussion guides and even unit study builders for those wishing to read in a group, teaching, or self-study setting. You can read about our subscription options at the beginning of this post:

Here is Rhea’s Reading Guide to Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea:

Here is the reading schedule for Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea:

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