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Five Weeks in a Balloon
publication of this book is funded by the
BEATRICE FOX AUERBACH FOUNDATION FUND
at the Hartford Foundation for Public Giving
Five Weeks in a Balloon
A Journey of Discovery by Three Englishmen in Africa
JULES VERNE
Translated with introduction and notes by FREDERICK PAUL WALTER
Edited by ARTHUR B. EVANS
WESLEYAN UNIVERSITY PRESS Middletown, Connecticut
Wesleyan University Press
Middletown, CT 06459
Translation and annotations © 2015 Frederick Paul Walter
Bibliography and biography © 2015 Arthur B. Evans
All rights reserved
Manufactured in the United States of America
Designed by Richard Hendel
Typeset in Miller, Didot, and Clarendon by Tseng Information Systems, Inc.
publication of this book is funded by the Beatrice Fox Auerbach Foundation Fund at the Hartford Foundation for Public Giving
Wesleyan University Press is a member of the Green Press Initiative. The paper used in this book meets their minimum requirement for recycled paper.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Verne, Jules, 1828–1905.
[Cinq semaines en ballon. English]
Five weeks in a balloon: a journey of discovery by three Englishmen in Africa / Jules Verne; translated with introduction and notes by Frederick Paul Walter; edited by Arthur B. Evans.
pages cm — (Early classics of science fiction)
Includes bibliographical references.
ISBN 978-0-8195-7547-0 (cloth : alk. paper) —
ISBN 978-0-8195-7548-7 (ebook)
I. Walter, Frederick Paul, translator. II. Title.
PQ2469.C5E55 2015
843′.8—dc23 2014045129
5 4 3 2 1
Cover illustration by Édouard Riou (1833–1900).
Gratefully dedicated to the staff, volunteers, and aeronauts at the ANDERSON-ABRUZZO INTERNATIONAL BALLOON MUSEUM in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
Contents
Introduction: Verne Takes Off, xi
Jules Gabriel Verne: A Biography, 349
Introduction
Verne Takes Off
It’s a balloonist’s nightmare—a nutcase on board …
“The higher we go, the more glorious our death will be!”
All of her ballast tossed out, the balloon carried us to unreachable heights! The vehicle trembled in the air; the tiniest noises became explosions under the arching skies; our planet was the only object that caught my eye in that vastness, and it seemed ready for annihilation, while high above us the sky vanished into deep shadows!
I watched the fellow stand up in front of me.
“The time has come!” he told me. “We must die! All men reject us! They hold us in contempt! Let’s crush them!”
“No more!” I said.
“Let’s cut the ropes! This gondola will run loose in space! The force of gravity will change direction, and we’ll head for the sun!”
My despair galvanized me! I pounced on the maniac, and we grappled hand to hand, struggling fearfully! But he knocked me down, pinned me with his knee, and cut the ropes holding the gondola….1
Verne was in his early twenties when he published the French originals of these lines. They come from a short story entitled “A Journey by Balloon” and they initially appeared in the August 1851 issue of the magazine Musée des familles (Family Gallery). It was only his second story to reach print; the first saw daylight the month before, same periodical, different genre—a Mexican adventure yarn.
Even so, “A Journey by Balloon” is an unsettling performance, among the darkest, fiercest things Verne ever penned. For one thing, it showcases two primordial fears—fear of heights and fear of falling. For another, it marks the debut of a crucial Vernian character—the renegade scientist. The plot is simple but riveting. The narrator, a French balloonist, stages a solo flight in a hydrogen balloon, only to have another Frenchman vault on board right at liftoff. The narrative instantly turns nasty. As the balloon rises into the air, the intruder assaults the balloonist, keeps throwing ballast overboard, and sends the vehicle over three miles up. The nameless skyjacker is dark, menacing, suicidal, apparently psychotic, thoroughly scary. The mix of high-impact fiction and news-making nonfiction seems immediately typical of this author.2
Balloon
