THE PALIK SERIES (edited by Brian Taves)

Brian Taves talks about the series in this interview.

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The Marriage of a Marquis
(The Marriage of Mr. Anselme des Tilleuls and Jédédias Jamet, or The Tale of an Inheritance)
Contributors: Edward Baxter, Jean-Michel Margot, Walter James Miller, Kieran M. O’Driscoll, Brian Taves

Now available at
Amazon.com.
Volume 1 Cover
 
Jules Verne is the acclaimed author of such pioneering science fiction as 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea and Journey to the Center of the Earth. Yet he also wrote much more, including stories never before translated into English, which are presented for the first time in the Palik series, under the auspices of the North American Jules Verne Society. Foreshadowing such classics as Around the World in 80 Days, this inaugural volume focuses on two of Verne’s earliest humorous stories, The Marriage of Mr. Anselme des Tilleuls and Jédédias Jamet, or The Tale of an Inheritance. Translation is provided by Edward Baxter and Kieran O’Driscoll, two of the leading Verne experts; critical commentary examines both stories, and scholars explore why some of the author’s stories were overlooked for so many years.
“The story that gives this volume its title introduces English readers to a clever young writer’s portraits of two memorable twits living in France’s equivalent of ancient Abdera. Not the least of its attractions is Verne’s witty demonstration of the power of Latin over matters of the heart.”
—Martin M. Winkler, Professor of Classics, George Mason University
“I am a Jules Verne reader and collector. As such, I deeply appreciate the new editions of Verne being published by BearManor Fiction in its Palik Series. The most recent volume “The Marriage of a Marquis” features a wealth of extras, starting with essays by three of the leading Verne scholars of our time: Brian Taves, the late Walter James Miller, and Jean-Michel Margot, followed by commentary by translator Edward Baxter and an additional Verne fragment translated by Kieran M. O’Driscoll. The paperback’s gorgeous cover resembles one of the classic French Hetzel editions. Jules Verne was more than just a writer of boys’ adventures and his oeuvre extends way beyond the four or five classics that everyone knows about. He’s a writer well worth exploring and rediscovering.”
—Michael Dirda, The Washington Post
 
Shipwrecked Family: Marooned with Uncle Robinson
Translated by Sidney Kravitz

Now available at
Amazon.com.
Volume 2 Cover
 
Castaway by pirates on a deserted island ... without tools or supplies to survive ... a mother and her children have only a kindly old sailor to help. But what explains the strange flora and fauna they find? The second volume in the Palik series, presented by the North American Jules Verne Society, offers another story never before published in English. Shipwrecked Family was rejected by Verne’s publisher, so rather than finish it, he began to rewrite it with new characters—and that became the classic, The Mysterious Island, where Captain Nemo made his last appearance. Here, then, is Verne’s first draft of that novel, one which is very different from the book that it became. Expert translation is provided by Sidney Kravitz, also translator of the definitive modern edition of The Mysterious Island.
“Many thanks ... I was very pleased you included a dedication to me as well as a still from our film. It is fascinating to read how some of his books actually got started.”
—Ray Harryhausen, animator of the 1961 film “The Mysterious Island”
 
Mr. Chimp, and Other Plays
Translated by Frank Morlock; Introduction by Jean-Michel Margot

Now available at
Amazon.com.
Volume 3 Cover
 
Long before Jules Verne stories had formed the basis for such movies as Around the World in 80 Days, many of his plays were theatrical blockbusters on the 19th century stage. Expert scholarly research introduces four of Verne’s plays written in his youth, translated by Frank Morlock. Verne’s themes range from romantic comedies to a scientist’s discovery that there may not be such a difference between human and ape after all!
Praise for the North American Jules Verne Society’s publication of the Verne play, Journey through the Impossible:

“A work for Verne aficionados, theater buffs, or just those who enjoy a good story.... See another side of the ‘Father of Science Fiction.’”
—Washington Science Fiction Association
 
The Count of Chanteleine: A Tale of the French Revolution
Translated by Edward Baxter; Notes by Garmt de Vries-Uiterweerd, Volker Dehs

Now available at
Amazon.com.
Volume 4 Cover
 
This is a novel for everyone who has thrilled to the adventures of A Tale of Two Cities, The Scarlet Pimpernel, or Scaramouche. A nobleman, the Count of Chanteleine, leads a rebellion against the revolutionary French government. While he fights for the monarchy and the Catholic Church, his home is destroyed and his wife murdered by the mob. Chanteleine must struggle to save his daughter from the threat of the guillotine. This exciting swashbuckler is also a meticulous historical recreation of a particularly bloody episode in the Reign of Terror.

The Count of Chanteleine is the first English translation of this Jules Verne story, the fourth volume in the Palik series published under the auspices of the North American Jules Verne Society. Expert translation is by Edward Baxter, with critical commentary by an international team of Verne experts.

More volumes near completion ...
 
Around the World in 80 Days—The 1874 Play
by Jules Verne and Adolphe D’Ennery; Introduction by Philippe Burgaud; With Verne’s “The Meridians and the Calendar” translated by Jean-Louis Trudel
 
Verne’s most famous novel was originally conceived as a novel—and had its greatest 19th century success as a stage hit. Running for literally thousands of performances in many different countries, including the United States, here is the original playscript, translated directly from the French by the producers of the original Broadway presentation. Like filmmakers after him, Verne understood the need to adapt his novel for a new medium, and enhance the dramatic spectacle. In collaboration with Adolphe d’Ennery, Verne created a distinct variation on the novel, with many different characters and episodes. All of those who love the book will want to read Verne’s stage version. Included are an introduction by Verne scholar Philippe Burgaud and the first translation of Verne’s essay, “The Meridians and the Calendar,” explaining how Phileas Fogg accomplished his feat despite actually traveling 81 days.
 
Vice, Redemption and the Distant Colony
(Fact-Finding Mission, Pierre-Jean and The Fate of Jean Morénas)
Translated, with notes, by Kieran M. O’Driscoll
 
Literary fraud or filial devotion? This is the question at the heart of a firestorm that erupted two decades ago. Manuscripts and letters were discovered that proved that Jules Verne’s son, Michel, significantly revised over a dozen of the stories published under his father’s name, and even originated some of them himself. It was a collaboration that had begun while both were still alive, and continued as Michel saw to posthumous publication many of his father’s stories. In this volume can be found one story as it was written by Jules (as Pierre-Jean), revised by his son (into The Somber Fate of Jean Morénas)—and subsequently brought to the silent movie screen in yet another version by Michel. Also in these pages is the first English translation of a novel Jules began, Fact-Finding Mission, but which his son finished, and has hitherto only been available in the completed version by Michel. The English version and notes are by a leading authority on Verne translations, Kieran O’Driscoll.
 
 
Bandits & Rebels The Submarine Bandit
Translated by Edward Baxter; Introduction by Daniel Compère
 
The Nautilus, the submarine of the outlaw Captain Nemo in 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, was not to have been the first undersea craft imagined by the prophetic author! A dozen years before that classic, Jules Verne imagined a Spanish smuggler who evades authorities with a vehicle that can dive sixty feet beneath the surface of the waves.

Accompanying this story is an historical adventure in the Alexandre Dumas tradition, recounting a romance of love and betrayal as French forces retake Rome from the Italian revolutionaries of Garibaldi in 1849.

These two recently discovered Jules Verne stories are both published here in English for the first time, after acclaim from readers in France, Russia, Spain, Turkey, Hungary, the Czech Republic, and even China. Expert translation is provided by Edward Baxter, under the auspices of the North American Jules Verne Society.
 
A Priest in 1839
Translated, with notes, by Daniele Chatelain and George Slusser
 
 
 
 
The Beautiful Yellow Danube
Translated, with notes, by Kieran M. O’Driscoll
 
 
 
 
The Fantasy World of Jules Verne—An Anthology
 
 
 
 
(Other volumes in preparation)
 
 
 
 

North American Jules Verne Society, Inc. - established 1993
© 2012 North American Jules Verne Society, Inc. — a 501(c)(3) Corporation

Jules Verne

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