作者: 儒勒·凡尔纳 Jules Verne
《八十天环游地球》是凡尔纳一部引入入胜的小说，笔调生动活泼，富有幽默感。小说叙述了英国人福格先生因和朋友打赌，而在八十天克服重重困难完成环游地球一周的壮举。书中不仅详细描写了福格先生一行在途中的种种离奇经历和他们所遇到的千难万险，而且还在情节的展开中使人物的性格逐渐立体化。沉默寡言、机智、勇敢、充满人道精神的福格，活泼好动易冲动的仆人等等。作品发表后，引起了轰动，多次再版。
《八十天环游地球》-作品内容
在还没有飞机的19世纪70年代，当人们还以马车、雪橇、轮船、火车……作为代步工具的时候，要想在短短的八十天之内环球一周，怎能不让人惊叹和佩服。完成此举的这个人，就是费雷亚斯•福格。
这件事就发生在1872年的伦敦。由于英国国家银行的一次失窃，福格和改良俱乐部的会友以两万英镑作为赌注，打赌可以在八十天里环游地球一周。为了证实这一推算的准确性，福格带着刚刚雇用的，绰号叫万事通的仆人立刻启程从伦敦出发，开始了这次不可思议的环球旅行。福格设想的旅行路线是这样的：乘火车先到苏伊士运河，在这里乘船到印度，然后坐火车横穿印度，来到中国的香港，再乘船到日本，接着到美国，坐火车穿过美国后，最后再回到伦敦。在此期间，他必须分秒不差地从一个地方赶到另一个地方，只有始终准确无误才能保证按时回来。
这位性格冷僻、精确准时的绅士在旅途中遇到的事情：遭人跟踪、置身荒村无路可走、舍身救人、与恶僧对簿公堂、遭暗算误了轮船、遇风浪海上搏击、与仆人失散、勇斗劫匪、救仆人身赴险境、燃料告急海上经受考验、疑为窃贼海关被囚……几乎所有的意外和困难都被福格不幸遇到了，就算他临危不惧，冷静守时，他也无法预料旅途上所发生的所有的事情。更何况，还有一位名叫菲克斯的侦探始终跟在他身边不停地设置障碍，虎视眈眈一心想把他捉拿归案，其原因是他与警方描述的疑犯的外貌特征惊人地相似。然而，所有的困难都没有难倒福格，他总能在危难关头找到问题的解决办法，一次次神奇地化险为夷、摆脱困境：买大象穿越密林赶火车、英雄救美赢得美人心、花重金取保候审摆脱官司、高价雇航船渡海赴日本。机缘巧合与仆人重聚、英勇御敌战劫匪、坐雪橇穿越冰原、烧轮船解燃眉之急、消除误会重获自由……这是一位怎样的绅士呀！他的镇定自若、慷慨大方、勇敢机智和善良细心给每一个人都留下了深刻的印象；正是他身上的这些异乎寻常的优秀品质使他每次均能逢凶化吉、转危为安，最后胜利完成旅行；那个侦探则是一个意外卷入这次旅行中的特殊人物，他固执多疑、急功近利、精于算计，但却忠于职守，出于职责和贪心，他一路跟踪福格，被迫也进行了一次环球旅行。他想方设法处处给福格制造麻烦，阻止他顺利完成计划，但他的计谋却一次次落空；而那个叫万事通的法国小伙子则为这次旅行增添了不少笑料；他诚实勇敢、身怀绝技、正直善良，但却容易上当受骗，他既为主人化解了不少危机也为主人制造了不少麻烦，他的加入使这次旅行变得趣味横生；还有一位人物虽然话语不多，但却有着举足轻重的地位，她就是福格舍身搭救的阿妩达夫人，也是后来的福格夫人。她光彩照人、温柔高雅、善解人意，一直在福格身边从精神上支持他、鼓励他坚持到胜利。有了她的陪伴，这次环球之旅也变得浪漫多情和温情脉脉了。故事的结局当然是如人所愿：福格赢得了这次打赌，并且找到了他一生的伴侣。
《八十天环游地球》-作者简介
《八十天环游地球》儒勒•凡尔纳
儒勒•凡尔纳（Verne•Jules1828-1905），法国最著名的科幻小说作家。出生于海港城市，自幼迷上航海，曾离家出走当水手，又被父亲找回，送到巴黎学习法律。他毕业后不愿做法官，却去剧院做了秘书，开始撰写剧本。凡尔纳热衷于各种科学新发现，也创作科幻小说打下扎实基础。1863年，出版《气球上的五个星期》，获得成功。此后40余年间笔耕不缀，几乎每年都有一两部新作问世，题材广泛。他的科学幻想小说的总名是《在已知和未知的世界中奇异的漫游》，简称《奇异的漫游》。
主要作品：《八十天环游地球》、《底两万里》、《格兰特船长的儿女》、《环绕月球》、《神秘岛》、《世界主宰者》、《米歇尔•斯特罗哥夫》、《气球上的五星期》、《空中历险记》、《墨西哥的“幽灵”》、《佐奇瑞大师》、《牛博士》、《一个在冰雪中度过的冬天》、《征服者罗比尔》、《两年假期》、《从地球到月球》、《八十天环绕地球》、《奥兰情游》、《升D先生和降E小姐》、《隐身新娘》、《昂梯菲尔奇遇记》、《大海入侵》、《烽火岛》、《太阳系历险记》、《巴尔萨克考察队的惊险遭遇》、《哈特拉斯船长历险记》、《大木筏》、《喀尔巴阡古堡》、《金火山》、《鲁滨逊叔叔》、《多瑙河领航员》、《鲁滨逊学校》、《马丁•帕兹》《旅行基金》、《漂逝的半岛》、《桑道夫伯爵》、《黑印度》、《南非洲历险记》、《突破封锁》、《沙皇的邮件》、《印度贵妇的五亿法郎》、《小把戏》。
《八十天环游地球》-作品主题
《八十天环游地球》的叙事技巧并不复杂，福格的这次旅行其实是和侦探菲克斯的被动旅行同时平行展开的两条叙事线，这两条线既平行发展又交错交汇，交叉点就是故事的冲突点，也是故事的出彩之处。而万事通和阿妩达都是福格旅行这条线上的两个小分支，他们的故事为全文增色不少。每一次冲突都为故事掀起了一个小高潮，福格的每次遇险也都让人紧张万分，尤其是小说的最后一部分：就在福格眼看胜利在望的时候，他偏偏被关在海关，当他被放出来之后，耽误的时间已经太多，没有可能准时赶回伦敦了。读者都以为福格已经输掉这次打赌了，可谁都没有料到，万事通发现他的主人居然算错了日期，于是福格又出人意料地赢得了打赌。全文就是这样在一次又一次的意外中让读者体会到了惊险和刺激的。
《八十天环游地球》-内容分析
《八十天环游地球》是儒勒.凡尔纳一步引人入胜的小说。里边讲了一个英国人福克先生因和朋友打赌，在八十天内克服重重困难完成环游地球一周的壮举。书中不仅讲了他们所遇到的千难万险，而且在情节中体现出每个人的个性。沉着、机智、勇敢、冷静的福克和他活泼、好动、易冲动的仆人等等都给人留下了深刻的印象。
福克先生到哪都是沉默不语的冷静态度，即使是错过了搭往美国的邮船浪费了他一天多的时间，还是在火车的铁轨上遇见了千百万匹牛群从轨道上穿过而耽误了3个多小时，他总是面无表情，就像他已经知道他自己一定会赢的一样。不过如果输了这个打赌就得赔掉两千万英镑——他所有的财产。一开始就讲福克先生是非常有生活规律的人，就像是个机器人，定了时间似的，总是一分不多一秒不差的做完他计划之内的事。当然这八十天环游地球也是他规定好的，前几天，他的行程的确跟本子上的计划一模一样，到达一个地点，他就拿出小本子，在上面写着，某月某日，到底哪里。
可是世上没有不起浪的海，在一路上的天气变化，倒霉冲动但又绝对忠实的仆人路路通所造的麻烦和某些人为的成心破坏，使他们的路程总是没有他们所预计的完美。可不管多么糟糕的情况下，福克先生总是能冲出重围，总能有解决的办法。当然他都是靠他挥洒留下的大把大把的英镑。有他那么用巨大资金连眼皮都不眨一下的人，现实生活中应该是不会有的。
最叫我惊心动魄的还是马上要回到纽约完成他八十天的环球任务去领大把大把钞票的时候，眼看就要到达纽约了，居然被一直跟在他们身边的探警费克斯当作银行抢劫犯抓了起来。时间一分一秒的流逝，眼看胜利就在眼前，却一下子成了泡影，福克先生脸上仍是没有一点表情。他心里真的一点不急吗？谁也不知道。
当费克斯弄清了真相，连蹦带跳的跑进监狱放了福克时，福克只是两手一挥当作伸懒腰打了费克斯两拳，就急忙赶去纽约。可是，当他们到达楼钟下的时候，时针却指着8点50分，他们只晚了5分钟!
福克知道自己已经一无所有了，但还有一件值得庆幸的事就是在他们旅途上救了一位艾娥达夫人，现在她就要成为他的妻子了。当路路通到教堂通知神甫的时候，却发现了一个惊人的消息，今天不是2月21号，是2月20号！他们整整早到了一天！可是福克到达伦敦的时候是2月20号，怎么会记错呢？
原来是他们在这次旅途中不知不觉占了二十四小时的便宜。由于他这次旅行往东走，每当他们走过一条经线他们就会提前4分钟看到日出，整个地球一共分作三百六十度，用四分钟乘三百六十，结果正好是二十四小时。此时此刻，还不到5分钟，跟他打赌的会友正在俱乐部等他。
俱乐部里的成员，包括所有到来的人们和记者摄影师都来到了现场。倒数一分钟里，第四十秒平安的过去了，到了第五十秒是平安无事！到了第五十五秒的时候，听到外面人声雷动，掌声，欢呼声，还夹杂着咒骂声，五位绅士都站了起来！到了第五十七秒，这千钧一发的时候，大厅的门被打开了，钟摆还没有来得及响第六十下，一群狂热的群众簇拥着福克冲进了大门。只见他沉静地说：“先生们，我回来了。
《八十天环游地球》-作品评价
凡尔纳的《八十天环游地球》故事生动幽默，妙语横生，又能激发人们尤其是青少年热爱科学、向往探险的热情，所以一百多年来，一直受到世界各地读者的欢迎。据联合国教科文组织的资料表明，凡尔纳是世界上被翻译的作品最多的十大名家之一。
凡尔纳是一个非常优秀的通俗小说作家，有一种能够把自己的幻觉变得能够触摸的本领，其感觉是全方位的，从平淡的文学中传达出某种人类的热情。但凡尔纳的《八十天环游地球》中人物除了少数几个外都是一模一样的，他似乎塑造不出更重要的人物，人物都是脸谱化的简单的好人坏人，没有什么心理活动；从其作品人物性别单一化上还可看出他对女人的偏见，隐隐流露出深受其苦的心态。此外凡尔纳的作品中充满了明显的社会倾向，是一个爱国者（法国人最好）、民族解放主义者（支持被压迫民族斗争），在某种程度上是一个无政府主义者（从某些作品中表现出无秩序者），最后还是一个银河帝国主义者（有缔造宇宙帝国的欲望）。
《八十天环游地球》里充满了知识，但他本人却是一名宇宙神秘主义者，对世界有一种神秘的崇拜。在他的小说中，有时候思考问题不够深刻，主题也常常重复。
但总的来说，凡尔纳的尝试仍然是伟大的。正如1884年教皇在接见凡尔纳时曾说：“我并不是不知道您的作品的科学价值，但我最珍重的却是它们的纯洁、道德价值和精神力量。”
结尾有点走到尽头苦尽甘来的感觉，福格先生花了毕生的钱打了一个赌，这个赌令他找到了他生命的另一半，而由于一个糊涂探长的糊涂行动使他失去了那些钱，在这样的情况下他还能乐观地面对生活，结局出乎意料他以时差赢得了那些奖金。这个结尾就足见凡尔纳的写作功力。
《八十天环游地球》-BBC版本
《BBC八十天环游地球 》
海报海报
【译名】BBC Around The World In 80 Days
【集数】7CD
【年代】2005年
【国家】英国
【片长】7小时
【类别】纪录片
【语言】英语
【格式】XVID5 AC3
【字幕】 （请点）英文字幕（请点）中文字幕
【简介】： BBC王牌主持人，英国名喜剧演员Micheal Palin带您展开了另一次绚丽的80天旅途，一起周游世界。 与世界名著“环游世界八十天”相同旅程！环游世界旅行者必备的经典参考指南！你曾梦想环游世界吗？八十天内绕完地球一周，会是怎么样的奇幻刺激冒险？麦克尔·帕林自告奋勇要完成这一部纪录片（这辈子在这之前只有一次经验），跟时间赛跑，在全无剧本的情况下，踏上这段路程，所有的变化，毫无预警。这是前所未有的尝试』 ---麦可帕林威尼斯的垃圾船、在埃及被撞坏的计程车、横渡波斯湾的简陋小船、中国的蒸汽船、越过换日线的货柜船…… 麦克尔·帕林环绕世界一週的壮举，除了坐不完的船、上吐下泄，饥不择食的鸚鵡之外，更有著目不暇给的惊喜!!
分集目录
第1集 艰鉅挑战
按照作著朱勒凡尔纳的路径，从伦敦由海路及陆路展开…
第 2集 阿拉伯恐慌
从苏伊士港到沙乌地港，这一切都得看阿拉的旨意了…
第3集 古代水手
古加拉特水手带领航行到印度孟买，但引擎却突然故障..
第4集 惊险刮鬍
在印度第一大城孟买当街刮鬍后，转辗前往马德拉斯…
第5集 东方快车
从新加坡港出发到香港之前在南中国海遇到三个颱风…
第6集 深入远东
航行到上海、横滨，在东京稍为休息后面对广大的太平洋..
第 7集 从换日线到最后期限
时间渐逼但他们得通过美国和太西洋回到起点…
Around the World in Eighty Days (French: Le tour du monde en quatre-vingts jours) is a classic adventure novel by the French writer Jules Verne, first published in 1873. In the story, Phileas Fogg of London and his newly employed French valet Passepartout attempt to circumnavigate the world in 80 days on a £20,000 wager set by his friends at the Reform Club.
Plot summary
The story starts in London on October 2, 1872. Phileas Fogg is a wealthy English gentleman who lives unmarried in solitude at Number 7 Savile Row, Burlington Gardens. Despite his wealth, which is £40,000, Mr. Fogg, whose countenance is described as "repose in action", lives a modest life with habits carried out with mathematical precision. As is noted in the first chapter, very little can be said about Mr. Fogg's social life other than that he is a member of the Reform Club. Having dismissed his former valet, James Foster, for bringing him shaving water at 84° Fahrenheit instead of 86°, Mr. Fogg hires the Frenchman Passepartout, who is about 30 years old, as a replacement.
Later, on that day, in the Reform Club, Fogg gets involved in an argument over an article in The Daily Telegraph, stating that with the opening of a new railway section in India, it is now possible to travel around the world in 80 days. He accepts a wager for £20,000 from his fellow club members, which he will receive if he makes it around the world in 80 days. Accompanied by Passepartout, he leaves London by train at 8:45 P.M. on October 2, 1872, and thus is due back at the Reform Club at the same time 80 days later, on December 21.
Map of the trip
The proposed schedule London to Suez rail and steamer 7 days
Suez to Bombay steamer 13 days
Bombay to Calcutta rail 3 days
Calcutta to Hong Kong steamer 13 days
Hong Kong to Yokohama steamer 6 days
Yokohama to San Francisco steamer 22 days
San Francisco to New York City rail 7 days
New York to London steamer and rail 9 days
Total 80 days
Fogg and Passepartout reach Suez in time. While disembarking in Egypt, they are watched by a Scotland Yard detective named Fix, who has been dispatched from London in search of a bank robber. Because Fogg matches the description of the bank robber, Fix mistakes Fogg for the criminal. Since he cannot secure a warrant in time, Fix goes on board the steamer conveying the travellers to Bombay. During the voyage, Fix becomes acquainted with Passepartout, without revealing his purpose. On the voyage, Fogg promises the engineer a large reward if he gets them to Bombay early. They dock two days ahead of schedule.
After reaching India they take a train from Bombay to Calcutta. About halfway there Fogg learns that the Daily Telegraph newspaper article was wrong – the railroad ends at Kholby and starts 50 miles further on at Allahabad. Fogg promptly buys an elephant, hires a guide and starts toward Allahabad.
During the ride, they come across a suttee procession, in which a young Parsi woman, Aouda, is led to a sanctuary to be sacrificed by the process of sati the next day by Brahmins. Since the young woman is drugged with the smoke of opium and hemp and obviously not going voluntarily, the travellers decide to rescue her. They follow the procession to the site, where Passepartout secretly takes the place of Aouda's deceased husband on the funeral pyre, on which she is to be burned the next morning. During the ceremony, he then rises from the pyre, scaring off the priests, and carries the young woman away. Due to this incident, the two days gained earlier are lost but Fogg shows no sign of regret.
The travellers then hasten on to catch the train at the next railway station, taking Aouda with them. At Calcutta, they can finally board a steamer going to Hong Kong. Fix, who has secretly been following them, has Fogg and Passepartout arrested in Calcutta. However, they jump bail and Fix is forced to follow them to Hong Kong. On board, he shows himself to Passepartout, who is delighted to meet again his travelling companion from the earlier voyage.
In Hong Kong, it turns out that Aouda's distant relative, in whose care they had been planning to leave her, has moved, probably to Holland, so they decide to take her with them to Europe. Meanwhile, still without a warrant, Fix sees Hong Kong as his last chance to arrest Fogg on British soil. He therefore confides in Passepartout, who does not believe a word and remains convinced that his master is not a bank robber. To prevent Passepartout from informing his master about the premature departure of their next vessel, Fix gets Passepartout drunk and drugs him in an opium den. In his dizziness, Passepartout still manages to catch the steamer to Yokohama, but neglects to inform Fogg.
Fogg, on the next day, discovers that he has missed his connection. He goes in search of a vessel that will take him to Yokohama. He finds a pilot boat that takes him and Aouda to Shanghai, where they catch a steamer to Yokohama. In Yokohama, they go on a search for Passepartout, believing that he may have arrived there on the original boat. They find him in a circus, trying to earn the fare for his homeward journey. Reunited, the four board a steamer taking them across the Pacific to San Francisco. Fix promises Passepartout that now, having left British soil, he will no longer try to delay Fogg's journey, but rather support him in getting back to Britain as fast as possible (to have him arrested there).
In San Francisco they get on a trans-American train to New York, encountering a number of obstacles along the way: a massive herd of bison crossing the tracks, a failing suspension bridge, and most disastrously, the train is attacked and overcome by Sioux Indians. After heroically uncoupling the locomotive from the carriages, Passepartout is kidnapped by the Indians, but Fogg rescues him after some soldiers volunteer to help. They continue by a wind-powered sledge over the snowy prairie to Omaha, where they get a train to New York.
Once in New York, and having missed departure of their ship (the China) by 35 minutes, Fogg starts looking for an alternative for the crossing of the Atlantic Ocean. He finds a small steamboat, destined for Bordeaux. However, the captain of the boat refuses to take the company to Liverpool, whereupon Fogg consents to be taken to Bordeaux for the price of $2000 per passenger. On the voyage, he bribes the crew to mutiny and take course for Liverpool. Against hurricane winds and going on full steam all the time, the boat runs out of fuel after a few days. Fogg buys the boat at a very high price from the captain, soothing him thereby, and has the crew burn all the wooden parts to keep up the steam.
The companions arrive at Queenstown, Ireland, in time to reach London via Dublin and Liverpool before the deadline. However, once on British soil again, Fix produces a warrant and arrests Fogg. A short time later, the misunderstanding is cleared up—the actual bank robber had been caught three days earlier in Edinburgh. In response to this, Fogg, in a rare moment of impulse, punches Fix, who immediately falls to the ground. However, Fogg has missed the train and returns to London five minutes late, assured that he has lost the wager.
In his London house the next day, he apologises to Aouda for bringing her with him, since he now has to live in poverty and cannot financially support her. Aouda suddenly confesses that she loves him and asks him to marry her, which he gladly accepts. He calls for Passepartout to notify the reverend. At the reverend's, Passepartout learns that he is mistaken in the date, which he takes to be Sunday but which actually is Saturday due to the fact that the party travelled east, thereby gaining a full day on their journey around the globe, by crossing the International Date Line. He did not notice this after landing in North America because the only phase of the trip that depended on vehicles departing less often than daily was the Atlantic crossing, and he had hired his own ship for that.
Passepartout hurries back to Fogg, who immediately sets off for the Reform Club, where he arrives just in time to win the wager. Fogg marries Aouda and the journey around the world is complete.
Passepartout and Fogg's Baggage
Passepartout and Fogg carry only a carpet bag with only two shirts and three pairs of stockings each, a mackintosh, a travelling cloak, and a spare pair of shoes. The only book carried is Bradshaw's Continental Railway Steam Transit and General Guide. This contains timetables of trains and steamers. He also carried a huge roll of English banknotes-about twenty thousand pounds. He also left with twenty guineas won at whist, which he soon disposed of.
Background and analysis
Around the World in Eighty Days was written during difficult times, both for France and for Verne. It was during the Franco-Prussian War (1870–1871) in which Verne was conscripted as a coastguard, he was having money difficulties (his previous works were not paid royalties), his father had died recently, and he had witnessed a public execution which had disturbed him. However despite all this, Verne was excited about his work on the new book, the idea of which came to him one afternoon in a Paris café while reading a newspaper (see "Origins" below).
The technological innovations of the 19th century had opened the possibility of rapid circumnavigation and the prospect fascinated Verne and his readership. In particular three technological breakthroughs occurred in 1869-70 that made a tourist-like around-the-world journey possible for the first time: the completion of the First Transcontinental Railroad in America (1869), the linking of the Indian railways across the sub-continent (1870), and the opening of the Suez Canal (1869). It was another notable mark in the end of an age of exploration and the start of an age of fully global tourism that could be enjoyed in relative comfort and safety. It sparked the imagination that anyone could sit down, draw up a schedule, buy tickets and travel around the world, a feat previously reserved for only the most heroic and hardy of adventurers.
Verne is often characterised as a futurist or science fiction author but there is not a glimmer of science-fiction in this, his most popular work (at least in English speaking countries). Rather than any futurism, it remains a memorable portrait of the British Empire "on which the sun never sets" shortly before its very peak, drawn by an outsider. It is also interesting to note that, as of 2006, there has never been a critical edition of Around the World in Eighty Days. This is in part due to the poor translations available of his works, the stereotype of "science fiction" or "boys' literature". However, Verne's works were being looked at more seriously in the late 20th and early 21st centuries, with new translations and scholarship appearing. It is also rather interesting to note that the book is a source of common notable English and extended British attitudes in quotes such as, "Phileas Fogg and Sir Francis Cromarty ... endured the discomfort with true British phlegm, talking little, and scarcely able to catch a glimpse of each other" as seen in Chapter Twelve when the group is being jostled around on the elephant ride across the jungle. Also seen in chapter Twenty-Five, when Phileas Fogg is insulted in San Francisco, and Detective Fix acknowledges that "It was clear that Mr. Fogg was one of those Englishmen who, while they do not tolerate dueling at home, fight abroad when their honor is attacked."
It is interesting to note that The China's departure from New York on the day of Fogg's arrival there constitutes a minor flaw in Verne's logic, because Fogg had already crossed the Pacific without accounting for the International Date Line so his entire journey across North America was apparently conducted with an erroneous belief about the date and day of the week. Had The China sailed in agreement with the published steamer schedule used by Fogg, it would have departed a day later than Fogg expected, and he would have been able to catch it in spite of arriving what he thought was a few minutes late.
The closing date of the novel, 22 December 1872, was also the same date as the serial publication. As it was being published serially for the first time, some readers believed that the journey was actually taking place — bets were placed, and some railway companies and ship liner companies actually lobbied Verne to appear in the book. It is unknown if Verne actually submitted to their requests, but the descriptions of some rail and shipping lines leave some suspicion he was influenced.
Although a journey by hot air balloon has become one of the images most strongly associated with the story, this iconic symbol was never deployed in the book by Verne himself – the idea is briefly brought up in chapter 32, but dismissed, it "would have been highly risky and, in any case, impossible." However the popular 1956 movie adaptation Around the World in Eighty Days floated the balloon idea, and it has now become a part of the mythology of the story, even appearing on book covers. This plot element is reminiscent of Verne's earlier Five Weeks in a Balloon which first made him a well-known author.
Following Towle and d'Anver's 1873 English translation, many people have tried to follow in the footsteps of Fogg's fictional circumnavigation, often within self-imposed constraints:
* 1889 – Nellie Bly undertook to travel around the world in 80 days for her newspaper, the New York World. She managed to do the journey within 72 days. Her book about the trip, Around the World in Seventy-Two Days, became a best seller.
* 1903 – James Willis Sayre, a Seattle theatre critic and arts promoter, set the world record for circling the earth using public transportation exclusively, completing his trip in 54 days, 9 hours, and 42 minutes.
* 1908 – Harry Bensley, on a wager, set out to circumnavigate the world on foot wearing an iron mask.
* 1984 - Nicholas Coleridge emulated Fogg's trip and wrote a book entitled Around the World in 78 Days about his experience.
* 1988 – Monty Python alumnus Michael Palin took a similar challenge without using aircraft as a part of a television travelogue, called Michael Palin: Around the World in 80 Days. He completed the journey in 79 days and 7 hours.
* 1993–present – The Jules Verne Trophy is held by the boat that sails around the world without stopping, and with no outside assistance in the shortest time.
* 2009 - in Around the World in 80 Days twelve celebrities performed a relay version of the journey for the BBC Children In Need charity appeal. This featured a carpet bag.
Origins
The idea of a trip around the world within a set period had clear external origins and was popular before Verne published his book in 1872. Even the title Around the World in Eighty Days is not original to Verne. About six sources have been suggested as the origins of the story:
Greek traveller Pausanias (c. 100 AD) wrote a work that was translated into French in 1797 as Voyage autour du monde ("Around the World"). Verne's friend, Jacques Arago, had written a very popular Voyage autour du monde in 1853. However in 1869/70 the idea of travelling around the world reached critical popular attention when three geographical breakthroughs occurred: the completion of the First Transcontinental Railroad in America (1869), the linking of the Indian railways across the sub-continent (1870), and the opening of the Suez Canal (1869). In 1871 appeared Around the World by Steam, via Pacific Railway, published by the Union Pacific Railroad Company, and an Around the World in A Hundred and Twenty Days by Edmond Planchut. Between 1869 and 1871, an American William Perry Fogg went around the world describing his tour in a series of letters to the Cleveland Leader, titled Round the World: Letters from Japan, China, India, and Egypt (1872). Additionally, in early 1870, the Erie Railway Company published a statement of routes, times, and distances detailing a trip around the globe of 23,739 miles in seventy-seven days and twenty-one hours.
In 1872 Thomas Cook organised the first around the world tourist trip, leaving on 20 September 1872 and returning seven months later. The journey was described in a series of letters that were later published in 1873 as Letter from the Sea and from Foreign Lands, Descriptive of a tour Round the World. Scholars have pointed out similarities between Verne's account and Cook's letters, although some argue that Cook's trip happened too late to influence Verne. Verne, according to a second-hand 1898 account, refers to a Thomas Cook advertisement as a source for the idea of his book. In interviews in 1894 and 1904, Verne says the source was "through reading one day in a Paris cafe" and "due merely to a tourist advertisement seen by chance in the columns of a newspaper.” Around the World itself says the origins were a newspaper article. All of these point to Cook's advert as being a probable spark for the idea of the book.
Further, the periodical Le Tour du monde (3 October 1869) contained a short piece entitled "Around the World in Eighty Days", which refers to "140 miles" of railway not yet completed between Allahabad and Bombay, a central point in Verne's work. But even the Le Tour de monde article was not entirely original; it cites in its bibliography the Nouvelles Annales des Voyages, de la Géographie, de l'Histoire et de l'Archéologie (August, 1869), which also contains the title Around the World in Eighty Days in its contents page. The Nouvelles Annales were written by Conrad Malte-Brun (1775—1826) and his son Victor Adolphe Malte-Brun (1816—1889). Scholars believe Verne was aware of either the Le Tour de monde article, or the Nouvelles Annales (or both), and consulted it — the 'Le Tour du monde even included a trip schedule very similar to Verne's final version.
A possible inspiration was the traveller George Francis Train, who made four trips around the world, including one in 80 days in 1870. Similarities include the hiring of a private train and his being imprisoned. Train later claimed "Verne stole my thunder. I'm Phileas Fogg."
Regarding the idea of gaining a day, Verne said of its origin: "I have a great number of scientific odds and ends in my head. It was thus that, when, one day in a Paris café, I read in the Siècle that a man could travel around the world in eighty days, it immediately struck me that I could profit by a difference of meridian and make my traveller gain or lose a day in his journey. There was a dénouement ready found. The story was not written until long after. I carry ideas about in my head for years – ten, or fifteen years, sometimes – before giving them form." In his lecture of April 1873 "The Meridians and the Calendar", Verne responded to a question about where the change of day actually occurred, since the international date line had only become current in 1880 and the Greenwich prime meridian was not adopted internationally until 1884. Verne cited an 1872 article in Nature, and Edgar Allan Poe's short story "Three Sundays in a Week" (1841), which was also based on going around the world and the difference in a day linked to a marriage at the end. Verne even analysed Poe's story in his Edgar Poe and His Works (1864).
In summary either the periodical 'Le Tour du monde or the Nouvelles Annales, W. P. Fogg, probably Thomas Cook's advert (and maybe his letters) would be the main likely source for the book. In addition, Poe's short story "Three Sundays in a Week" was clearly the inspiration for the lost day plot device.
Literary significance and criticism
Select quotes:
1. "We will only remind readers en passant of Around the World in Eighty Days, that tour de force of Mr Verne's—and not the first he has produced. Here, however, he has summarised and concentrated himself, so to speak ... No praise of his collected works is strong enough .. they are truly useful, entertaining, poignant, and moral; and Europe and America have merely produced rivals that are remarkably similar to them, but in any case inferior." (Henry Trianon, Le Constitutionnel, December 20, 1873).
2. "His first books, the shortest, Around the World or From the Earth to the Moon, are still the best in my view. However, the works should be judged as a whole rather than in detail, and on their results rather than their intrinsic quality. Over the last forty years, they have had an influence unequalled by any other books on the children of this and every country in Europe. And the influence has been good, in so far as can be judged today." (Léon Blum, L'Humanité, April 3, 1905).
3. "Jules Verne's masterpiece .. stimulated our childhood and taught us more than all the atlases: the taste of adventure and the love of travel. 'Thirty thousand banknotes for you, Captain, if we reach Liverpool within the hour.' This cry of Phileas Fogg's remains for me the call of the sea." (Jean Cocteau, Mon premier voyage (Tour du monde en 80 jours), Gallimard, 1936).
4. "Leo Tolstoy loved his works. 'Jules Verne's novels are matchless', he would say. 'I read them as an adult, and yet I remember they excited me. Jules Verne is an astonishing past master at the art of constructing a story that fascinates and impassions the reader. (Cyril Andreyev, "Preface to the Complete Works", trans. François Hirsch, Europe, 33: 112-113, 22-48).
5. "Jules Verne's work is nothing but a long meditation, a reverie on the straight line—which represents the predication of nature on industry and industry on nature, and which is recounted as a tale of exploration. Title: the adventures of a straight line ... The train.. cleaves through nature, jumps obstacles .. and continues both the actual journey—whose form is a furrow—and the perfect embodiment of human industry. The machine has the additional advantage here of not being isolated in a purpose-built, artificial place, like the factory or all similar structures, but of remaining in permanent and direct contact with the variety of nature." Pierre Macherey (1966).
Adaptations and influences
The book has been adapted many times in different forms.
Theatre
* A 1874 play written by Jules Verne and Adolphe d'Ennery at the Théâtre de la Porte Saint-Martin in Paris, where it was shown 415 times.
* In 1946 Orson Welles produced and starred in Around the World, a musical stage version, with music and lyrics by Cole Porter, that was only loosely faithful to Verne's original.
* A musical version, 80 Days, with songs by Ray Davies of The Kinks and a book by playwright Snoo Wilson, directed by Des McAnuff, ran at the Mandell Weiss Theatre in San Diego from August 23 to October 9, 1988. The musical received mixed responses from the critics. Ray Davies's multi-faceted music, McAnuff's directing, and the acting, however, were well received, with the show winning the "Best Musical" award from the San Diego Theatre Critics Circle.
* In 2001, the story was adapted for the stage by American playwright Mark Brown. In what has been described as "a wildly wacky, unbelievably creative, 90-miles-an-hour, hilarious journey" this award winning stage adaptation is written for five actors who portray thirty-nine characters.
* A stage musical adaptation premiered at the Fulton Opera House, Lancaster, PA in March 2007 with music by Ron Barnett, book and lyrics by Julianne Homokay, and direction by Robin McKercher.
Films
* A 1919 silent black and white parody by director Richard Oswald didn't disguise its use of locations in Germany as placeholders for the international voyage; part of the movie's joke is that Fogg's trip is obviously going to places in and around Berlin. There are no remaining copies of the film available today.
* The best known version was released in 1956, with David Niven and Cantinflas heading a huge cast. Many famous performers play bit parts, and part of the pleasure in this movie is playing "spot the star". The movie earned five Oscars, out of eight nominations. This film was also responsible for the popular misconception that Fogg and company travel by balloon for part of the trip in the novel, which has prompted later adaptations to include similar sequences. See Around the World in Eighty Days (1956 film) for details.
* 1963 saw the release of The Three Stooges Go Around the World in a Daze. In this parody, the Three Stooges (Moe Howard, Larry Fine, and Joe DeRita) are cast as the menservants of Phileas Fogg III (Jay Sheffield), great-grandson of the original around-the-world voyager. When Phileas Fogg III is tricked into replicating his ancestor's feat of circumnavigation, Larry, Moe, and Curly-Joe dutifully accompany their master. Along the way, the boys get into and out of trouble in typical Stooge fashion.
* In 1983 the basic idea was expanded to a galactic scope in Japan's Ginga Shippu Sasuraiger, where a team of adventurers travel through the galaxy in a train-like ship that can transform into a giant robot. The characters are travelling to different planets in order to return within a certain period and win a bet.
* The story was again adapted for the screen in the 2004 film Around the World in 80 Days, starring Jackie Chan as Passepartout and Steve Coogan as Fogg. This version makes Passepartout the hero and the thief of the treasure of the Bank; Fogg's character is an eccentric inventor who bets a rival scientist that he can travel the world with (then) modern means of transportation.
TV
* An episode of the American television series, Have Gun – Will Travel, entitled "Fogg Bound", had the series' hero, Palladin (Richard Boone), escorting Phileas Fogg (Patric Knowles) through part of his journey. This episode was broadcasted by CBS on December 3, 1960.
* A 1989 three-part TV mini-series starred Pierce Brosnan as Fogg, Eric Idle as Passepartout, Peter Ustinov as Fix and several TV stars in cameo roles. The heroes travel a slightly different route than in the book and the script makes several contemporary celebrities part of the story who were not mentioned in the book. See Around the World in 80 Days (TV miniseries) for details.
* The BBC along with Michael Palin (of Monty Python fame) created a 1989 television travel series following the book's path. It was one of many travelogues Michael Palin has done with the BBC and was a commercially successful transition from his comedic career. The latest series in a similar format was Michael Palin's New Europe in 2007.
* Around the World in 80 Days, a six part 2009 BBC One show in which twelve celebrities attempt to travel the world in aid of the Children in Need appeal. This featured a carpet bag similar to one carried by Fogg and Passeportout.
Animation
* An Indian Fantasy Story is an unfinished French/English co-production from 1938, featuring the wager at the Reform Club and the rescue of the Indian Princess. It was never completed as a full feature film.
* Around the World in 79 Days, a serial segment on the Hanna-Barbera show The Cattanooga Cats from 1969 to 1971.
* Around the World in 80 Days from 1972 by American studio Rankin/Bass with Japanese Mushi productions as part of the Festival of Family Classics series.
* A one-season cartoon series Around the World in 80 Days from 1972 by Australian Air Programs International. NBC aired the series in the US during the 1972-73 season on Saturday mornings.
* Puss 'N Boots Travels Around the World, a 1976 anime from Toei Animation
* A Walt Disney adaptation was produced in 1986. It featured Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck and Goofy as the main characters.
* Around the World with Willy Fog by Spanish studio BRB Internacional from 1981 with a second season produced in 1993. This series depicts the characters as talking animals, and, despite adding some new characters and making some superficial modifications to the original story, it remains one of the most accurate adaptations of the book made for film or television. The show has gained a cult following in Finland, Britain, Germany and Spain. The first season is "Around the World in 80 Days", and the second season is "Journey to the Centre of the Earth" and "Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea"; all three books are by Jules Verne.
* Tweety's High-Flying Adventure is a direct-to-video cartoon by Warner Brothers from 2000 starring the Looney Tunes characters. It takes a great many liberties with the original story, but the central idea is still there - indeed, one of the songs in this film is entitled Around the World in Eighty Days. Tweety not only had to travel the world, he had to also collect 80 cat pawprints, all while evading the constant pursuits of Slyvester. This movie frequently appears on various US-based cable TV networks.
* "Around the World in 80 Narfs" is a Pinky and the Brain episode where the Brain claims to be able to make the travel in less than 80 days and the Pompous Explorers club agrees to make him their new president. With this, the Brain expects to be UK's new Prime Minister, what he considers back at that time, the fastest way to take over the world.
* A Mickey Mouse episode shows the effort of Mickey to get around the world in 80 days with the help of Goofy. The cartoon made reference to the ending of the novel. They realise they have a day extra by hearing church bells on what they believe to be a Monday. This referenced the ending with the vicar in the church.
Exhibitions
* "Around the World in 80 Days", group show curated by Jens Hoffman at the ICA London 2006
Cultural references
* "Around the Universe in 80 Days" is a song by the Canadian band Klaatu, and makes reference to a spaceship travelling around the galaxy, coming home to find the Earth second from the Sun. It was originally included on the 1977 album "Hope", but also appears on at least two compilations.
* There are at least four board games by this name.
* Worlds of Fun, an amusement park in Kansas City, Missouri, was conceived using the novel as its theme. It uses the hot air balloon in its logo, and the park's layout is based on world geography.
Argentinian avant-garde writer Julio Cortazar wrote in 1967 his book titled Around the Day in Eighty Worlds. |