Ocelové město

by Jules Verne

Fantastický román o soupeření francouzského a německého vědce. Prvý vybuduje v Americe Francouzské město jako vzor všestranného pokroku, Němec postaví Ocelové město, ohromnou továrnu, v níž hromadí vynálezy zkázy, a chystá se zničit dílo francouzského soupeře. Místo toho zničí sebe. Nechtěným úspěchem Němce je vystřelení dělového náboje, který překoná zemskou přitažlivost a změní se v družici Země.

Genres: Science Fiction, Classics, Fiction, Adventure, France, Roman, Literature

142 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1879

About the author

Novels of French writer Jules Gabriel Verne, considered the founder of modern science fiction, include Journey to the Center of the Earth (1864) and Around the World in Eighty Days (1873).

This author who pioneered the genre. People best know him for Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea (1870).

Verne wrote about space, air, and underwater travel before people invented navigable aircraft and practical submarines and devised any means of spacecraft. He ranks behind Dame Agatha Mary Clarissa Christie as the second most translated author of all time. People made his prominent films. People often refer to Verne alongside Herbert George Wells as the "father of science fiction."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jules_V...

Reviews

[Henry Avila · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is my thirtieth Jules Verne book, a prolific author of 64 novels and father of science- fiction way back in the mid nineteenth century , yes he is my favorite writer, now just 34 more to read though. The Begum's Fortune is the story of two gentleman who inherit a vast amount, 21 million in British pounds sterling. From a distant relation in India, Frenchman Dr. Francois Sarrasin the good one and German Professor Schultz the bad. After spending $1,000,000 in legal fees they wisely decide to split the money, only the lawyers object. No surprise after five years pass the Dr. builds a clean model city Ville- France , full of happy people on the coast of the Pacific Ocean in then primitive Oregon and the other side of the rugged Cascade Mountains, the Professor established a city for war Stahlstad (Steel Town).The toxic smoke day and night permeates the numerous chimney's their is no guess needed for what the citadel manufactures, death and destruction against Dr. Sarrasin's city. The inhabitants overworked and struggle to survive the inhuman conditions as guards strike down anyone who deviates from the prescribed schedule. Professor Schultz enjoys killing and the harsh rules cause even more to succumb. Marcel Bruckman a great friend of Otto, Dr. Sarrasin's son, gets a job in the Steel Town spying on the enemy, trying to find the secrets and not reveal who he is. Meeting Herr Schultz because of his superior abilities, he gradually becomes a valuable worker and companion to the boss. A gigantic cannon he discovers capable of hitting Ville-France and destroying it must be stopped, otherwise all will be lost. Trying to escape the nightmare, and the impregnable walls will excite readers as they follow Marcel desperate attempt for freedom . Not a sci-fi book but more a philosophical adventure, the possible future of Earth either a kind of Utopian society where people live in harmony or else there will be no future but a lifeless planet full of dead dreams and even a deader world. Our destiny hasn't yet been determined, may Terra troubles be small and hope wins .

[Luís · Rating 3 out of 5]

A Frenchman, Doctor François Sarrasin, and a German, Professor Schultze, inherited a fortune of 500 million francs from a wealthy Begum. Sarrasin builds an ideal city, Franceville, based on urban planning and hygiene techniques. Schultze chooses to make Stahlstadt, the city of steel, a gigantic gun factory.
In this novel of anticipation, we encounter the ideological concepts prevalent at that time, such as the saltworks of Arc and Senans (Jura), built in 1775, and certain other industrial cities that would later flourish in a less paternalistic manner.
But on another level, we also detect traces of the 1870 war and the Franco-German clashes.
It is not the Jules Verne that one usually expects, situated in the story and the action, but an author who wants to offer a political analysis of the organization of societies.
This aspect can be embarrassing, but it remains somewhat visionary and offers excellent food for thought, even if it is not the author's best work.

[Sandy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am by no means a student of world history, but as far as I can make out, the Franco-Prussian War, which began in July 1870 and ended some 10 months later, had some fairly significant and long-lasting aftereffects. As a result of its surrender, France had to cede over to Germany the bulk of the Alsace-Lorraine territory, while Germany emerged a unified empire, effectively altering the balance of European power. For Frenchman Jules Verne, the Germans would never be regarded in the same way again, and his sentiments toward the former enemy would be abundantly displayed in his novel "The Begum's Fortune." This was to be the 18th novel for the so-called "Father of Science Fiction," out of an eventual 54 to be published during his lifetime; eight more would be released posthumously. As were all of the previous 17 titles, "The Begum's Fortune" was released by arrangement with the Parisian publisher Pierre-Jules Hetzel, who had bought Verne's first novel, "Five Weeks in a Balloon," in 1863. Until his death in 1905, Verne would write a novel (or two) every year, in a series of books known as "Les Voyages Extraordinaires." "The Begum's Fortune" was initially released in 1879, when Verne was 51; his 19th novel, "Tribulations of a Chinaman in China," an adventure tale, would also be published that same year! "The Begum's Fortune," though not as sci-fi oriented as some of his earliest works, yet features some interesting predictions that put it marginally in the science fiction realm. It is a short, fast-moving novel, and one ripe for reappraisal today. Sadly, it has been infrequently reprinted, and I was fortunate indeed to have acquired my 1968 Ace edition--aka the "Fitzroy edition"--with a cover price of 60 cents.

In the book, the reader encounters a Frenchman named Dr. Sarrasin, who, as Verne's story begins, is attending a scientific convention in Brighton. While there, he is given some extraordinary news by a London solicitor: He, Sarrasin, has just inherited some 21 million pounds following the death of his great-uncle, who had been living in India with his magnificently wealthy begum wife of the book's title. Sarrasin immediately decides to use his windfall in the furtherance of a pet scientific project: the building of a model city that will demonstrate to mankind the epitome of safe and hygienic living. Troubles quickly arise, however, when the German professor Schultz, a chemistry teacher in Jena, makes a rival claim on the vast fortune. After a short legal battle, convincingly detailed by the author (like this reader's favorite author, H. Rider Haggard, Verne had been a law student before dedicating himself full-time to writing), it is decided that the money will be split between the two. Sarrasin, after a period of five years, succeeds in constructing his model city, dubbed Frankville, on the coast of southern Oregon, while Schultz uses his 10 million pounds to build the world's largest munitions factory, Stahlstadt (German for "Steeltown"), on the other side of Oregon's Cascade Mountains. But unfortunately for Dr. Sarrasin and the thousands of peaceful folks living in his little utopia, Schultz turns out to be quite the madman indeed, toiling ceaselessly to invent weapons of unprecedented deadliness, with which to wipe the model city off the map....

In "The Begum's Fortune," Verne not only foresees the German empire (as exemplified by Schultz) as a dangerously belligerent world power, but predicts the use of such wartime weapons as incendiary bombs and deadly gas. (Schultz does not use mustard gas, as would be seen in the WW1 trenches 35 years later, but rather liquid CO2 bombs that freeze their victims to death!) In this book the author also predicts man-made satellites being shot into outer space, as well as a primitive telephone and videoconferencing arrangement. His description of a telephone that "stereographs" information directly to newspapers, however, was a little harder for this reader to envisage. Care is taken by the author to contrast the totalitarian setup of the nightmarish and grimy Stahlstadt to the sparkling and airy Frankville, and one entire chapter is given over to detailing all the sanitary, architectural, social, dietary, educational and civic innovations that Verne felt were necessary for a healthful life. It’s some pretty fascinating stuff, really.

Schultz, I should add, is a wonderful "bad guy"--practically a prototype for the 007 villain--who grows more and more demented as the book proceeds; his ultimate fate is both haunting and memorable. In a speech that could almost be plopped down into an Ian Fleming thriller, Schultz at one point declares "...we act in just the opposite way from the founders of Frankville. We search for the secret of abridging the lives of men, whilst they seek to lengthen them...." You've gotta love it! "The Begum's Fortune" features any number of wonderful sequences, perhaps the two finest being when Max Bruckmann (the Alsacian best friend of Dr. Sarrasin's son, Otto) goes undercover to spy on the Stahlstadt operations (a bravura segment that comprises a full third of the book), and the scene in which Max returns to the munitions city with Otto and battles Schultz's hulking bodyguards, Sigimer and Arminius, before encountering the evil professor one last time. It is an exciting book, capped with a shoehorned-in romantic ending (for the ladies?), and one that should surely please most readers.

All of which is not to say that the book does not come with some regrettable problems. Verne can justly be accused of racism in this novel (the Chinese coolies who had constructed Frankville are not permitted to live there, as they "would otherwise have infallibly lowered the tone and standard of the new city") and of buying into any number of stereotypes (the German people are all sauerkraut and sausage lovers; the English have no ear for music; the French are "the most perfect dancers in the world"). The author also gets some basic facts wrong here. He tells us that one Stahlstadt mine shaft is 1,800 feet deep, or "14 times the height of the Great Pyramid." But since the Great Pyramid is just under 500 feet tall, shouldn't that be more like 'four times the height"? He also tells us at one point that 10,000 yards (30,000 feet) is equal to nine miles. Wouldn't nine miles be at least 45,000 feet? He also has a notification bell in Frankville ring, at 8:30, for a town meeting to convene. The crowd takes 45 minutes to assemble, and the meeting then commences at...8:30?!?! Finally, Verne mentions that the capital of California is San Francisco, whereas it had been Sacramento in name for quite a while previous to 1879, and in actual fact starting in 1879.

But quibbles aside, "The Begum's Fortune," as I’ve said, is generally satisfying, and should especially appeal to fans of that old Western/espionage/sci-fi '60s TV show "The Wild, Wild West." And finally, the book contains a wonderful statement by Dr. Sarrasin, which almost negates that coolie comment just alluded to; a statement that all members of the current Trump administration would do well to consider. Regarding Frankville, Sarrasin declares "...We will invite visitors from every nation; we will offer it as a home and refuge for honest families forced to emigrate from over-populated countries...." Bravo, Monsieur Verne!

(This review, by the way, originally appeared on the FanLit website at http://www.fantasyliterature.com/ ... a most ideal destination for all fans of Jules Verne....)

[Ghazal Kazemi · Rating 4 out of 5]

به یاد دوران نه چندان شیرین تینیجری.

[Fonch · Rating 1 out of 5]

Ladies and gentlemen after doing a review of books that I liked I decided to write a review of a book, which I did not like. Because a person doesn't have to like everything he reads. One should not be a yes-man and must have personality to say that he likes it, and what he does not. Although that brings him the contempt of the majority. The first thing I must say is why did I decide to read this book? Before the phenomenon of utopias, dystopias, and ucronies became fashionable in part thanks to the saga of The Hunger Games https://www.goodreads.com/series/7375... I wrote several articles, and I decided to expose this topic in the Language Center, thinking that I would like a young audience (it was so long, that I did not have time to expose it in its entirety). Conte with the collaboration of my friend Professor Alfonseca, whose books as always I recommend, like those of my beloved Juan Manuel de Prada https://www.goodreads.com/author/show ... https://www.goodreads.com/author/show ... of course help me from Wikipedia we are not going to deny it I am not an encyclopedia, although many believe it, in fact every day I feel more overwhelmed, Because compared to a lot of people my knowledge is enormously minuscule. But let us return to the original meaning of this criticism. Among the list of utopian books cited were the "500 million Begum" I remember that my friend corrected me, because I put five hundred million years, and it was 500 million. At that time I did not know the plot of this novel. So I saw this book on Maxtor, which sometimes sells second-hand books, and I decided to buy it. Verne was cited in my list of utopias, and dystopias by "Mission Barsac" https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6 ... where it was supposed, that a dictator appeared, that he would be the precursor of Adolf Hitler, and this was advocated by the Jewish writer Max Nordau in his book "Degeneration" https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/9 ... https://www.goodreads.com/author/show ... .
Returning to my criticism, one of the things that has done the most damage to this book is the disastrous translation in my opinion. They could leave the original names, and anyway, I kind of get rid of the illusion when I receive 500 million pesetas. The value of the euro is 166 pesetas so, do the math. At that time that was a lot of money, but today with that you only get out in a hurry for a few years because of inflation. The arrival of the euro in Spain caused prices to skyrocket, but not wages :-(. So, 500 million, is much less than what a football team spends on making a signing. This would be the exact value 3,005,060.52 Euros most likely the original amount was in francs, but the disastrous translation has hurt him. I would have liked the names to have been left as in the original version.
To me the story seems a bit bizarre. It is true, that it has given for novels, and movies, but let's be honest it is very unlikely, that a relative of whom you have no idea dies, and will leave you in inheritance 50000000 not to mention what the treasury would take, that you have to discount it.
This is the first thing, which must be noted the second thing that has displeased me is that this novel is too Manichean the good Sarrazin, and Marcel Bruckmann are very good, and the bad ones are very bad. The German demon Schultze. It is curious, and it has great merit that the synopsis has managed to see something good about Schulze, because he is a flat character, incapable of any charitable act. I must be honest I like love for your country and that it is defended, but one believes while reading this novel, that Verne is really trying to win a war, that his country has lost, and part of the author's invective against Schultze the Saxon is because Germany has won the victories of Metz, and the Sedan Kaiser Wilhelm will enter Versailles, and be crowned in the Hall of Mirrors. This Verne has not been able to overcome and has unleashed his fiercest chauvinism against the Germans. That they practically become comic book villains, or a bad parody of Ian Fleming's novels https://www.goodreads.com/series/4962... https://www.goodreads.com/author/show... Schultze's plan is so delusional, it seems taken from a bad spy novel. My friends at Goodreads know that I like this genre, especially when it's well written. I'm actually a big fan of Frederick Forsyth https://www.goodreads.com/author/show... The origin is very remote, perhaps with Fenimore Cooper, and his novel The Spy https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/4... By this I mean, that I like this genre. In fact, it is a genre very explored by many of my acquisitions that collected among them Graham Greene https://www.goodreads.com/author/show ... or Bruce Marshall https://www.goodreads.com/author/show ... It is not a genre, which is alien to me, but sometimes it can fall into the crazy, as in this case. If you are more interested in the espionage genre at the end of my critique of the "Da Vinci Code" I left a list of espionage writers that I considered preferable to this one.
It is not the plot that I found absurd, after all, I think, that the scientific part is the least absurd of the novel, but it is ridiculous. I believe that psychology fails, and I believe that, as I said before, Verne is carried away by his anti-German prejudices and turns Schultze into a parodic version of Hitler. By the way, this plot will be used by the great writer Gastón Lerroux. I do not know, what novel it is, but G.K. Chesterton quoted it in his book of "how to write detective stories" https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1... https://www.goodreads.com/author/show ... a brilliant collection of essays compiled by the Spanish publisher Acántilado. In the article in particular, Chesty, who had always preferred the traditional crime novel with crimes, was very reluctant to the conspiracy novel, or crimes made by organizations, countries. He was critical, and hostile to the novels of plots, and this is thrown in the face of the English writer to Gastón Lerroux who turned Rouletabille into a spy on behalf of France, to torpedo a German project to erase France from the map https://www.goodreads.com/series/5999 ...




https://www.goodreads.com/author/show... I must admit that G.K. Chesterton had also been very critical of the Germans, but more than for national issues he had been for religious reasons. He had a predilection for France because of his friendship with his companion Hilaire Belloc (his brother-in-arms) https://www.goodreads.com/author/show... but the reason for his rejection of Germany was more for religious reasons, than national. For he considered Germany the cause of the disaster and division that suffered the Christendom work of Luther. We must not forget the sermons full of hatred against the Pope, and the Catholic kingdoms, and he is also one of the precursors of anti-Semitism so in his polemic with W. H. Auden https://www.goodreads.com/author/show ... who considers that Nazism originated in Austria, and in Bavaria (true, but it should be remembered, that Catholics were the ones who gave him the fewest votes, and the loyal opposition of Zentrum Catholics to Hitler. I'll talk about this when it's my turn to talk about "Mephisto" by Klaus Mann https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2... https://www.goodreads.com/author/show... ). Nor does the writer Juan Manuel de Prada like this type of technological thrillers. Jules Verne's Germanophobia in this book goes so far as to say that the French are superior to the Germans, and that the Germans have not invented anything, that their knowledge was already initiated by others. This information is unfair, and out of reality. In fact, German science was far superior to French science in all areas. Before the Nobel Prizes were discredited most were in the hands of Germans it would be a waste of time to make a quote from all the great German scientists. It is very commendable that Verne attacks the racism of the Germans, and their obsession with race, and that they allude to them attacking the French, and talking about the Celtic ravings. It should be remembered that France has also had racist ideologues such as Gobineau https://www.goodreads.com/author/show ... or Drummond, which in this country occurred the Dreyfuss Affair, or the Stravisky affair, not to mention that in France anti-Semitism had been greater than in Germany. It was much more likely that this anti-Semitic leader had emerged in France than in Germany (besides Verne cannot talk about racism, seeing how Sarrazin fires the Chinese workers he has hired, to create Ville France). Another thing, which Verne reproaches the Germans in this novel is the attempt of the Germans to conquer the world. Not to be bad to Verne, but that had already been done previously by the French, and English, who had divided the world among themselves. That said, France was the least cruel of the imperialist powers of the nineteenth century, which have been cleverly baptized by Mr. Velez as a predatory empire https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2 ... . Apart from that, I don't know if it's because of the narration, but I found the plot very boring, and you have to go beyond page 90, for something to happen. Apart from the fact that it is a novel, which ages really badly. Curiously, his obsession with progress, and science sounds old-fashioned to me, it almost seems to me that the author approaches the theories of H.G. Wells https://www.goodreads.com/author/show... https://www.goodreads.com/author/show... with that vision of infinite progress. These ideals, rather than Verne's, are those that were in force with the French Third Republic. I have also been disturbed by some of Verne's references such as the agnostic Stuart Mill https://www.goodreads.com/author/show ... and Michel Montaigne https://www.goodreads.com/author/show ... who is one of those responsible for skepticism. Sarrazin's rules seem that more than a utopia, they could be the origin of a dystopia, or a covert dictatorship. The bad thing is that the question of Verne utopia barely devotes a few pages, and focuses more on Schultze's revenge.
Let's talk about the positive seems to me that it is a plot, which does not fall into relativism, and where good and evil are clearly differentiated, and it is also religious Bruckner attributes a divine cause to the success of his mission. Thus the ghost of atheism, or deism, that had unjustly haunted Jules Verne is removed. In fact, Verne showed his predilection and his sympathies for the Chuans, and the Vendeans as this brilliant article shows. https://www.religionenlibertad.com/cu... "The Earl of Chantelaine" https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/4... In short, I did not like this novel, but I did love it, but I really liked "The Carpathian Castle" https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1 ... more interesting than Dracula, and I want to read other books by him, such as "Two years of vacation", "Miguel Strogoff", "The mysterious island" which is one of the favorite stories of my father and my great friend Professor Alfonseca. I leave this wonderful episode of Doraemon the cover of the human book https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nd4qH ... , where we see how its protagonist is fond of reading thanks to "Two years of vacation" by Jules Verne. Despite not liking this novel, Verne will have more opportunities to show me that he is a great writer.

[Osama · Rating 3 out of 5]

الخمسمائة مليون ثروة البيجوم رواية للكاتب الفرنسي جون فيرن المتوفى في بداية القرن العشرين. وهي رواية خيالية علمية تجري أحداثها في القرن التاسع عشر. تحكي قصة الدكتور الفرنسي سارازان والبروفيسور الألماني شولتز اللذان نزلت عليهم ثروة هائلة بصفتهما ورثة بقرابة بعيدة للبيجوم الهندية. ويقرر كل منهما استثمار حصته لبناء مشروع هائل في الولايات المتحدة الأمريكية. يؤسس شولتز مدينة ستالستيد - مدينة صناعة الفولاذ والأسلحة الثقيلة، بينما يؤسس سارازان فرانسفيل - مدينة فرنسا المثالية حيث يسود التوافق والسلام بين البشر. تمثل هاتين المدينتين صراع الخير ضد الشر، وربما لأغراض سياسية حدد الكاتب الصراع بين العرق الجرماني والعرق اللاتيني. شعرت خلال القراءة كأن الكاتب يتنبأ بالصراع القادم بين ألمانيا النازية ودول أوروبا الغربية في الحرب العالمية الثانية، كما أن أفكاره كانت متقدمة عن زمانه ولاسيما في تصوراته للحياة المنظمة والصحية في مدينة فرانسفيل الفاضلة والتي تشابه نسبيا حياة معظم العواصم الغربية المتطورة. انتقادي الوحيد للرواية هو أسلوب الكتابة القديم الذي يميل للرتابة قليلا.

[Squire · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a somewhat awkward read because this story isn't even Verne's. His publisher bought a manuscript, from an author who wasn't happy with it, and he turned it over to Verne. Years earlier Verne had written a book called Paris in the Twentieth Century about a Paris of the 1960s that had been corrupted and made amoral by democracy and capitalism, but his publisher had refused to publish it (it would be rediscovered more than 100 years later and published in 1996). Verne wasn't thrilled with the manuscript, but he did his best to reshape it into his own--putting in a lot of his political views from his unpublished Paris manuscript.

This became one of his least popular books, selling only 17.000 copies in its initial run.

When a French Doctor of Hygiene is identified as the sole heir to the title and 500,000,000 franc fortune of a barony in India, a German professor makes an equally legitimate claim and ends up splitting the sum. Two set up model societies on the west coast of America (around Oregon). France-ville is a city based on hygiene and celebrates the arts; Stahlstadt (The City of Steel) is a city devoted to the manufacture of weapons of war. The conflict becomes Stahlstadt wanting to eradicate France-ville and establish Germany as the dominant power in the world.

Verne went back and forth with his publisher on how to make the manuscript readable, and indeed the original author washed his hands of it. And the result isn't bad, but far from Verne's best work. The first 10 chapters take place in Stahlstadt and are quite exciting. The last 10 take place in France-ville and are less so. This book represents a turning point in Verne's writing. Until this book, Verne was concerned about the joy of exploration and the invention of new technology based on his research. With Begum's, he is now concerned about the dangers of technology and his books take on a dark tone.

Some interesting facts about this book. Verne complains that France-ville is too American and not French enough. (Maybe that's why Stahlstadt is more interesting than France-ville.) Neither society is perfect, the citizens of both live under strict rules and only certain people were allowed to live in them. Verne seems to have rightly predicted that Germany would be a problem on the world stage. In fact, this book was removed from libraries all over Germany when Hitler assumed power.

Is the book racist? No. The fact that the Chinese "coolies" who built France-ville weren't allowed to live there seems determinative that France-ville is more American than French. And that the German city stood for the fact that the Anglo-Saxon race would exterminate the Latin race is a statement on the attitudes Verne saw in Germany.

Overall, an interesting work by Verne that I'm glad I read.

[Jefi Sevilay · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dünyanın Merkezi'ne Seyahat, Balonla Beş Hafta, Denizler Altında Yirmibin Fersah, İki Yıl Okul Tatili gibi "popüler" Jules Verne romanlarını tamamladıysanız ve kalan kitaplara ilgi duyuyorsanız, işte sihir orada başlıyor.

Evet, bazıları gerçekten sıradan ama Begümün 500 Milyonu bence Jules Verne'in en önemli kitaplarından biri. Çünkü Jules Verne'i hep hangi özelliğiyle tanırız? Kitaplarının "zamanının ötesinde" olmasıyla. Begüm'ün 500 Milyonu da bu kitaplara en iyi örneklerden.

Tabi ki Jules Verne dedemizin her zamanki ırkçılığı ve millet kayırması baki. Ancak aşağıdaki hususlar da oldukça dikkat çekici.

* Kitaptaki Doktor Sarrasin karakterinin hijyen üzerine söylemleri ve mikrop yuvası oldukları için France-ville adını verdiği ütopik kentinde halılarla duvar kağıtlarını yasaklaması çok düşündürücü. Bu kitabın 1879 tarihinde yazıldığını düşünürseniz hijyen ve enfeksiyon üzerine öngörüsü mükemmel.
* İdeal bir evin sahip olması gereken on özellik kent planlaması ve insanca yaşam adına bir mihenk taşı. Bugün Anthill (karınca yuvası) denen rezidansta bile yaşamayı kendine marifet sayan insanlara adeta bir cevap.
* Hastaların evlerinde tecrit edilerek hastanede başkalarına bulaşmasının önlenmesini sağlamak size bir yerden tanıdık geliyor mu? Hadi bir ipucu vereyim, COVID-19.
* France-ville'de kent konseyinin bir telekonferans yöntemiyle yapılarak zaman kazanılmasından daha iyi bir öngörü var mı? Bu da bir yerden tanıdık geliyor mu? Hepimizin evlere kapandığı şu günlerde Jules Verne videokonferans sistemlerini görse acaba ne derdi? Yine tabi bireysel çabaların yanısıra bunun yerel yönetimlerce benimsenmesi 140 yıl sonra hala başarılmış birşey değil.
* Peki Almanların agresif bir şekilde toplu kıyımlar yapacak askeri icatlar yapmasına ne demeli?

Hikaye iyi ve kötünün, ütopya ve distopyanın birer aynası.

Gerçekten içinde barındırdığı gizli anlamlar açısından pek çok popüler kitabının yerine bu kitabın okullarda okutulmasının, ve ardından tartışılmasının tavsiye edilmesi gerektiğini düşünüyorum.

Herkese keyifli okumalar!

[G · Rating 3 out of 5]

No creo que Verne haya escrito este libro. Tiene todos los guiños, pero se nota otro pulso narrativo. Es más conceptual que Verne. Aunque sea una novela utópica, lo cual admite la especulación ensayística incrustada en la novela, la lectura deja con ganas de más acción. Lo mejor de Verne es que se vive lo que se lee en el sentido empírico. Es algo sensorial, emocional, inclusive en los momentos de mayor arrebato cientificista. Eso no está en este libro. Igual se disfruta ese maniqueísmo radical que me hace pensar en un escritor bipolar. Hay otros disparates que son también divertidos. Franceses contra alemanes en un territorio norteamericano que se propone ser Suiza. Todo motorizado por la herencia de la Begum india y el gran resorte del mal, Herr Schulze. La ciudad utópica, France-Ville es horrible. No me gustaría para nada vivir en esa supuesta felicidad cuadrada.

[Dorin Lazăr · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cumva ratasem în copilărie cartea aceasta, și probabil că nu aș fi înțeles foarte mult din ea - poate, chiar, mi s-ar fi părut plictisitoare. Surprinzătorii moștenitori ai unei averi serioase ajung să lucreze în competiție - unul să creeze un oraș al viitorului, altul să creeze o uzină a distrugerii. La mijloc, un alsacian, prins în mijlocul conflictului cu loialitatea față de Franța, dar nevoit fiind să lucreze în sprijinul germanilor distructivi.

E o poveste care merită mai multă atenție, zic eu, o alegorie interesantă care pe niște oameni mai inteligenți ca mine i-ar putea stimula. Tot ce spun e că mi-a plăcut - m-a trecut printr-o sumedenie de emoții, de la teama că fiul doctorului va arunca toți banii aiurea la suspansul care însoțește toate acțiunile lui Marcel.

Și e o poveste care pomenește asediul Plevnei, chiar dacă doar fugitiv.

[Ehsan'Shokraie' · Rating 4 out of 5]

پس از سال ها دوباره از ژول ورن خواندن حس و حال آشنایی داشت انگار که گذر سال ها دوباره متوقف شده و باز به سال های نوجوانی برگشته ام،آرامش و نوشتار شفاف داستان های ژول ورن که با علم و سیاست و تاریخ آمیخته،خوانشی بسیار لذت بخش پس از سال ها دوری.

[Fiona · Rating 4 out of 5]

Eine typische Jules Verne Geschichte. Auf wenigen (knapp 300) Seiten erschafft Jules Verne eine neue Welt mitten in der realen. Eine überraschende Erbschaft zeigt zwei Extremen der menschlichen Natur auf, zum einen die gütige, der Wissenschaft verschriebenen Seite, die alle Menschen zusammen bringen und friedlich leben will. Die andere Seite ist grauer, auf Profit und Kontrolle getrimmter Rassismus, gewalttätig und größenwahnsinnig.
Die Geschichte beleuchtet beide Seiten ganz gut, ich hätte gerne noch mehr erfahren, aber das ist ein generelles "Problem" mit mir und Jules, ich denke er könnte so viel mehr aus seinen Geschichten rausholen und ich würde gerne so viel mehr von ihnen lesen und tiefer eintauchen - andererseits sind sie so kurz und prägnant für mehr Leute zugänglich und interessant und das ist doch auch schön.

[alexandra · Rating 3 out of 5]

it was okay, just not my style. I get bored very easily and this book wasn't the most interesting one... though it was okay, the ending was better

[Kristina · Rating 5 out of 5]

Jedno od ozbiljnijih Vernovih djela, Grad čelika oslikava sukob dvije ideologije: jedne koja gradi Francusku varoš, grad namijenjen napretku čovječanstva i druge koja gradi Grad čelika, tvornicu razornog oružja.

Sukob doktora Sarazena i profesora Šulcea ustvari je sukob dobra i zla, želje za napretkom i želje za rušenjem. Šulce je vođen nacionalističkim idejama, čime ova priča prethodi stvarnim strahotama koje su takve ideje proizvele, a Vern zaslužuje titulu vizionara.

Beskrupulozni profesor u ovoj priči, ipak, ne dočeka ostvarenje svojih zamisli. Poslovično strada od sopstvenog izuma, a ako je išta uspio da učini, to je ujedinjenje svih građana Francuske varoši i još veća želja da se ona očuva i ostane za primjer budućim naraštajima.

[Avishek Bhattacharjee · Rating 3 out of 5]

কেমন লাগবে হঠাৎ একদিন আপনি জানতে পারেন আপনার ১৪ গোষ্ঠী আগের একজনের বরাতে আপনি বিশাল সম্পত্তির মালিক হয়ে যান?? হ্যা, ডঃ সারাসিনের এমন খবরে মনে বেশ আনন্দ হয়েছিল। তিনি এই অর্থ দিয়ে চিন্তা করলেন মানবপ্রজাতির উপকার করবেন। কিন্তু গ্যাঞ্জাম লাগান এসে সারাসিনের আরেক দূর সম্পর্কের আত্নীয় অধ্যাপক সুলৎজ। যদিও আইনত তার দাবী দূর্বল কিন্তু বদমাইশ উকিলের প্যাচে অর্ধেক সম্পত্তির ভাগ দেন সুলৎকে। আর এই অর্থে সুবিশাল ইস্পাত নগরী গড়ে তুলেন সুলৎজ। উদ্দেশ্য হল এমন অস্ত্র বানানো যাতে সারাসিনের কল্যাণকর নগরী ধ্বংস করা আর পুরা পৃথিবীকে জার্মানি করতলগত করা। কিন্তু ম্যাক্স তোহ আছে মাঝখানে পথের কাটা হয়ে। সব কিছুই এখন তার ম্যাক্স এর উপরে নির্ভর করে।

গল্পটা ভাল। একটানে পড়ে ফেলা যায়।

[Martin Riexinger · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not the best Jules Verne I have read, not least because the slightly abstruse finale, but perhaps the most interesting one. The novel is marked by the trauma of France's defeat in 1871 and the loss of Alsace-Lorraine. It reflects a sense of inferiority towards Germany's technological and industrial advances, which is compensated for with a feeling of moral superiority.
The racialist delusions and plans for world dominance of the German villain appear almost prophetic, and moreover, he apparently served as major source of inspiration for The classical Bond villains.

[Aleksandar Obradović · Rating 4 out of 5]

Libernovus je definitivno napravio pun pogodak ovom edicijom. Opet jedan zanimljiv naslov i prosto fascinantno kako Vern lako plete zaplete i istovremeno pokazuje da je bio jedan od pisaca sa najvećim kvantumom opšteg znanja.

[Sotiris Karaiskos · Rating 4 out of 5]

Definitely the most politicized book of the author through which he shows many of his perceptions of the way the world went. It is based, of course, on the nationalist views of the French about their relationship with Germany after the Franco-Prussian War, with the author expressing the view that the Germans deeply wanted to conquer the world and remake it in their image, behind the surface however there are more interesting things. In this book, the author simultaneously brings two different visions for the future, one in which science is used for a good cause, in a Democratic society, in the other used to produce tools of destruction, within a military dictatorship. I guess it is not a spoiler to tell you which of the two the author prefers. So we have before us the usual optimism of the author mixed with a warning and that is what gives value to this book and makes us overcome the weaknesses of the plot for which the author is not responsible.

Σίγουρα το πιο πολιτικοποιημένο βιβλίο του συγγραφέα μέσα από το οποίο δείχνει πολλές από τις αντιλήψεις του για τον τον δρόμο που πορεύονταν ο κόσμος. Η βάση του είναι βέβαια οι εθνικιστικές αντιλήψεις των γάλλων για τη σχέση τους με την Γερμανία μετά τον Γάλλο-Πρωσικό πόλεμο, με τον συγγραφέα να εκφράζει την άποψη ότι κατά βάθος οι Γερμανοί ήθελαν να καταλάβουν τον κόσμο και να τον κάνουν σαν τα μούτρα τους, πίσω από την επιφάνεια όμως υπάρχουν περισσότερα ενδιαφέροντα πράγματα. Σε αυτό το βιβλίο ο συγγραφέας φέρνει παράλληλα δύο διαφορετικά οράματα για το μέλλον, ένα στο οποίο η επιστήμη χρησιμοποιείται για καλό σκοπό, σε μία Δημοκρατική κοινωνία, στο άλλο χρησιμοποιείται για την παραγωγή εργαλείων καταστροφής, μέσα σε μία στρατιωτική δικτατορία. Φαντάζομαι ότι δεν είναι spoiler να σας πω τι από τα δύο προτιμάει ο συγγραφέας. Έτσι έχουμε μπροστά μας την συνηθισμένη αισιοδοξία του συγγραφέα ανακατεμένη με μία προειδοποίηση και αυτό είναι που δίνει αξία σε αυτό το βιβλίο και μας κάνει να προσπερνάμε τις αδυναμίες της πλοκής για τις οποίες δεν ευθύνεται ο συγγραφέας.

[Cesar Leon · Rating 4 out of 5]

La imaginación sumada sus investigaciones siempre nos llevan en aventuras inimaginables para sus contemporáneos.


Como en cada libro nos deja ver esa ventana a futuros próximos que en nuestra época ya son toda una realidad. Esto es lo que llega a sorprender aún más, como podía libro tras libro tener esa visión del futuro.

[Marian · Rating 4 out of 5]

One day, out of the blue, the unassuming Dr. Sarrasin learns he is heir to an enormous fortune. It seems he is the only living descendant of a Frenchman who married a begum - "a Muslim lady of high rank" - and, through her wealth, became rich.

As it would happen, another claimant to the fortune shows up, a German professor by the name of Schultze. To avoid an expensive court case, they agree to split the money in half and each spend it on the projects of their dreams. These projects turn out to be two new cities, both highly regulated but as different from each other as the masterminds who founded them. Away in the wilds of Oregon state, the cities are built and populated, thriving till one man's sinister ideals threaten to undermine both topias.

This is quite a page-turner and, in spite of the Vernian themes, a somewhat different read than most other of his novels I've read. The exploration of dystopia vs. utopia in the Pacific Northwest is what could bring this book back into readership, though it may be countered by the more disappointing elements (e.g. some racially prejudiced sentiments by the characters, including from the "good guys"). That said, for the times in which it was written, The Begum's Millions is a prescient 19th-century warning about issues that would face the following two centuries. The story is exciting and as emotional as it is scientific (if not more so). 4 stars...a good read, but not quite as good as Magellania, my new gold standard for Jules Verne.

[Alfredo Sirica · Rating 4 out of 5]

Un romanzo al contempo utopico e distopico. Due professori, un amabile francese e uno spietato tedesco, si ritrovano a spartirsi un'inaspettata eredità di 500 milioni di dollari, cortesia di una loro lontana e defunta parente. Il primo li usa con responsabilità, mirando ad edificare una città ideale che funga da esempio per le generazioni future. Il secondo, convinto della supremazia della razza sassone, si convince ad edificare una città capitalista e dittatoriale, dedita alla costruzione di armi di distruzione di massa per annientare la città franca. Insieme romanzo utopico e distopico, Verne descrive i suoi ideali di città modello, al contempo ammonendo i suoi contemporanei circa una figura che, profeticamente, sarebbe esistita un secolo dopo nella persona di Hitler. Sono molteplici i temi che Verne tratta con maestria e originalità, in una narrazione dal ritmo cinematografico che pecca solo per brevità. Infatti, la grandezza della premessa risulta sproporzionata rispetto allo spazio concesso (appena 200 pagine), lasciando alcuni personaggi promettenti senza uno sviluppo adeguato. Solo una piccola pecca, rispetto alla magnitudine dell'opera.

[Sezgi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Jules Verne tarihi şahsiyetler arasında açık farkla hayran olduğum birisi. Bilimi edebiyatla harmanlamak kolay bir şey değildir. Yazar bunu o kadar ustaca yapıyor ki o coğrafi tanımların, bilimsel sözlerin tadını çıkara çıkara hikayeye adapte oluyorsunuz.

Bilimle ilgili iyi düşüncenin kötü düşünceyle mücadelesini anlatıyor kitap. En çok Marcel karakterini sevdim, sizin de onu çok benimseyeceğinizi tahmin ediyorum. Fransa için türlü fedakarlıklara hazır bir vatansever. Bu kitapta bir silah yapmanın ne kadar farklı şekilleri olduğunu, ne kadar titizlik gerektirdiğini öğrenmiş oldum. İnsanları birbirine bağlayan vatan bağının güçlülüğünü yazar zaten vurgulamış. Ben bu insanların statülerini hiçe sayarak dost olmalarını vurgulamak isterim. Jules Verne, keşke yaşasaydın!

[Almir Olovcic · Rating 4 out of 5]

Knjiga procitana za 24 sata. Jos jednom je Z. Vern pokazao svoje prorocansko umijece, naslutivsi dolazak Hitlera u ovoj knjizi, kroz lik Sulcea. Stivo koje se brzo cita, jednostavno pozelite okretati stranicu za stranicom, uzivati u tehnickim detaljima i opisima rada masina, futuristicki nadahnutim gradovima i likovima. Preporcujem za svakog ljubitelja Zil Verna, ali isto tako za sve one zainteresovane za razvoj SF zanra, jer Vern je ipak jedan od njegovih prvih i jos uvijek najboljih predstavnika.

[Patrick Gibson · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is an exceptional novel -- and very unusual for Verne. Part of a 'Complete Works of' I had never heard of this and once I started reading had no idea where the story was going. I kept thinking: I'm reading Sinclair Lewis. It's a parable for our times, and remarkable in its insights.

Here is the summary from Wikipedia:

Two men receive the news that they are part-inheritors to a vast fortune. They are the last surviving descendants of a French soldier-of-fortune who many years before settled in India and married the immensely rich widow of a native prince – the begum of the title.

One of the inheritors is a gentle French physician, Dr. Sarrasin, who has long been concerned with the unsanitary conditions of European cities. He decides to use his share of the inheritance to establish a utopian model city which would be constructed and maintained with public health as the primary concern of its government.

The other inheritor is a far from gentle German scientist Prof. Schultze – very stereotypically presented as an arrogant militarist and racist, who becomes increasingly power-mad in the course of the book. Though having had himself a French grandmother, (otherwise he would not have gotten the inheritance), he is completely convinced of the innate superiority of the "Saxon" (i.e., German) over the "Latin" (primarily, the French) which would lead to the eventual total destruction of the latter by the former. When first introduced to the reader, he is in the process of composing a supposedly scholarly paper entitled "Why do all French people suffer, to one degree or another, from hereditary degeneration?", to be published in the German journal Physiological Annals (though his official academic specialty is chemistry). Later it is disclosed that Schultze had done considerable "research" and published many articles conclusively "proving" the superiority of the German race over the rest of humanity.

The Utopian plans of his distant French cousin not only seem to Schultze stupid and meaningless, but are positively wrong. They issue from a Frenchman and are designed to block "progress" which decreed that the degenerate French are due to be subdued by the Germans. Schultze proposes to use his half of the inheritance for constructing his own kind of utopia – a city devoted to the production of ever more powerful and destructive weapons – and even before the first stone was laid in either city, vows to destroy Sarrasin's creation.

The two (each one separately) quite improbably manage to get the United States to cede its sovereignty over large parts of the Pacific Northwest, in order to enable the creation of two competing city-states, located in southern Oregon at a distance of forty kilometres of each other on either side of the Cascades. One is a tranquil French city of 100,000 on the western side; the other is a bustling German city of 50,000 to the east, with its industrial and mining operations extending far eastward, causing extensive pollution and environmental destruction as far as the Red Desert in Wyoming.

Verne gives the precise location of Sarrasin's "Ville-France" (France-Ville or Frankville in English translations) – on the southern Oregon coast, eighty kilometres north of Cape Blanco, at 43°11'3" North, 124°41'17" West. This would place it at the southern end of Coos County, Oregon – a county which already existed at the time, though very thinly populated (and has remained so, having 62,779 inhabitants as of 2000).

The nearest real-life town seems to be Bandon (population 2,833 in the same 2000 census), located slightly north-east of the site of Ville-France, and which was founded by the Irish peer George Bennet in 1873 – one year after Verne's date for the creation of Ville-France. The Coquille River, on whose southern bank Bandon is located, is presumably the unnamed "small river of sweet mountain waters" which Verne describes as providing Ville-France's water.

As depicted by Verne, brief negotiations with the Oregon Legislature in December 1871 suffice to secure the grant of a 16 kilometre-wide area extending from the Pacific shore to the peaks of the Cascades, "with a sovereignty similar to that of Monaco" and the stipulation that after an unspecified number of years it would revert to full US sovereignty (Verne does not mention any United States Department of State or Congressional involvement in the deal). Actual construction begins in January 1872, and by April of the same year the first train from New York pulls into the Ville-France Railway Station, a trunk line from Sacramento having been completed.

The houses and public facilities of Ville-France are constructed by a large number of Chinese migrant workers - who are sent away once the city is complete, with the payment of their salaries specifically dependent on their signing an obligation never to return. Reviewer Paul Kincaid noted that "The Chinese coolies employed to build the French utopia are then hurriedly dispatched back to San Francisco, since they are not fit to reside in this best of all cities."

The book justifies the exclusion of the Chinese as being a precaution needed in order to avoid in advance the "difficulties created in other places" by the presence of Chinese communities. This might be an oblique reference to the Chinese Massacre of 1871, when a mob entered Los Angeles' Chinatown, indiscriminately burning Chinese-occupied buildings and killing at least 20 Chinese American residents out of a total of some 200 then living in the city.

Most of the action takes place in Schultze's Stahlstadt ("Steel City"). Steel City a vast industrial and mining complex, where ores are taken out of the earth and made into steel, and the steel is made into ever more deadly weapons. Steel city becomes in a few years the world's biggest producer of arms. The now immensely rich Schultze is Steel City's dictator, whose very word is law and who makes all significant decisions personally. There is no mention of Steel City's precise legal status vis-à-vis the Oregon or US Federal authorities, but clearly Schultze behaves as a completely independent head of state (except that he uses Dollars rather than mint his own currency).

The strongly fortified city is built in concentric circles, each separated from the next by a high wall, with the mysterious "Tower of the Bull" – Schultze's own abode – at its center. The workers are under a semi-military discipline, with complex metallurgical operations carried out with a Teutonic split-second precision. A worker straying into where and what he is not authorized to see and know is punished with immediate expulsion in the outer sectors and with death in the sensitive inner ones. However, the workers' conditions seem rather decent by Nineteenth Century standards: there are none of the hovels which characterized many working-class districts of the time, and competence is rewarded with rapid promotion by the paternalistic Schultze and his underlings.

Dr. Sarrasin, in contrast, is a rather passive figure – a kind of non-hereditary constitutional monarch who, after the original initiative to found Ville-France, does not take any significant decision in the rest of the book. The book's real protagonist, who offers active resistance to Schultze's dark reign and his increasingly satanic designs, is a younger Frenchman – the Alsatian Marcel Bruckmann, native of the part of France forcibly annexed by Germany in the recent war.

The dashing Bruckmann – an Alsatian with a German family name and fiercely patriotic French heart – manages to penetrate Steel City. As an Alsatian, he is a fluent speaker of German, an indispensable condition for entering the thoroughly Germanised Steel City, and is able to pass himself off as being Swiss – "Elsässisch", the German dialect spoken in Alsace, being very close to Swiss German. He quickly rises high in its hierarchy, gains Schultze's personal confidence, spies out some of the tyrant's well-kept secrets, and sends a warning to his French friends. It turns out that Schultze is not content to produce arms, but fully intends to use them himself – first against the hated Ville-France, as a first step towards his explicit ambition of establishing Germany's worldwide rule. (He casually mentions a plan to seize "some islands off Japan" in order to further the same.)

Two fearsome weapons are being made ready – a super-cannon capable of firing massive incendiary charges over a distance of 40 km (just the distance from Steel City to Ville-France), and shells filled with gas. The latter seems to give Verne credit for the very first prediction of chemical warfare, nearly twenty years before H. G. Wells's "black smoke" in The War of the Worlds. Schultze's gas is designed not only to suffocate its victims but at the same time also freeze them. A special projectile is filled with compressed liquid carbon dioxide that, when released, instantly lowers the surrounding temperature to a hundred degrees Celsius below zero, quick-freezing every living thing in the vicinity.

Ville-France prepares as well as it can, but there is not very much to do against such weapons. Schultze, however, meets with poetic justice. Firstly, the incendiary charge fired by the super-cannon at Ville-France not only renders the cannon unusable, but also misses its mark. The charge flies harmlessly over the city and into space, apparently owing to Schultze's failure to account for the roundness of the globe when firing a projectile over such distances. Secondly, as Schultze sits in his secret office, preparing for the final assault and writing out the order to his men to bring him the frozen bodies of Sarrasin and Bruckmann to be displayed in public, a gas projectile which he kept in the office accidentally explodes and feeds him his own deadly medicine.

The entire edifice of "Steel City" collapses, since Schultze had kept everything in his own hands and never appointed any deputy. It goes bankrupt and becomes a ghost town. Bruckmann and his friend, Dr. Sarrasin's son, take it over with the only resistance offered being from two rather dimwitted Schultze bodyguards who stayed behind when everybody else left. Schultze would remain forevermore in his self-made tomb, on display as he had planned to do to his foes, while the good Frenchmen take over direction of Steel City in order to let it "serve a good cause from now on." (Arms production would go on, however, so as "to make Ville-France so strong that nobody would dare attack it ever again".)

[Sanowar Hossain · Rating 5 out of 5]

বিশ্বসাহিত্যে ফরাসি ঔপন্যাসিক জুল ভার্নের বিজ্ঞান কল্পকাহিনির কদর সবসময়ই ছিল। বিচিত্র সব বিষয়কে উপজীব্য করে কল্পকাহিনিগুলো রচনা করেছেন। এই যুগে বসে তৎকালীন প্রেক্ষাপট বিবেচনা করলেই গল���পগুলোর উপযোগিতা বোঝা যায়। 'বেগমস ফরচুন' বিজ্ঞানের অপব্যবহারের প্রতি সচেতনতা সৃষ্টি করতেই রচিত হয়েছিল বোধ করি।

ফরাসি নাগরিক ডক্টর সারাসিন ইংল্যান্ডে নির্ঝঞ্ঝাট জীবন কাটাচ্ছিলেন। তাঁর জীবনে একদিন পরশপাথর হিসেবে সলিসিটর শার্প জুনিয়রের আগমন হয়। সলিসিটর জানায় সারাসিনের এক পূর্বপুরুষ জাঁ জ্যাকুইস ল্যাঙ্গেভল ভারতের স্থানীয় রাজার সৈন্যবাহিনীতে চাকরি করতেন। তিনি স্থানীয় এক রাজার বিধবা স্ত্রী বেগম গোকুলকে বিয়ে করেছিলেন। বেগম গোকুল মারা যাবার পর সকল স্থাবর অস্থাবর সম্পত্তির মালিক হন ল্যাঙ্গেভল। ল্যাঙ্গেভল-বেগম গোকুল দম্পতির একমাত্র সন্তানও কিছুদিন পর মারা যায়। কোনো উত্তরাধিকার না থাকায় সকল সম্পত্তি বিক্রি করে ব্যাংক অব ইংল্যান্ডে জমা রাখা হয়েছিল। সেই সম্পত্তির মোট মূল্য বাহান্ন কোটি সত্তর লক্ষ ফ্রাঁ। সলিসিটর শার্প জুনিয়র অনেক খোঁজাখুজির পর ল্যাঙ্গেভলের একমাত্র উত্তরাধিকারী ডক্টর সারাসিনকে খুঁজে পেয়েছেন। এবার ডক্টর সারাসিন ব্যাংক অব ইংল্যান্ডে উপযুক্ত কাগজপত্র দেখাতে পারলেই রাতারাতি কোটিপতি হয়ে যাবেন। কোটিপতি হওয়ার খবর জানাজানি হয়ে গেলে বিজ্ঞানী মহলে ডক্টর সারাসিনের কদর বেড়ে যায়। বিজ্ঞানীদের সম্মেলনে তিনি এই টাকা দিয়ে পরিকল্পিত এবং পরিবেশবান্ধব নগরী প্রতিষ্ঠা করার অঙ্গীকার ব্যক্ত করেন। সকলেই তাঁকে সাধুবাদ জানায়। কোটিপতি হওয়ার খবর চিঠি লিখে পুত্র অক্টোভিয়াস সারাসিন ও তার বন্ধু ম্যাক্সকে জানান এবং মিসেস সারাসিনকে জানাতে বলেন।

ল্যাঙ্গেভলের সম্পত্তির মালিক হচ্ছেন ডক্টর সারাসিন, এই খবর চোখ এড়ায়নি জার্মান অধ্যাপক সুলৎস এর। তখন তেমন কিছু না হলেও পরদিন তাঁর মনে পড়ে যায় তিনিও ল্যাঙ্গেভলের দূরসম্পর্কের আত্মীয়। তাই সম্পত্তিতে তারও অধিকার রয়েছে। তখনই ট্রেন ধরে সলিসিটর শার্প জুনিয়রের নিকট হাজির হয়ে নিজের অধিকারের কথা বলেন। শার্প জুনিয়র কিছু টাকা হাতিয়ে নেওয়ার উদ্দেশ্যে দুই উত্তরাধিকারকেই নাকে দড়ি দিয়ে ঘোরান। একসময় তাদের মাঝে রফা করে মোটা অংকের টাকা হাতিয়ে নেন তিনি। সারাসিন ও সুলৎস দুইজনই টাকা ত পেল। এরপর তারা কী করবে? একজন জার্মান যে কিনা ফরাসি জাতির প্রতি তীব্র ঘৃণা পোষণ করে এবং পৃথিবীতে যুদ্ধের মাধ্যমে রাজত্ব করতে চান। অন্যদিকে আরেকজন ফরাসি পৃথিবীতে শান্তি প্রতিষ্ঠা করতে চান। কে জয়ী হবে?

বৈজ্ঞানিক কল্পকাহিনিকে ভিন্ন মাত্রায় উপস্থাপন করার প্রতিভা নিয়ে জন্মেছিলেন জুল ভার্ন। বিচিত্র সব বিষয় নিয়ে রোমাঞ্চকর অভিযানের গল্প দ্বারা পাঠকদের আজও মুগ্ধ করে যাচ্ছেন। তবে আফসোসের বিষয় বইগুলোর বাংলা অনুবাদ পূর্ণাঙ্গ নেই। সংক্ষিপ্ত অনুবাদ পড়ে দুধের স্বাদ ঘোলে মেটাতে হয়। তবে কিছু কিছু বইয়ের পূর্ণাঙ্গ অনুবাদ ইদানীং প্রকাশিত হচ্ছে। যা জুল ভার্নের পাঠকদের জন্য দারুণ ব্যাপার। তো হাতে সময় থাকলে বইটি নিয়ে বসে পড়ুন এবং হারিয়ে যান জুল ভার্নের দুনিয়ায়। হ্যাপি রিডিং।

[Eugene · Rating 5 out of 5]

Tenía bastante tiempo que no me sentía tan bien con una lectura.

Con este libro, salí de mi zona de confort, y precisamente lo postergué tanto porque me intimidaba, pero absolutamente nada que ver. Realmente me gustó y me alegra haberlo leído, ya que quedo con muchas ganas de leer más de Julio Verne.

Me pareció una historia bastante curiosa, y tiene un efecto en el que al final, es algo genial, como las cosas se dan a causa de otras.

No conocía muy bien de qué iba, solamente comencé a leerlo, así que los sucesos me iban sorprendiendo conforme avanzaba.

Por último, debo decir, que el personaje principal, me pareció muy bueno y pasa a estar en la lista de mis personajes favoritos.

¿Lo recomiendo? Completamente

[adela · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Doktorův plán byl pro profesora záležitostí celkem vedlejší. Připojil ji jen k záležitostem jiným, důležitějším. Ty se týkaly zničení všech národů, které by odmítly splynout s národem německým a spojit se s ním v jedné vlasti."

Kniha byla poprvé vydána roku 1879, což je 60 let před druhou světovou válkou. Myšlenky Herr Schultze mi přišly až děsivě podobné Hitlerovým představám o světě, který by si ve válce vydobyl.
Je vtipné, že Jules Verne asi nečekal, že by se jeho dílo mohlo v budoucnosti stát pravdou, ačkoliv ne doslovnou.

Kniha určitě stojí za přečtení, i když tu byly některé části, které mě nebavily (kvůli tomu 3 hvězdy), jsem ráda, že jsem knihu dočetla do konce.

[Lulo GB · Rating 5 out of 5]

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

La guerra fría del siglo XIX.

Es sorprendente que las obras de Verne que todo el mundo conoce, llegan a ser en bastantes partes aburridas o hasta pesadas, pero luego sus novelas cortas y sus cuentos son plenamente entretenidos, siendo este un claro ejemplo.
Con una historia que recuerda mucho a la guerra fría, describiendo armamento que no se usaría hasta la segunda guerra mundial (el cañón a París o los proyectiles de gas mostaza), se me ha llegado a ser corta.
Además, creo que si en aquel entonces se conociera el efecto de la radiación, Julio Verne podría haber llegado a describir el funcionamiento de una bomba atómica mucho antes de ser inventada.

[Caterina · Rating 3 out of 5]

Bu güne kadar okuduğum Jules Verne eserleri içinde en eleştirel olanıydı diyebilirim. Alıştığım tarzından farklı olunca kurguya adapte olmakta epey zorluk çektim.

Bu yüzden 3 yıldızı yazara değil, kendime verdim.

[Farideh · Rating 3 out of 5]

واسه زمانی که ژول ورن داشته اینو می‌نوشته خیلی جالب بود