Captain Nemo: The Fantastic History of a Dark Genius
Encyclopedia
Captain Nemo: The Fantastic History of a Dark Genius is a novel by Kevin J. Anderson
, published in 2002
by Pocket Books
. It is a secret history
and crossover work, the central premise being that many of the things Jules Verne
wrote about existed in real life as told to him by the real Captain Nemo
.
.
The two boys attempt to apprentice themselves to a ship captain named Grant
, but Verne's stern father finds him and forces him to come home and study to become an attorney
. However, Nemo joins the crew, and after an attack by pirates, is stranded on a mysterious island
. Meanwhile, Caroline is forced to marry an explorer, Captain Hatteras. Eventually Nemo manages to escape through a fantastic underground world
. Returning as a hero, Nemo proposes to spend five weeks in a new balloon design
exploring Africa
. Caroline joins him, but Verne, fearing what might happen, refuses.
Nemo volunteers to fight in the Crimean War
. While there, he is taken captive by one of his supposed allies, an Ottoman
commander named Robur
. Robur is engaged in a power-struggle with a rival official, Barbicane
. Nemo is forced to design a submarine for use in the Ottoman navy; after many difficulties, it is finally launched, and christened the Nautilus
. Nemo and his fellow slaves use it to kill Robur, but not before their families — including the Turkish wife Nemo had taken and their son — have been killed. Grief-stricken, he turns to piracy, destroying the warships of the world he encounters.
Meanwhile, back in France, the Franco-Prussian War
has begun, and Caroline's husband Hatteras has long been missing. However, she rebukes Verne's romantic advances, as by now she only loves Nemo. For Nemo, however, the destructive lashing out begins to lose its appeal, and after sinking a passenger ship, he rescues one of its occupants — a man named Phileas Fogg
, who is more concerned with winning a bet of his than the fantastic Nautilus. Nemo decides to bring him to his destination, and then returns home to France.
There, he retrieves Caroline from the Siege of Paris
by bringing the Nautilus up the Seine
; he takes her to beneath the Arctic ice pack
to see the wreckage of her husband's ship. Now free to be together, they return to find Verne, who finally works up the courage to join his friends on their last journey together before Nemo and Caroline retreat beneath the waves together: Nemo brings the Nautilus to Atlantis
.
In addition to the fictional characters and members of Verne's family, several other historical individuals appear, specifically: Victor Hugo
, Alexandre Dumas
, Baron Haussmann
, Napoleon III
, Said bin Sultan
, the Earl of Cardigan
, Florence Nightingale
, and Pierre-Jules Hetzel
.
of The Mysterious Island, where Lionel Barrymore
played 'André Dakkar'.
The prison island where Nemo and his fellow captives are held by Robur is called Rura Penthe; this is a reference to the slave factory island from 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea.
It was due to having written Captain Nemo that Pocket Books
approached Anderson to write the novelization
of The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen film
.
Anderson would later go on to write a similarly themed novel covering H. G. Wells
and his works, entitled The Martian War
. Verne is mentioned several times in the book.
Kevin J. Anderson
Kevin J. Anderson is an American science fiction author with over forty bestsellers. He has written spin-off novels for Star Wars, StarCraft, Titan A.E., and The X-Files, and with Brian Herbert is the co-author of the Dune prequels...
, published in 2002
2002 in literature
The year 2002 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:*March 16: Authorities in Saudi Arabia arrested and jailed poet Abdul Mohsen Musalam and fired a newspaper editor following the publication of Musalam's poem The Corrupt on Earth that criticized the state's Islamic...
by Pocket Books
Pocket Books
Pocket Books is a division of Simon & Schuster that primarily publishes paperback books.- History :Pocket produced the first mass-market, pocket-sized paperback books in America in early 1939 and revolutionized the publishing industry...
. It is a secret history
Secret history
A secret history is a revisionist interpretation of either fictional or real history which is claimed to have been deliberately suppressed, forgotten, or ignored by established scholars.-Secret histories of the real world:...
and crossover work, the central premise being that many of the things Jules Verne
Jules Verne
Jules Gabriel Verne was a French author who pioneered the science fiction genre. He is best known for his novels Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea , A Journey to the Center of the Earth , and Around the World in Eighty Days...
wrote about existed in real life as told to him by the real Captain Nemo
Captain Nemo
Captain Nemo, also known as Prince Dakkar, is a fictional character featured in Jules Verne's novels Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea and The Mysterious Island ....
.
Plot
The novel follows Verne and André Nemo from their childhoods. Verne is depicted as being a sheltered, almost neurotic individual who is incapable of taking risks, while Nemo is adventurous and resourceful, especially after the death of his father (a dock worker). Both lust after the independent-minded Caroline ArronaxTwenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea
Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea is a classic science fiction novel by French writer Jules Verne published in 1870. It tells the story of Captain Nemo and his submarine Nautilus as seen from the perspective of Professor Pierre Aronnax...
.
The two boys attempt to apprentice themselves to a ship captain named Grant
In Search of the Castaways
In Search of the Castaways is a novel by the French writer Jules Verne, published in 1867–1868. The original edition, published by Hetzel, contains a number of illustrations by Édouard Riou. In 1876 it was republished by George Routledge & Sons as a three volume set titled "A Voyage Round The World"...
, but Verne's stern father finds him and forces him to come home and study to become an attorney
Lawyer
A lawyer, according to Black's Law Dictionary, is "a person learned in the law; as an attorney, counsel or solicitor; a person who is practicing law." Law is the system of rules of conduct established by the sovereign government of a society to correct wrongs, maintain the stability of political...
. However, Nemo joins the crew, and after an attack by pirates, is stranded on a mysterious island
The Mysterious Island
The Mysterious Island is a novel by Jules Verne, published in 1874. The original edition, published by Hetzel, contains a number of illustrations by Jules Férat. The novel is a sequel to Verne's famous Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea and In Search of the Castaways, though thematically it is...
. Meanwhile, Caroline is forced to marry an explorer, Captain Hatteras. Eventually Nemo manages to escape through a fantastic underground world
Journey to the Center of the Earth
A Journey to the Center of the Earth is a classic 1864 science fiction novel by Jules Verne. The story involves a German professor who believes there are volcanic tubes going toward the center of the Earth...
. Returning as a hero, Nemo proposes to spend five weeks in a new balloon design
Five Weeks in a Balloon
Five Weeks in a Balloon, or, Journeys and Discoveries in Africa by Three Englishmen is an adventure novel by Jules Verne.It is the first Verne novel in which he perfected the "ingredients" of his later work, skillfully mixing a plot full of adventure and twists that hold the reader's interest with...
exploring Africa
Africa
Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...
. Caroline joins him, but Verne, fearing what might happen, refuses.
Nemo volunteers to fight in the Crimean War
Crimean War
The Crimean War was a conflict fought between the Russian Empire and an alliance of the French Empire, the British Empire, the Ottoman Empire, and the Kingdom of Sardinia. The war was part of a long-running contest between the major European powers for influence over territories of the declining...
. While there, he is taken captive by one of his supposed allies, an Ottoman
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...
commander named Robur
Robur the Conqueror
Robur the Conqueror is a science fiction novel by Jules Verne, published in 1886. It is also known as The Clipper of the Clouds. It has a sequel, The Master of the World, which was published in 1904.- Plot summary :...
. Robur is engaged in a power-struggle with a rival official, Barbicane
From the Earth to the Moon
From the Earth to the Moon is a humorous science fantasy novel by Jules Verne and is one of the earliest entries in that genre. It tells the story of the president of a post-American Civil War gun club in Baltimore, his rival, a Philadelphia maker of armor, and a Frenchman, who build an enormous...
. Nemo is forced to design a submarine for use in the Ottoman navy; after many difficulties, it is finally launched, and christened the Nautilus
Nautilus (Verne)
The Nautilus is the fictional submarine featured in Jules Verne's novels Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea and The Mysterious Island . Verne named the Nautilus after Robert Fulton's real-life submarine Nautilus...
. Nemo and his fellow slaves use it to kill Robur, but not before their families — including the Turkish wife Nemo had taken and their son — have been killed. Grief-stricken, he turns to piracy, destroying the warships of the world he encounters.
Meanwhile, back in France, the Franco-Prussian War
Franco-Prussian War
The Franco-Prussian War or Franco-German War, often referred to in France as the 1870 War was a conflict between the Second French Empire and the Kingdom of Prussia. Prussia was aided by the North German Confederation, of which it was a member, and the South German states of Baden, Württemberg and...
has begun, and Caroline's husband Hatteras has long been missing. However, she rebukes Verne's romantic advances, as by now she only loves Nemo. For Nemo, however, the destructive lashing out begins to lose its appeal, and after sinking a passenger ship, he rescues one of its occupants — a man named Phileas Fogg
Phileas Fogg
Phileas Fogg is the main fictional character in the 1873 Jules Verne novel Around the World in Eighty Days.Fogg attempts to circumnavigate the late Victorian world in eighty days, or less, for a wager of £20,000 with members of London's Reform Club. He takes the wager and leaves with Passepartout,...
, who is more concerned with winning a bet of his than the fantastic Nautilus. Nemo decides to bring him to his destination, and then returns home to France.
There, he retrieves Caroline from the Siege of Paris
Siege of Paris
The Siege of Paris, lasting from September 19, 1870 – January 28, 1871, and the consequent capture of the city by Prussian forces led to French defeat in the Franco-Prussian War and the establishment of the German Empire as well as the Paris Commune....
by bringing the Nautilus up the Seine
Seine
The Seine is a -long river and an important commercial waterway within the Paris Basin in the north of France. It rises at Saint-Seine near Dijon in northeastern France in the Langres plateau, flowing through Paris and into the English Channel at Le Havre . It is navigable by ocean-going vessels...
; he takes her to beneath the Arctic ice pack
Polar ice packs
Polar ice packs are large areas of pack ice formed from seawater in the Earth's polar regions, known as polar ice caps: the Arctic ice pack of the Arctic Ocean and the Antarctic ice pack of the Southern Ocean, fringing the Antarctic ice sheet. Polar packs significantly change their size during...
to see the wreckage of her husband's ship. Now free to be together, they return to find Verne, who finally works up the courage to join his friends on their last journey together before Nemo and Caroline retreat beneath the waves together: Nemo brings the Nautilus to Atlantis
Atlantis
Atlantis is a legendary island first mentioned in Plato's dialogues Timaeus and Critias, written about 360 BC....
.
In addition to the fictional characters and members of Verne's family, several other historical individuals appear, specifically: Victor Hugo
Victor Hugo
Victor-Marie Hugo was a Frenchpoet, playwright, novelist, essayist, visual artist, statesman, human rights activist and exponent of the Romantic movement in France....
, Alexandre Dumas
Alexandre Dumas, père
Alexandre Dumas, , born Dumas Davy de la Pailleterie was a French writer, best known for his historical novels of high adventure which have made him one of the most widely read French authors in the world...
, Baron Haussmann
Baron Haussmann
Georges-Eugène Haussmann, commonly known as Baron Haussmann , was a French civic planner whose name is associated with the rebuilding of Paris...
, Napoleon III
Napoleon III of France
Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte was the President of the French Second Republic and as Napoleon III, the ruler of the Second French Empire. He was the nephew and heir of Napoleon I, christened as Charles Louis Napoléon Bonaparte...
, Said bin Sultan
Said bin Sultan, Sultan of Muscat and Oman
Said bin Sultan Al-Said was Sultan of Muscat and Oman from November 20, 1804 to June 4, 1856. He became joint ruler of the country along with his brother Salim on the death of their father, Sultan bin Ahmad, in 1804...
, the Earl of Cardigan
James Brudenell, 7th Earl of Cardigan
Lieutenant General James Thomas Brudenell, 7th Earl of Cardigan, KCB , was an officer in the British Army who commanded the Light Brigade during the Crimean War...
, Florence Nightingale
Florence Nightingale
Florence Nightingale OM, RRC was a celebrated English nurse, writer and statistician. She came to prominence for her pioneering work in nursing during the Crimean War, where she tended to wounded soldiers. She was dubbed "The Lady with the Lamp" after her habit of making rounds at night...
, and Pierre-Jules Hetzel
Pierre-Jules Hetzel
Pierre-Jules Hetzel was a French editor and publisher. He is best known for his extraordinarily lavishly illustrated editions of Jules Verne's novels highly prized by collectors today...
.
Connections to other works
Anderson may have decided to give Nemo the first name of Andre due to the 1929 film versionThe Mysterious Island (1929 film)
The Mysterious Island is an MGM film directed by Lucien Hubbard, a film adaptation of Jules Verne's novel L'Île mystérieuse , published in 1874...
of The Mysterious Island, where Lionel Barrymore
Lionel Barrymore
Lionel Barrymore was an American actor of stage, screen and radio. He won an Academy Award for Best Actor for his performance in A Free Soul...
played 'André Dakkar'.
The prison island where Nemo and his fellow captives are held by Robur is called Rura Penthe; this is a reference to the slave factory island from 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea.
It was due to having written Captain Nemo that Pocket Books
Pocket Books
Pocket Books is a division of Simon & Schuster that primarily publishes paperback books.- History :Pocket produced the first mass-market, pocket-sized paperback books in America in early 1939 and revolutionized the publishing industry...
approached Anderson to write the novelization
The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (novel)
The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen is a 2003 steampunk/adventure novel by Kevin J. Anderson. It is a novelization of the script of the movie of the same name, written by James Dale Robinson, which itself was based on the comic by Alan Moore and Kevin O'Neill.-Background:In late 2002, Anderson...
of The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen film
The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (film)
The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen is a 2003 superhero film adaptation loosely based on characters from the comic book limited series The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen by Alan Moore, who is also famous for Watchmen, V for Vendetta, and From Hell. It was released on July 11, 2003, in the...
.
Anderson would later go on to write a similarly themed novel covering H. G. Wells
H. G. Wells
Herbert George Wells was an English author, now best known for his work in the science fiction genre. He was also a prolific writer in many other genres, including contemporary novels, history, politics and social commentary, even writing text books and rules for war games...
and his works, entitled The Martian War
The Martian War
The Martian War: A Thrilling Eyewitness Account of the Recent Invasion As Reported by Mr. H.G. Wells is a 2006 science fiction novel by Kevin J. Anderson . It is a retelling of H.G...
. Verne is mentioned several times in the book.