The Steam House
Encyclopedia
The Steam House is a Jules Verne
novel recounting the travels of a group of British colonists in the Raj
in a wheeled house pulled by a steam-powered
mechanical elephant. (In fact, Steam car
s of various types an designs were actually being built at the time of writing, though none in the shape of en elephant is known).
Jules Verne uses the mechanical house as a plot device to have the reader travel in nineteenth century India. The descriptions are interspersed with historical information and social commentary.
The book takes place in the aftermath of the Indian Rebellion of 1857
against British rule, with the passions and traumas aroused still very much alive among Indians and British alike. An alternate title by which the book was known - "The End of Nana Sahib" - refers to the appearance in the book of a real historical figure: rebel leader Nana Sahib
, a hero to many Indians and the most heinous of murderers in British eyes.
As history records, Nana Sahib disappeared after the crushing of the rebellion and his subsequent fate was never known; Verne tries to offer a fictional answer to this perplexing question.
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...
novel recounting the travels of a group of British colonists in the Raj
British Raj
British Raj was the British rule in the Indian subcontinent between 1858 and 1947; The term can also refer to the period of dominion...
in a wheeled house pulled by a steam-powered
Steam engine
A steam engine is a heat engine that performs mechanical work using steam as its working fluid.Steam engines are external combustion engines, where the working fluid is separate from the combustion products. Non-combustion heat sources such as solar power, nuclear power or geothermal energy may be...
mechanical elephant. (In fact, Steam car
Steam car
A steam car is a light car powered by a steam engine.Steam locomotives, steam engines capable of propelling themselves along either road or rails, developed around one hundred years earlier than internal combustion engine cars although their weight restricted them to agricultural and heavy haulage...
s of various types an designs were actually being built at the time of writing, though none in the shape of en elephant is known).
Jules Verne uses the mechanical house as a plot device to have the reader travel in nineteenth century India. The descriptions are interspersed with historical information and social commentary.
The book takes place in the aftermath of the Indian Rebellion of 1857
Indian Rebellion of 1857
The Indian Rebellion of 1857 began as a mutiny of sepoys of the British East India Company's army on 10 May 1857, in the town of Meerut, and soon escalated into other mutinies and civilian rebellions largely in the upper Gangetic plain and central India, with the major hostilities confined to...
against British rule, with the passions and traumas aroused still very much alive among Indians and British alike. An alternate title by which the book was known - "The End of Nana Sahib" - refers to the appearance in the book of a real historical figure: rebel leader Nana Sahib
Nana Sahib
Nana Sahib , born as Dhondu Pant, was an Indian leader during the Rebellion of 1857. As the adopted son of the exiled Maratha Peshwa Baji Rao II, he sought to restore the Maratha confederacy and the Peshwa tradition....
, a hero to many Indians and the most heinous of murderers in British eyes.
As history records, Nana Sahib disappeared after the crushing of the rebellion and his subsequent fate was never known; Verne tries to offer a fictional answer to this perplexing question.
Alternative titles
- Demon of Cawnpore (Part 1 of 2)
- Demon of the Cawnpore (Part 1 of 2)
- Steam House (Part I) The Demon of Cawnpore
- Steam House (Part II) Tigers and Traitors
- Tigers and Traitors (Part 2 of 2)
- Tigers and Traitors, Steam House (Part 2 of 2)
- The End of Nana SahibNana SahibNana Sahib , born as Dhondu Pant, was an Indian leader during the Rebellion of 1857. As the adopted son of the exiled Maratha Peshwa Baji Rao II, he sought to restore the Maratha confederacy and the Peshwa tradition....