Facing the Flag
Adventure novel, Science fiction[1] | |
Publisher | Pierre-Jules Hetzel |
---|---|
Publication date | 1896 |
Published in English | 1897 |
Media type | Print (Hardback) |
Preceded by | Propeller Island |
Followed by | Clovis Dardentor |
Facing the Flag or For the Flag (
series.Like
Plot
Thomas Roch, a brilliant French
Karraje and his men kidnap Roch and his attendant Gaydon from the asylum and bring him to their hide-out—the island of Back Cup in the
Hart succeeds in secretly sending out a message in a metal keg, giving the full details of Karraje's operations and his impending acquisition of the Fulgurator. The message gets through to the British authorities at their nearby naval base in Bermuda, and the British Navy sends a submarine, HMS Sword, to find Hart. The submarine's crew makes contact with Hart, and take him and Roch on board, but the Sword is discovered, attacked and sunk by the pirates. The unconscious Hart and Roch are extracted from the sunken British sub by pirate divers, leaving the entire British crew to perish. Hart manages to avoid suspicions of his actions.
Meanwhile, Roch's weapon is completed and becomes operational. Roch has no compunction in using it on British or American ships, and the first cruiser to approach the island is easily destroyed with only a handful of its crew surviving. Next, a ship arrives from France and Roch refuses to fire on his own country's ship. He struggles with the pirates, who try to seize the Deflagrator. During the struggle, Roch blows up himself, his weapon, and the pirates, along with the entire island. The single survivor of the cataclysm is Simon Hart, whose unconscious body with the diary at his side is found by the landing French sailors. Hart is eventually revived, to be amply rewarded for his dedication to his country.
Response
Following publication of the book, Verne was sued by the chemist Eugène Turpin, inventor of the explosive Melinite, who recognized himself in the character of Roch and was not amused. Turpin had tried to sell his invention to the French government, which in 1885 refused it, though later purchasing it (it was extensively used in the First World War); but Turpin had never gone mad, nor did he ever offer his invention to any but the Government of France, so he had some justified grievance. Verne was successfully defended by Raymond Poincaré, later president of France. A letter to Verne's brother Paul seems to suggest, however, that after all Turpin was indeed the model for Roch. The character of Roch and his revolutionary powerful explosive might also have been inspired by the real-life Alfred Nobel who invented dynamite and later reportedly regretted having introduced such a destructive force into the world.[2][3]
Politics
The book was written and published when France was in the throes of the
Legacy
In 1958, Czech director
In 2012 French comics artist Goux adapted the novel into a comic book, Le Fulgurateur Roch.[8]
References
- ISBN 978-1-31-669437-4
- ^ a b Butcher, William. "A Chronology of Jules Verne". Jules Verne Collection. Zvi Har’El. Archived from the original on 29 March 2010. Retrieved 24 August 2012.
- ^ Pérez, Ariel; Garmt de Vries; Jean-Michel Margot. "Jules Verne FAQ". Jules Verne Collection. Zvi Har’El. Archived from the original on 25 September 2018. Retrieved 24 August 2012.
- ^ McDougall, Walter (September 2001). "Journey to the Center of Jules Verne… and Us". Watch on the West: A Newsletter of FPRI's Center for the Study of America and the West. 2 (4). Archived from the original on 8 August 2006. Retrieved 24 August 2012.
- ^ Taves, Brian; Jean-Michel Margot (November 1997). "Books in Review: An Ordinary Treatment of the Voyages Extraordinaires". Science-Fiction Studies. XXIV (73). Archived from the original on 25 April 2011. Retrieved 24 August 2012.
- ^ Evans, Arthur B. (November 1999). "An Exercise in Creative Genealogy". Science Fiction Studies. 26 (79). Retrieved 24 August 2012.
- SME. Retrieved 1 February 2012.
- ^ "Christian Goux".
External links
- Works related to Facing the Flag at Wikisource
- Facing the Flag at Standard Ebooks
- Facing the Flag at Project Gutenberg
- Original French text Archived 2009-01-07 at the Wayback Machine
- For the Flag English text version with full page cover and page images from the Baldwin Library of Historical Children's Literature and the University of Florida Digital Collections
- Facing the Flag public domain audiobook at LibriVox