3 ms·
I don’t take offense but is it in any way surprising that Verne being a Frenchman writing for a predominantly French audience depicted adventurers who actually
by RandomThoughts3 2y ago
I don’t take offense but is it in any way surprising that Verne being a Frenchman writing for a predominantly French audience depicted adventurers who actually look like him?
Seems to me like taking a sledgehammer to tore down doors which are already wide open but maybe I’m missing something. At this point, the mandatory postcolonial blurb in any literature article feels so expected that it has become slightly trite at least to me.
- thrance 2y agoMy previous comment was specifically targeted to those who feel offended this is even brought up. Jules Verne's books often features adventurers inspired by the heroes created by colonial propaganda, like Lyautey, Marchand, Brazza... Understanding the context of the time Verne lived in is necessary to get where his stories come from. Not mentioning it would lead to a pretty subpar analysis, in my opinion.
- RandomThoughts3 2y ago> Understanding the context of the time Verne lived in is necessary to get where his stories come from. Certainly but that’s kind of implied by merely talking about Verne. Anyway, the article leans more heavily towards the overall Verne outlook towards colonialism than his simple choice of character thankfully. I don’t think the analysis is particularly compelling or interesting - it’s the usual continental philosophy inspired rehash you expect for any modern literature paper, a discipline which has apparently become entirely incapable of producing any novel idea - but well I guess it’s nice it exists even if reading it feels like looking at a paint by number piece of art.