4 ms·

> "in spite of" and "vs." narrative The point was that Verne's fictitious heroes were acting independently of government, real or fictional. For example using

• nosianu 2y ago
  And I responded to the clear statement you quoted from the submission: > His heroes were compelled by a quest to resist politics and oppose it... > ...They ventured afar in spite of government, not because of it. :) Granted, reading the full piece shows a more complex picture, but I'm not sure it supports its own assertion that there is meant to be this "vs" towards nations and governments. The text later contradicts itself too: > In part, this betrayed how much Verne and his readers took a world of empire for granted: after all, circumnavigation with the ease described in Around the World in Eighty Days was only possible because of empire. Verne depicted a journey that simultaneously relied on a velocity and connectivity only possible because of globe-spanning imperial transport and communication networks, and a journey where – in stark contrast with most actual circumnavigatory voyages – the travellers return home alive and well. So the text admits the entire private enterprise is only made possible by the global reach and security provided by empire in the first place. That clearly contradicts the earlier statement of "They ventured afar in spite of government, not because of it." The world the stories play in are based no the existence of that political structure and require it.