The Palik Series

Several months ago, I posted an article to this blog about an early novella by Jules Verne which I had translated for the first time into English, as part of a new project by the North American Jules Verne Society (NAJVS), to publish, for the first time in English, several little-known, overlooked works by Jules Verne and also some by his son Michel (written apparently by Michel though attributed by him to his father). The novella, the first in a series of several obscure Verne writings, is entitled Jédédias Jamet or the Tale of an Inheritance.

I was notified a few days ago by the NAJVS that this translation, and my critical introduction to it, has now been published, in a book also containing the translation of another Verne novella by a Verne Studies colleague, Edward Baxter. The book is entitled The Marriage of a Marquis - First English Translation, the title of the book referring to the Baxter rendering. The book also contains articles by other members of the NAJVS on why certain Verne works such as these two have been largely overlooked up to now, offers literary analysis of these works, and so on. It can be looked up at www.amazon.com.

This tome is published by Bear Manor Fiction in the USA, as part of an NAJVS-commissioned series called The Palik Series, in honour of its instigator and benefactor, a prominent Verne scholar. Forthcoming volumes in the series will feature translations of other Verne novels and shorter stories, written by both Jules and his son Michel, though it is only comparatively recently that Verne scholars have argued that certain late-career pieces, including posthumously published works, attributed to Jules Verne were, in reality, most likely the work of his son Michel. .

One of the forthcoming volumes, to be entitled Stories by Jules and Michel Verne - Fact-Finding Mission, Pierre-Jean and The Fate of Jean Morénas, will contain three more of my translated novellas with accompanying critical material. The two latter stories - P-J and Morénas as I here abbreviate their titles - are closely related in theme, the former having been apparently written by Jules, the latter being an extended and altered reworking of it by Michel. Both stories deal with the escape from a penal colony of a convict wrongfully accused of murdering his uncle, and are Dostoyevskyian in their theme of crime, punishment, guilt and the quest for redemption. And, like the currently published 'Jamet', they provide an interesting alternative view of Verne's literature, so often categorised as primarily within the science-fiction and adventure genres.

I shall return to this blog shortly to upload some further information from the NAJVS, promoting this new series, which contributes to the ongoing Verne renaissance. Kudos to Dr Brian Taves, Verne scholar based in the Library of Congress, and his fellow editors, for delivering this new milestone in the history of Verne literature and scholarship in the English-speaking world.