Facing nature : environmental issues and global change in Jules Verne's Voyages extraordinaires (An analysis of The Child of the Cavern, The Purchase of the North Pole and The Invasion of the Sea)

• Main Author: Even, Kevin
• Other Authors: CRP19 - Centre de Recherches sur les Poétiques du XIXe siècle - EA 3423 (CRP19), Université Sorbonne Nouvelle - Paris 3, Université de la Sorbonne nouvelle - Paris III, Henri Scepi
• Format: Thesis
• Language: French
• Published: HAL CCSD 2020
• Subjects: Jules Verne; Climate fiction; Ecocriticism; Ecopoetics; Environmental studies; Anthropocene; Fiction climatique; Écocritique; Écopoétique; Environnement; hisphilso; hist; Jules; North Pole; Verne
• Online Access: https://tel.archives-ouvertes.fr/tel-03474150/file/These_Kevin_EVEN_2020.pdf; https://tel.archives-ouvertes.fr/tel-03474150

This dissertation studies the portrayal of environmental issues in Jules Verne's novels. It centers on texts addressing issues related to resource depletion, ecosystem destruction and colonial greed. Using ecocriticism theory, this piece provides a new interpretation of Verne's work and demonstrates that the novelist's perpetual focus on global threats caused by mankind makes him an early founder of climate fiction. An overview of the environmental woes of Western societies throughout the XIXth century along with an analysis of Verne's interest in science and geography precede the study of three novels questioning the environmental issues brought on by industrialisation, technicism and colonialism. A reading of The Child of the Cavern [1877] then underlines the questions surrounding the limits of the Earth's resources. This is followed by an analysis of The Purchase of the North Pole [1889], which shows the ironic distance of the author with regard to his own depiction of technicism in previous novels, and questions the destructive behavior of businessmen willing to destroy the planet for personal enrichment. Finally, an analysis of The Invasion of the Sea [1905] shows Verne's ambiguous representation of imperialism: a process celebrated for its "civilizing virtues" and denounced for its disastrous consequences on indigenous communities and landscapes. Cette thèse prend pour objet d'étude la représentation de la question environnementale dans les Voyages extraordinaires de Jules Verne. Elle se concentre particulièrement sur des textes mettant en jeu des thématiques telles que l'épuisement des ressources fossiles, la perturbation des écosystèmes par l'industrie et la prédation coloniale des territoires. Il s'agit ainsi de présenter une lecture nouvelle du corpus vernien à la lumière du courant écocritique et des recherches écopoétiques. Sans faire du romancier un environnementaliste avant la lettre, cette recherche s'appuie sur une lecture croisée des Voyages afin de souligner l'attention permanente de Verne ...