3 Review(s)

Althoughcritics continue to debate whether Jules Verne's work is "true"science fiction (SF), rather than scientific romance, Verne is widely creditedas one of the founders of the genre and in the popular imagination, he and SFare seen as largely synonomous. Verne has received renewed attention since thepublication in 1994 of his "Paris au Vingtieme Siecle", and this hashighlighted his importance as a key commentator on the anguishes of modernity.Arthur B. Evans provides a detailed account of the relationship between Verneand the French literary canon, demonstrating the "now-ineluctable trendtowards rehabilitation and literary canonization". Daniel Compere exminesnarrative technique, versimilitude, defamiliarization, naturalization and dialogismin Verne's work, while Timothy Unwin develops the enquiry into the nature ofthe Vernian text in discussing the role of science and textual repetition. Theinterface between realism, utopianism and SF in a number of Verne's novels isinvestigated by Sarah Capitano.