Robert M. (shotokanchef) reviewed The Golden Volcano: The First English Translation of Verne's Original Manuscript (Bison Frontiers of Imagination) on + 813 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 1
This is the first English translation of Vernes original manuscript (Not to be confused with that abomination published by Michel Verne under his fathers name). Typical of Verne, it consists of two parts sometimes referred to as part 1, The Claim on Forty Mile Creek and Part 2, Flood and Flame.
Also typical is a brief opening followed quickly by announcement of the premise of the plot: two Canadian brothers have inherited a claim to a gold mine in the Klondike. They will examine the claim and either become miners or sell the claim. Part 1 of the novel describes their cross-continental rail journey from Montreal to Vancouver and their steamship trip to Skagway. A few minor incidents along the way are highly predictable precursors to what will follow. The arduous trek to Dawson City in the Klondike is described in some detail, as are the privations of life in the Klondike during the gold rush days of the late 1800s. As they work their claim, they have a clash with neighboring minersnaturally! Part 1 ends disastrously for the brothers who end up stuck in Dawson City for the winter.
Part 2 opens with new hope for the brothers as they uncover a new path to riches. Their trek continues north to the Arctic Circle to the Golden Mount. Can you see it coming? Yes, they have another clash with the same rival miners over possession of the volcano. Here we enter into the fantastic as one of the brothers devises a way to force an eruption of the volcano. He does so while the rival gang is on the rim. It erupts, but many of the gang that is on top manages to escape. Well, sort of. In the end, of course, there is more disappointment, but the brothers and their party are safe to return home.
In The Golden Volcano, Verne continues his fascination with earthquakes and volcanoes. Both play important roles: an earthquake at the end of part 1, and a volcanic eruption at the end of part 2. The catastrophic ending follows that of many other novels. Volcanic eruption destroys Captain Nemo and the Nautilus at the end of The Mysterious Island. Captain Hatteras meets his doom in a volcano discovered on an island at the North Pole. In Journey to the Center of the Earth, the explorers enter the subterranean world through an inactive volcano in Iceland and return in another part of the globe through an active one when it erupts. The doomsday machine in Facing the Flag is contained in an inactive volcanic island. In Master of the World, a supposed volcano threatens towns in rural North Carolina. Earthquakes rent their havoc in several novels besides The Golden Volcano: An Antarctic Mystery (Sphinx of the Icefields), Journey to the Center of the Earth, and Invasion of the Sea. After providing so much real and scientific data, the catastrophe is used to erase all trace of the fantastic.
This is an easy-to-read book: no deep philosophical asides to muddle through that interrupt the flow of the story; no complex scientific data and explanation to comprehend. There are, however, history and geography lessons throughout. Also typical of Verne are the countless redundancies of facts both within chapters and from one chapter to the next. It is almost as if he were writing a serial for a periodical that requires numerous recaps to keep the reader in pace with the story line. And, there is the usual plethora of questions posed by the author throughout the novel that are typical of Verne. As this edition is based upon an unedited manuscript that was never published, the translator/editor has corrected spellings, entered missing data, and corrected mismatches of dates, times, places, etc.: at least, most of them.
Also typical is a brief opening followed quickly by announcement of the premise of the plot: two Canadian brothers have inherited a claim to a gold mine in the Klondike. They will examine the claim and either become miners or sell the claim. Part 1 of the novel describes their cross-continental rail journey from Montreal to Vancouver and their steamship trip to Skagway. A few minor incidents along the way are highly predictable precursors to what will follow. The arduous trek to Dawson City in the Klondike is described in some detail, as are the privations of life in the Klondike during the gold rush days of the late 1800s. As they work their claim, they have a clash with neighboring minersnaturally! Part 1 ends disastrously for the brothers who end up stuck in Dawson City for the winter.
Part 2 opens with new hope for the brothers as they uncover a new path to riches. Their trek continues north to the Arctic Circle to the Golden Mount. Can you see it coming? Yes, they have another clash with the same rival miners over possession of the volcano. Here we enter into the fantastic as one of the brothers devises a way to force an eruption of the volcano. He does so while the rival gang is on the rim. It erupts, but many of the gang that is on top manages to escape. Well, sort of. In the end, of course, there is more disappointment, but the brothers and their party are safe to return home.
In The Golden Volcano, Verne continues his fascination with earthquakes and volcanoes. Both play important roles: an earthquake at the end of part 1, and a volcanic eruption at the end of part 2. The catastrophic ending follows that of many other novels. Volcanic eruption destroys Captain Nemo and the Nautilus at the end of The Mysterious Island. Captain Hatteras meets his doom in a volcano discovered on an island at the North Pole. In Journey to the Center of the Earth, the explorers enter the subterranean world through an inactive volcano in Iceland and return in another part of the globe through an active one when it erupts. The doomsday machine in Facing the Flag is contained in an inactive volcanic island. In Master of the World, a supposed volcano threatens towns in rural North Carolina. Earthquakes rent their havoc in several novels besides The Golden Volcano: An Antarctic Mystery (Sphinx of the Icefields), Journey to the Center of the Earth, and Invasion of the Sea. After providing so much real and scientific data, the catastrophe is used to erase all trace of the fantastic.
This is an easy-to-read book: no deep philosophical asides to muddle through that interrupt the flow of the story; no complex scientific data and explanation to comprehend. There are, however, history and geography lessons throughout. Also typical of Verne are the countless redundancies of facts both within chapters and from one chapter to the next. It is almost as if he were writing a serial for a periodical that requires numerous recaps to keep the reader in pace with the story line. And, there is the usual plethora of questions posed by the author throughout the novel that are typical of Verne. As this edition is based upon an unedited manuscript that was never published, the translator/editor has corrected spellings, entered missing data, and corrected mismatches of dates, times, places, etc.: at least, most of them.
