The Mysterious Island

by Verne, Jules; Kravitz, Sidney; Evans, Arthur B.; Butcher, William; Evans, Arthur B.; Butcher, William

• ISBN13: 9780819564757
• ISBN10: 0819564753
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2002-02-27
• Publisher: Wesleyan Univ Pr

Summary

Based on the true story of Alexander Selkirk, who survived alone for almost five years on an uninhabited island off the coast of Chile, The Mysterious Island is considered by many to be Jules Verne's masterpiece. "Wide-eyed mid-nineteenth-century humanistic optimism in a breezy, blissfully readable translation by Stump" (Kirkus Reviews), here is the enthralling tale of five men and a dog who land in a balloon on a faraway, fantastic island of bewildering goings-on and their struggle to survive as they uncover the island's secret.

Table of Contents

Introduction	vii
Note on Previous Translations	xxxiii
Inception of the Novel	xxxv
The Manuscripts of ``Uncle Robinson''	xxxv
The Manuscripts of The Mysterious Island	xxxviii
Publication of The Mysterious Island	xliii
Prefaces to The Mysterious Island, Two Years Vacation, and Second Homeland	xlvii
A Few Words to the Readers of The Mysterious Island	xlvii
Preface to Two Years Vacation	xlviii
Preface-Why I Wrote Second Homeland	xlviii
Abbreviations	li
The Mysterious Island	1	(636)
Notes	637	(16)
A Chronology of Jules Verne	653	(6)
Select Bibliography	659	(8)
Principal Works of Verne Cited	659	(1)
Studies of The Mysterious Island	659	(3)
Books on Verne	662	(3)
The Principal Sources of The Mysterious Island	665	(2)
Appendix A: The Origins of The Mysterious Island	667	(6)
Appendix B: Verne's Other Writing on the Desert-Island Theme	673