I hope I'm not alone in this club. Honestly, I feel as though I am. Let me assure you now (and I assert this after having only read perhaps one thirty-sevenths into our first book) that you will be missing out greatly if you allow this opportunity (that being the opportunity to explore a grandure list of classics such as this) to pass you by. Already, I have experienced an unexpected amount of pleasure via this venture.
Let me explain. "Twenty-Thousand Leagues Under The Sea" is written in such a uniquely unexperienced voice and style. This point, in and of itself, is one to be acknowledged, because in order to grow, learn, wisen, mature, etc, (all the goals that have led me to consider this feat of reading nearly 200 classics before I die, however long it takes me) one needs to explore various mindsets and strategies. The bottom line is, it pays to be open-minded. By opening oneself up to unlimited perspectives, one allows for a broader perception of the world, and what is intellect if it isn't a more expansive overall persception?
By way of example, plaese consider for a moment the manner in which Verne writes. This can be observed simply by scanning the book's pages and noticing that dates - more often (in today's writings) written as such: "On August 30th, 2001" - are communicated most concisely as: "On 13th April, 1867." I find this strategy clever and refreshing, nonetheless interesting. Thus, if you are anything like me and unaccustomed to this style, we have already discovered a new way of
being and
doing something as essential as documenting dates. I feel more intellectual already!
Furthermore, I find myself smiling at several stops along this book's journey and pausing briefly to reconsider concepts I might have otherwise overlooked. The narrator states he was "well up in the subject" he was asked to research - the possibility of a mysterious monster wrecking ships. The few paragraphs in which the narrator rewrites his response to inquiries on the subject is enlighteningly eloquent and insighful. He shares, "The great depths of the ocean are entirely unknown to us. Soundings cannot reach them. What beings live, or can live, twelve or fifteen miles beneath the surface of the waters we can scarcely guess."
I think of my sister and her new husband Omar when I read over this passage. One particularly important "Aha!" moment in my life came when my sister, supported by the insights of Omar, demanded it impossible for any one person, or even any number of people working together, to determine the world's purpose. From that point, we conceded that nothing can truly be asserted, not even the notions we were indulging in at the present, without even a moderate shadow of a doubt (if one were to allow the slightest humility, at least). This quote via Verne supports that gesture. Thus, this book is considered a classic, it would seem, because it is thick with universality. As an English major/minor, universality is taught over and over to be a goal of writers if they wish to be successful. If a piece of writing includes concepts that are universal - those that can be understood and applied to various experiences in everyone's life - it will be successful, because each person that reads it will recognize truths in the writing that can be applied to her own life. This passage gifted me with such. What passages have done so for you so far?
The last sentence I will praise is this: "...and not to give too much cause for laughter to the Americans, who laugh well when they do laugh." I just love this. What an assertion! Is it true that Americans "laugh well?" Is Verne suggesting that Americans are heavily indulgent, even in such simple matters as laughter? Whatever is being suggested, I appreciate Verne's subtle confession.
Oh! And...another neat thing: the version I am reading (1973 The Felix Gluck Press) has sorted the paragraphs into columns reflective of newspaper format - three thin, justified columns per page. When studying poetry, or marketing even, you are taught the power of intention.The style of voice Verne uses in "20,000..." is similar to the style used in reporting - factual, concise and with great sentence variety. Thus, Verne's clear acknowledgement of the power of intention is to be respected.
Alright, that is all I have for tonight. I felt inspired. I hope you, too, soon feel inspired by this mountain of reads.
