I remember seeing this movie in the Champs Elysées in Paris when it was distributed, it must be in 56 or 57. I possess the whole set of 80 books of his novels plus one which story is probably not known here. Here is the story of that extraordinary book: Paris in the XXth century - as explained in Wikipedia:
Jules Verne's publisher, Pierre-Jules Hetzel, thought the book's pessimism would damage Verne's then-booming career, and suggested that he wait 20 years to publish it. In a scathing rebuke to Verne, Hetzel writes about a draft of the novel he has just seen:
I was not expecting perfection - to repeat, I knew that you were attempting the impossible - but I was hoping for something better.
Hetzel was also critical of Verne for not covering new ground with the novel:
In this piece, there is not a single issue concerning the real future that is properly resolved, no critique that hasn't already been made and remade before. I am surprised at you ... it is lacklustre and lifeless. With that, Verne put the manuscript in a safe where it was forgotten, only to be discovered by his great-grandson in 1989. The original French version was finally published in 1994, and an English translation by Richard Howard was published by Random House in 1996. When the french edition was published his grand son explained that having no way of finding the combination of the safe they had to explode it and that's how they found the manuscript. Hetzel was quite unjust about the book which is remarkable when we consider all the technology Vernes thought would be at mankind's disposal in 1960. A book worth reading.In the 70s the whole set of the Voyages extraordinaires were published with the same Hetzel covers by Michel de L'Ormeraie edtion with the original fac simile of the pictures and same lettering than the original edition.
In this piece, there is not a single issue concerning the real future that is properly resolved, no critique that hasn't already been made and remade before. I am surprised at you ... it is lacklustre and lifeless. With that, Verne put the manuscript in a safe where it was forgotten, only to be discovered by his great-grandson in 1989. The original French version was finally published in 1994, and an English translation by Richard Howard was published by Random House in 1996. When the french edition was published his grand son explained that having no way of finding the combination of the safe they had to explode it and that's how they found the manuscript. Hetzel was quite unjust about the book which is remarkable when we consider all the technology Vernes thought would be at mankind's disposal in 1960. A book worth reading.In the 70s the whole set of the Voyages extraordinaires were published with the same Hetzel covers by Michel de L'Ormeraie edtion with the original fac simile of the pictures and same lettering than the original edition.
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