Movies - Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea

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	Movies - Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea

20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (or Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea) is a classic science fiction novel by French writer Jules Verne (1828–1905), published in 1870 under the title Vingt mille lieues sous les mers. The original edition, published by Hetzel, contains a number of illustrations by Alphonse de Neuville and Edouard Riou. The novel is about the fictional Captain Nemo and his submarine, Nautilus, as seen by one of his passengers, Professor Pierre Aronnax.

Synopsis

The story was written before modern sea-going submarines were a reality. It is narrated by Professor Aronnax, a noted marine biologist, who is accompanied by his faithful assistant Conseil and by a harpooner named Ned Land. As the story begins, Professor Aronnax finds himself aboard a ship which is hunting for an explanation for various incidents. It is rumored that the incidents are due to a sea monster, or some unknown form of narwhal. When the ship is damaged by an encounter with the sea creature, the three protagonists are thrown overboard. To their surprise, they find that the sea creature is actually a large metal vehicle. They are quickly captured and brought inside the vehicle. They meet its creator, Captain Nemo, and learn that it is called Nautilus.

The remainder of the story follows the adventures of the protagonists in Nautilus. It was built in secrecy and is commanded by the mysterious Captain Nemo ("Nemo" means "no one" in Latin and is a reference to Homer's Odyssey). Captain Nemo's motivation is implied to be both a scientific thirst for knowledge, and a desire for revenge on, and self imposed exile from, civilization. Captain Nemo explains that the submarine is electrically powered, and equipped to carry out cutting edge marine biology research; he also tells his new passengers that they can never leave because he is afraid they will betray his existence to the world.

Their travels take them to numerous points in the world's oceans, some of them which were known to Jules Verne from real travellers' descriptions and guesses, while others are totally fictional. Thus, the travellers witness the real corals of the Red Sea, the wrecks of the battle of Vigo Bay, the Antarctic ice shelves, and the fictional, submerged Atlantis. Lastly, a group of giant squids attacks the Nautilus, and kills a crew member. An encounter with the Moskstraumen whirlpool off the coast of Norway gives the three prisoners an opportunity to escape. They make it back to land alive, but the fate of Captain Nemo is not revealed.

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