Download or read book 50,000 Miles Under the Seas (Translated and Illustrated) written by Jules Verne and published by . This book was released on 2019-01-11 with total page 427 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Jules Verne's Vingt Mille Lieues sous les Mers was initially published as a serial novel 1869-1870. It is the fifth most translated book in the world --177 languages-- and has been abridged, modified, often plagiarized, or adapted into children's books, films, television series, and comic books. It is probably Verne's most popular book; however, many translations do not strictly represent the original text in detail, and often simply paraphrase the author; furthermore --and dear to my artistic sensibility-- many translated versions do not even have illustrations! Verne's adventure stories and their visual interpretation were meant to go together --the artwork is the mustard and ketchup to Verne's hotdog! For my part, I admit that it is the illustrations that first led me to read Verne's novels as a young teenager. Now, as a published writer / illustrator, I have made a pledge to write down these novels as if Jules Verne himself was rewriting them in the English language --and nothing less than that! And I did get a thrill out of the opportunity to create modern illustrations for these great stories. As a translator one must always stay with the author's written words. It is easy enough to get carried away, inspired by the original, and take off on your own story-telling --on a tangent. Using poetic license, n'est pas de mise ici! --Freedom to depart from the original has no place here. The translator must remain focused on the task, steady the pen, and write the author's words without jumping at every opportunity to start writing his own story based of the one at hand. I have read many translations of Jules Verne and it is quite amazing how often this occurs... I suppose it is an easy trap; all translators are soon confronted with the thought that maybe they could write such a masterpiece, themselves! --How difficult can it be? However, I have brought one minor change to the original text: Conseil is said to be a servant in the service of Professor Pierre Aronnax. I changed that to assistant --which is arguably more pleasant and probably more accurate since a low income scientist would not be able to afford a servant, but Le Jardin des Plantes might well provide him with an assistant! Besides, I hate the word servant --it's so 19th Century! Conseil, being the professor's assistant, makes the relationship more interesting, and somewhat more amusing; because Conseil insists on addressing Aronnax in the third person --to the point of being annoying. Of course a servant would be expected to address his employer formally, and now that he is an assistant, the relationship becomes more interesting --Well! I'm sure Jules wouldn't mind.