Book review: "Five weeks in a balloon" by Jules Verne

Author's note:

The following book review, which is the translation of my latest post published right today here in Steemit, refers to a Spanish edition made by a Mexican publishing house.
This review may content spoilers.

Two years ago I've bought this book in a local bookstore of my city, taking advantage of the earnings from the cryptocurrencies high pricing and that, also, was Christmas. It's not until this year that I've finally could read it with all the world's calmness. And if we start to observe a a little the work of this particular author, the first thing we can notice is that this novel is part of a series called "Extraordinary Voyages", which was published in the second half of the nineteenth century, a period where science begun to occupy an important place in European society as a source of opinion and as a window to explore other cultures foreign to European and American, with Africa being the best example of that scientific and political enterprise. Let's say, in a way, that Jules Verne is a clear example of European curiosity towards the cultures of other parts of the globe, of Africa in this case. And, boy, how it is reflected by the amount of explorations listed throughout the work!

But that's not all. With the wit that characterizes him as author, Verne Verne delights us with characters that evoke others from the historical period, or their modern interpretations. In the case of Samuel Fergusson and Richard "Dick" Kennedy, two of the three protagonists of the novel, their relationship reminds us a lot to Sherlock Holmes and John Watson's, although in this case it rather evokes the modern version that Guy Ritchie offers us in his homonym film duology; while Fergusson is impetuous and given to use possessive plural pronouns in his desire to involve his best friend in the project of Africa's exploration on a globe, Kennedy is cautious, reasonable, always realistic, but in the end he gives away. Likewise, Joseph "Joe" Wilson, the servant of Fergusson, ocassionally reminds us to Jean Passepartout, a character from Around the World in 80 Days for his witty comments and his peculiarity of seeing things with certain naturalness.

The description of Africa's landscapes, maybe from the chronicles of the explorers from past centuries, was so alike that I exactly imagined its colors, its landscapes and also its people. However, what caught my attention are the views that the author had regarding the future of the African population, which was gradually receiving European influence in both peaceful (evangelization) and violent (wars, slave trafficking). In a chapter, Fergusson mentions that Africa likely would become in an important civilizing center after Europe finally runs out of land and makes the most of technology, leaving to it a number of benefits. Of course, Verne never imagined that, in a certain way, it would happen a couple of centuries later, but more for the worse than for the good: Africa has become an important center, but only in the economic aspect and the only beneficiaries are the local elites and the powerful countries.

Now, in a technical aspect, the reading has been balanced, punctual, entertaining and also instructive if we want to learn about the historical context in which it was written. That's why I found the critical proplogue by Claudia Guerrero Martínez, specialist in Hispanic Literature, very relevant and pertinent, since it exposes the circumstances on which the novel was written and its distinction as the modern sci-fi's precursor.

To conclude, it's neccessary to point out a detail about this edition by Editores Mexicanos Unidos (the edition I read). Such detail is the succession of finger errors in almost each 10 or 15 pages, ortographic omissions, and some incoherent phrases product of bad writing. I ignore the circumstances that preceded this particular oversight that may bother the most fussy reader, but I hope that the publisher revises the product (or hiring someone to do so), discover these flaws and correct them before reprinting it.

Now, if you want to read it on English or French, you can check it out on Amazon, Book Depository and Barnes and Noble.