JULES VERNE

This is an excellent biography of the Frenchman who masterminded the 19th century classics of science fiction and whose imaginative projections of submarine life and aerial conquest have become matters of fact in the mid-20th century. In the days before electricity, Verne had what can be called an atomic imagination. Mr. Freedman uses very little invented dialogue to keep the story of Verne's life moving. He is successful at showing the restless writer at work, learning his craft. The biography is also a revealing source of French family life and behavior. Verne insisted on his independence but remained ever the dutiful son in a life pattern foreign to Anglo-Saxon attitudes. Each of his books is discussed and briefly analyzed. "In Verne's methods as a writer, we can find the clue to his success as a prophet. By looking carefully at the present, he was able to look into the future... with his rich imagination, he made the facts and figures he used spring dramatically alive." Good point, good book.