Jules Verne Constructs America: from Utopia to Dystopia
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City University of New York (CUNY) CUNY Academic Works All Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects 9-2016 Jules Verne Constructs America: From Utopia to Dystopia Dana L. Radu The Graduate Center, City University of New York How does access to this work benefit ou?y Let us know! More information about this work at: https://academicworks.cuny.edu/gc_etds/1466 Discover additional works at: https://academicworks.cuny.edu This work is made publicly available by the City University of New York (CUNY). Contact: [email protected] Jules Verne Constructs America: From Utopia to Dystopia by Dana L. Radu A dissertation submitted to the Graduate Faculty in French in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, The City University of New York 2016 ii © 2016 DANA L. RADU All Rights Reserved iii Jules Verne Constructs America: From Utopia to Dystopia by Dana L. Radu This manuscript has been read and accepted for the Graduate Faculty in French in satisfaction of the dissertation requirement for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy 08/09/2016 ____________________________________ Date Julia Przybos Chair of Examining Committee 08/09/2016 ____________________________________ Date Francesca Canadé Sautman Executive Officer Supervisory Committee: Peter Consenstein Bettina Lerner Julia Przybos THE CITY UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK iv ABSTRACT Jules Verne Constructs America: From Utopia to Dystopia by Dana L. Radu Advisor: Julia Przybos In my dissertation, I examine visions of the United States in Jules Verne’s (1828-1905) Voyages extraordinaires (1863-1905). Of the sixty-four novels that make up that series, twenty- three, over one-third, feature American characters or take place on American soil. I demonstrate that in his early novels (1863-1886), he presents the United States in an optimistic and utopian light, while in his later novels (1887-1905), his depictions of the United States take on a pessimistic and dystopian aspect. In also showing that Verne had been influenced by utopian socialists Henri de Saint-Simon (1760-1825), Charles Fourier (1772-1837) and Étienne Cabet (1788-1856), I provide the key to understanding the author’s changing visions of the United States. As long as the author is able to reconcile socio-political and socio-economic structures in the United States with the ideas of the utopian socialists, he presents the United States as a utopian model for France. Indeed, the United States of Verne’s early novels resembles the industrialist-led, highly productive and cooperative society for which these philosophers called. When, due to new developments in American capitalism, he later becomes unable to reconcile evolving structures of American society with utopian socialism, his versions of the United States become both dystopian and anti-American. v ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to express the deepest gratitude to my advisor, Professor Julia Przybos. As my professor, she inspired in me a love for nineteenth-century French literature and taught me, among many other things, the invaluable skill of close reading. Her insightful guidance and unrelenting help throughout my writing process have made this dissertation possible, and I will be forever grateful to her. I would like to thank my committee members, Professor Peter Consenstein and Professor Bettina Lerner, whose feedback and comments throughout the writing process led me to explore avenues not previously considered and helped me steer my project in the right direction. I would also like to thank my parents, Debra and Robert Loev, whose support and belief in me helped me see the this project to the end. Finally, I would like to thank my incredible husband, Richard Radu, for his extreme patience and loving support and for inspiring in me a love of Jules Verne. Without his persistent encouragement, I could not have finished this project, which I dedicate to him. 6 TABLE OF CONTENTS Page Introduction 8 Definition and History of Utopian Thought 9 Basic Principles of the Utopian Socialists 12 Dystopia 18 Jules Verne’s Life and Work: a Utopian (Socialist)? 20 Review of Literature 25 Structure of the Dissertation 29 Chapter 1: Verne’s Utopian Vision of the American Science Establishment 32 1. The Rise and Fall of Science in Europe in the Early Nineteenth Century 32 1.1 A Scientific Model: England, Germany or the United States 42 1.2 Patriotism and the Situation of Science in France 49 2. Education 55 2.1 Primary and Secondary Education 55 2.2 Unofficial Education 63 3. Organization of Science 67 3.1 Centralization and Specialization 68 3.2 French Higher Education in the Sciences: Fragmentation and Isolation of Scientists 70 3.3 The Democratization of Science vs Elitism 74 4. Theoretical vs. Practical Science 83 Chapter 2: American Industry as a Model for France 87 2.1 Americans or Yankees? 89 2.2 Yankee as Robinson 92 2.3 Yankee Work Ethic and Industrial Progress in the United States 96 2.4 Toiling for the Common Good 101 2.5 Progress as Religion 108 2.6 American Scientists and Industrialists 112 2.7 American Machines 113 2.8 War, the Enemy of Progress 128 2.9 Slavery 132 2.10 Benefits of a Franco-American Alliance 134 Chapter 3: Art in the United States: A Balanced Approach? 137 3.1 The Utopian Socialist Conception of Art 137 3.2 European Criticism of American (Lack of) Culture – Art in a democracy: Is it 144 possible? 3.3 Do Verne’s novels qualify as art? 148 3.4 Verne’s Vision of Art in America 153 3.4.1 Verne’s Stereotypical Vision of American Philistines 154 3.4.2 Artistic American Characters 161 3.4.3 Can Americans Appreciate Beauty? 169 3.4.4 Two Ways of Observing Outer Space 175 7 3.5 Utopian Alliance: Science, Industry and Art 177 Chapter 4: Verne’s Early Dystopian Visions of America 187 4.1. Verne’s Early Dystopias 189 4.2 Early Seeds of Verne’s Dystopian Vision of the United States 210 4.2.1 Machine Mania 211 4.2.2 Self-Centeredness 213 4.2.3 American Greed 215 4.2.3.1 The Good Side of American Greed 215 4.2.3.2 Bad Side of American Greed 223 Chapter 5: Visions of Dystopian America 231 5.1 American Lust for Gold 232 5.2 Dangers of Unearned Riches 235 5.3 Dystopian America 244 5.3.1 Sans dessus dessous 246 5.3.2 L’Île à hélice 251 Conclusion 267 Works Cited 275 8 Introduction Jules Verne’s (1828-1905) Voyages extraordinaires dans les mondes connus et inconnus (1863-1905), his series of 64 scientific adventure novels, allowed French readers to escape to “known and unknown worlds,” as the title indicates. However, these novels did not so much serve as a form of escapism for the author and his readers, as they offered him a way to critique the socio-political situation of France through comparisons of socio-political structures of other countries. In the waning years of the Second Empire and particularly after the crushing defeat of the Franco-Prussian war in 1870, Verne was looking elsewhere for inspiration. Twenty-three, that is over one-third, of Verne’s Voyages extraordinaires take place entirely or partially in the United States and this specific corpus forms the object of my study. In these novels, the young country does not only serve as a screen on which the author could project his vision of the ideal world. The nation’s rapid industrialization, its republican values and the fact that it had recently defeated France’s other archrival England told him that it could serve as a new plausible model for a future France. In his early novels, Verne lauds the American Republic and its approach to science, technology and Progress. His depictions of the new country more often than not seem inspired by the notion of utopia and the theories of utopian socialists Henri de Saint-Simon, Charles Fourier, Étienne Cabet and Michel Chevalier, who called for an industrialist-led, highly productive and cooperative society. I argue in my dissertation that as long as Verne is able to reconcile in his fiction American socio-political and socio-economic structures with the general ideas of the utopian socialists, he presents the United States as a model for France. When in his late novels, this reconciliation with utopian socialism is no longer possible, due to the changing nature of capitalism in the United States, his visions of the country become more dystopian and even openly anti-American. 9 Definition and History of Utopian Thought Before launching into my analysis of Verne’s utopian and dystopian constructions of the United States, it is necessary to outline how I understand utopia and dystopia. While the “myth of a heaven on earth” (Manuel Utopian I) is common amongst cultures everywhere, Frank and Fritzie Manuel, in their Utopian Thought in the Western World (1979) highlight “the utopian propensity” of the Western world “[un]equaled in any other culture” (I). Beginning with the “golden age” (64) of the ancient Greeks and ending with Marx and Freud, they give an excellent history of man’s quest to find or create ideal living conditions. To discover the roots of utopian works, one must inevitably go as far back as Thomas More’s Utopia (1516). But to turn to More (1478-1535) is also to go back another 2,000 years to Plato, for, as the authors of Utopian Thought put it, More’s book is a “completion and fulfillment of the Platonic dialogue” (121). Socrates had requested that Plato give life to the ideas for the just city-state that Plato had outlined in the Republic.