Invasion of the Sea
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''Invasion of the Sea'' (french: L'Invasion de la mer) is an adventure novel written by
Jules Verne Jules Gabriel Verne (;''Longman Pronunciation Dictionary''. ; 8 February 1828 – 24 March 1905) was a French novelist, poet, and playwright. His collaboration with the publisher Pierre-Jules Hetzel led to the creation of the ''Voyages extraor ...
. It was published in 1905, the last to be published in the author's lifetime, and describes the exploits of
Berber Berber or Berbers may refer to: Ethnic group * Berbers, an ethnic group native to Northern Africa * Berber languages, a family of Afro-Asiatic languages Places * Berber, Sudan, a town on the Nile People with the surname * Ady Berber (1913–196 ...
nomads and European travelers in Saharan Africa. The European characters arrive to study the feasibility of flooding a low-lying region of the
Sahara , photo = Sahara real color.jpg , photo_caption = The Sahara taken by Apollo 17 astronauts, 1972 , map = , map_image = , location = , country = , country1 = , ...
desert to create an
inland sea An inland sea (also known as an epeiric sea or an epicontinental sea) is a continental body of water which is very large and is either completely surrounded by dry land or connected to an ocean by a river, strait, or "arm of the sea". An inland se ...
and open up the interior of Northern Africa to trade. In the end, however, the protagonists' pride in humanity's potential to control and reshape the world is humbled by a cataclysmic earthquake which results in the natural formation of just such a sea.


Plot summary

''Invasion of the Sea'' takes place in a future 1930s and follows the story of European engineers and their military escort who seek to revive an actual 19th century proposal to flood the
Sahara , photo = Sahara real color.jpg , photo_caption = The Sahara taken by Apollo 17 astronauts, 1972 , map = , map_image = , location = , country = , country1 = , ...
desert with waters from the
Mediterranean Sea The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on the ea ...
to create an inland "
Sahara Sea The Sahara Sea was the name of a hypothetical macro-engineering project which proposed flooding endorheic basins in the Sahara Desert with waters from the Atlantic Ocean or Mediterranean Sea. The goal of this unrealized project was to create an ...
" for both commercial and military purposes. The French military escort, led by Captain Hardigan, meet with conflict from
Tuareg The Tuareg people (; also spelled Twareg or Touareg; endonym: ''Imuhaɣ/Imušaɣ/Imašeɣăn/Imajeɣăn'') are a large Berber ethnic group that principally inhabit the Sahara in a vast area stretching from far southwestern Libya to southern A ...
Berber Berber or Berbers may refer to: Ethnic group * Berbers, an ethnic group native to Northern Africa * Berber languages, a family of Afro-Asiatic languages Places * Berber, Sudan, a town on the Nile People with the surname * Ady Berber (1913–196 ...
tribes who fear the new sea will threaten their nomadic way of life. The Berber tribes, led by the warlord Hadjar, begin an insurgency campaign against the Europeans in an effort to derail their plans for the inland sea. Captain Hardigan attempts to retaliate against the Berbers and bring Hadjar to justice. Ultimately, however, a disastrous earthquake strikes. This earthquake floods the Sahara to an extent beyond even limits which were proposed by the Europeans, and drowns the insurgent Tuaregs.


Historical background

The novel ''Invasion of the Sea'', as well the plans of the characters in the novel, are inspired by the real-life exploits of Captain François Élie Roudaire. Roudaire was a French military officer and geographer who surveyed parts of Tunisia in the late 1800s. He discovered that large areas of the Sahara Desert were below sea level and proposed that a canal be dug from the Mediterranean Sea to these Saharan basins, which would allow for the creation of an inland "Sahara Sea". Others had made similar proposals at the same time, and canal building generally was a popular geopolitical endeavor of the first decade of the 1900s, when ''Invasion of the Sea'' was written. Some have noted that the inclusion of the Berber raiders (who are opposed to the efforts of the European engineers and military officers) is a foreshadowing of the growth of Islamic terrorism in the 1900s and 2000s.


Translation history

Parts of the novel, under the title ''Captain Hardizan'', were serialized in ''
The American Weekly ''The American Weekly'' was a Sunday magazine, Sunday newspaper supplement published by the Hearst Corporation from November 1, 1896, until 1966. History During the 1890s, publications were inserted into Joseph Pulitzer's ''New York World'' and ...
'' (the Sunday Supplement to the
Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...
newspaper) on August 6 and August 13, 1905, by Oswald Mathew. The first complete English translation was published by
Wesleyan University Press Wesleyan University Press is a university press that is part of Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut. The press is currently directed by Suzanna Tamminen, a published poet and essayist. History and overview Founded (in its present for ...
in 2001 by Edward Baxter. It was slated to be the first in a series of early science fiction reprints from Wesleyan University Press. It contained many illustrations from the original French edition. The history of ''Invasion of the Sea'' was unusual in this regard. For years before the Baxter translation, ''Invasion of the Sea'' was one of four late ''
Voyages Extraordinaires The ''Voyages extraordinaires'' (; ) is a collection or sequence of novels and short stories by the French writer Jules Verne. Fifty-four of these novels were originally published between 1863 and 1905, during the author's lifetime, and eig ...
'' novels left unpublished in their whole form (the others being '' The Mighty Orinoco'', ''
The Kip Brothers ''The Kip Brothers'' (french: Les Frères Kip, 1902) is an adventure novel written by Jules Verne, one of his Voyages extraordinaires The ''Voyages extraordinaires'' (; ) is a Collection (publishing), collection or novel sequence, sequence of ...
'', and ''
Traveling Scholarships ''Travel Scholarships'' (french: Bourses de voyage) is a 1903 adventure novel by Jules Verne. Summary Antilian School is a renowned London college, which hosts only young European people born in the Caribbean. Nine of its students are to be awar ...
''). Early translators of Verne for British and American readers in the late 1800s and early 1900s were notorious for making major changes to Verne's novels in the translation and editing process. Translators would, for example, change names and even character motivations at times. Other changes were aimed at removing the anti-imperialist themes which Verne was known to espouse in his work, while others still were made by Verne's son. No contemporary translation was as notorious for its revisionism as the ''Captain Hardizan'' edition of ''Invasion of the Sea'', however. Mathew's translation changes were so dramatic that they changed the focus to a young European woman captured by an Arab raiding party. The Arabs themselves were described as being led by a different woman of supernatural abilities.


Contemporary reviews and criticism

Reviews have differed in their opinions between different editions of ''Invasion of the Sea'' and its various English translations. While early English translations have been criticized for their unfaithfulness to the original French text, particularly in removing the
anti-colonialist Decolonization or decolonisation is the undoing of colonialism, the latter being the process whereby imperial nations establish and dominate foreign territories, often overseas. Some scholars of decolonization focus especially on independence m ...
themes for British and American audiences, modern translations have been praised for their much greater faithfulness to the source. The 2001 translation by Edward Baxter was viewed in a mostly positive light, and most criticisms were directed towards problems with the original work by Jules Verne. ''
Publishers Weekly ''Publishers Weekly'' (''PW'') is an American weekly trade news magazine targeted at publishers, librarians, booksellers, and literary agents. Published continuously since 1872, it has carried the tagline, "The International News Magazine of B ...
'' criticized the character development (with the exception of that of an affable dog named Ace-of-Hearts), while also describing the plot as both "disjointed" and "predictable", saying that the book is overwhelmed with a "deluge of scientific facts". Brian Taves of the North American Jules Verne Society praised the use of multiple perspectives in the narrative (both French and North African) and the novel's political sophistication. He criticized the novel, however, for a general lack of excitement. On the other hand, ''
Harper's Magazine ''Harper's Magazine'' is a monthly magazine of literature, politics, culture, finance, and the arts. Launched in New York City in June 1850, it is the oldest continuously published monthly magazine in the U.S. (''Scientific American'' is older, b ...
'' described the book as a "ripping good yarn". A common theme in reviews was the novel's seeming prescience about the growing significance of
Islamic terrorism Islamic terrorism (also known as Islamist terrorism or radical Islamic terrorism) refers to terrorist acts with religious motivations carried out by fundamentalist militant Islamists and Islamic extremists. Incidents and fatalities f ...
.


Publication history

*''Invasion of the Sea'', Trans. Edward Baxter, Ed. Arthur Evans. Middletown, Connecticut: Wesleyan University Press, c2001.


See also

*
Qattara Depression Project The Qattara Depression Project, or Qattara Project for short, is a macro-engineering project concept in Egypt. Rivalling the Aswan High Dam in scope, the intention is to develop the hydroelectric potential of the Qattara Depression by creating an ...
*
Chott Melrhir Chott Melrhir () also known as Chott Melghir or Chott Melhir is an endorheic chott-kind of salt lake in northeastern Algeria. It is the westernmost part of a series of depressions, which extend from the Gulf of Gabès into the Sahara. They were ...


References

{{Authority control 1905 French novels 1905 science fiction novels Novels by Jules Verne Novels set in the future Novels set in the 1930s Novels set in Africa Novels set in deserts Novels first published in serial form Works originally published in The American Weekly Nautical novels Novels set in the Sahara