Jules Verne
JULES VERNE was born at Nantes, February 8, 1828. Though he had gone to Paris to study for the bar, he followed in the footsteps of the legion who have found the idle moments of the law a pleasant occasion for the wandering imagination. The opera and the stage attracted him, but it was not long before he discovered a field which he made his own, that of imaginary voyages to any impossible place to which his whimsy might direct him, for which, however, he had prepared a timetable and made all sorts of scientific preparation in the most minute way. Such imaginary trips have been made by writers from Homer's days to those of H. G. Wells, and the guides have included such personages as Virgil, Dante, Cyrano de Bergerac, Dean Swift, and Daniel Defoe. But none have been more matter of fact or more brilliant in carrying off the matter, and the marvels of science in the present war have brought Jules Verne and his delightful day-dreams to the minds of all.
Perhaps the most famous trips were those to the "Center of the "Earth," "From the Earth to the Moon," "Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea," and "Around the World in Eighty Days." All the languages of the world know the tales, and most theaters know the last named, as well as "Michael Strogoff." He died at Amiens March 24, 1905.