Reseña del libro "Godfrey Morgan: A Californian Mystery (en Inglés)"
Godfrey Morgan: A Californian Mystery (French: L'École des Robinsons, literally The School for Robinsons), also published as School for Crusoes, is an 1882 adventure novel by French writer Jules Verne. The novel tells of a wealthy young man, Godfrey Morgan who, with his deportment instructor, Professor T. Artelett, embark from San Francisco, California on a round-the-world ocean voyage. They are cast away on an uninhabited Pacific island where they must endure a series of adversities. Later they encounter an African slave, Carefinotu, brought to the island by cannibals. In the end, the trio manage to work together and survive on the island.The novel is a robinsonade-a play on Daniel Defoe's 1719 novel Robinson Crusoe. The narrative begins with the auction by the US Government of fictional Spencer Island, located 460 miles off the California coast (32 15′N 145 18′W). The island is uninhabited and there are only two bidders, William W. Kolderup, a very wealthy San Franciscan, and his arch-rival J. R. Taskinar, a resident of Stockton, California. Kolderup wins the auction, buying Spencer Island for four million dollars. J. R. Taskinar mutters, "I will be avenged!" before retiring to his hotel.Godfrey, an idle twenty-two-year-old, lives with Kolderup, his uncle, and Kolderup's adopted goddaughter, Phina, whom Godfrey has grown to love. Prior to marrying Phina, Godfrey asks to undertake a world tour. Acceding to his desire, his uncle sends Godfrey on a sea voyage around the world on board one of his steamships, the Dream, commanded by Captain Turcott. Godfrey is accompanied by his mentor, teacher, and dance instructor, Professor T. Artelett aka "Tartlet".After some time at sea, Godfrey is awakened one foggy night and told to abandon ship as the Dream is foundering. After jumping into the sea, Godfrey is washed ashore on a deserted island, where he soon finds Tartlet has also been marooned. Godfrey, with scant help from Tartlet, will have to learn to survive, to organize his life, face hostile intruders, and overcome other obstacles. Eventually, they are also joined by Carefinotu, whom Godfrey rescues him from the Polynesians warriors visiting the island. By the end of the story the formerly jaded young man has discovered the value of independent effort, and he gains poise and courage. The marooned group are rescued and returned to San Francisco, where Godfrey is reunited with Phina. They agree to marry before continuing the world tour, this time together.Although the setting is different, the robinsonade plot is a variation on the theme of rational self-sufficiency that Verne developed earlier in The Mysterious Island (1874). At the time of publication, it was common for a young man of wealth to undertake travel as an educational rite of passage, for example the California heir Leland Stanford, Jr. who took two European Grand Tours, one in 1880-81, and died on the second in 1884. The original French version of Verne's novel was published in 1882, after Stanford's first tour. (wikipedia.org)
Jules Gabriel Verne, conocido en los países hispanohablantes como Julio Verne (Nantes, 8 de febrero de 1828-Amiens, 24 de marzo de 1905), fue un escritor, dramaturgo y poeta francés, célebre por sus novelas de aventuras y por su profunda influencia en el género literario de la ciencia ficción.
Nacido en una familia burguesa, estudió para continuar los pasos de su padre, Pierre Verne, como abogado pero muy joven decidió abandonar ese camino para dedicarse a la literatura. Su colaboración con el editor Pierre-Jules Hetzel dio como fruto la creación de Viajes extraordinarios, una popular serie de novelas de aventuras escrupulosamente documentadas y visionarias entre las que se incluían las famosas De la Tierra a la Luna (1865), Veinte mil leguas de viaje submarino (1870), La vuelta al mundo en ochenta días (1872) o La isla misteriosa (1874). Ya antes había publicado Cinco semanas en globo (1863) y Viaje al centro de la Tierra (1864).
Es uno de los escritores más importantes de Francia y de toda Europa gracias a la evidente influencia de sus libros en la literatura vanguardista y el surrealismo, y desde 1979 es el segundo autor más traducido en el mundo, después de Agatha Christie. Se le considera, junto a H. G. Wells, uno de los «padres de la ciencia ficción». Fue condecorado con la Legión de Honor en 1892 por sus aportes a la educación y a la ciencia.
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