Meer – Medien – Maschinen: Jules Vernes abenteuerliche Reise- und Kommunikationsformen

Abstract“Mobilis in mobili,” the motto of Nemo, captain of the submarine Nautilus, denotes the utopic concept represented by Jules Verne’s water crafts – motion in motion, calm dynamics in a save, egg-shaped vessel equipped with all conveniences. As a bestselling author, Jules Verne established a floating scriptorium on his private yacht. Similarly, he furnished his imaginary vessels with studies and map rooms, libraries as well as new electronic storage and communication media. But in the same vein the autarchy of these vessels causes refusal of communication and isolation of their possessors and passengers. The reason for this is also a poetological one, since the ubiquity of media and their aim of unimpeded communication collide with the requirements of the adventure novel. Its momentum results from interferences and communication failures, and often culminates in natural disasters and explosions that destroy the vessels. In the alternation of control and disturbance, Verne’s novels display the materiality of media, and at the same time they claim, rather ungently, the dominance of writing over all other media by having the last say. Since the competition between various forms of literature, especially the adventure novel, and contemporary non-literary technological media, as seen in Jules Verne’s novels, has not yet been addressed sufficiently in literary studies, this paper opens new perspectives not only on the important role media takes in Verne’s works, but also on how popular literature reacts to the increasing importance of new media in communication and in public life.