The second fatherland

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Front cover of the French original edition with an illustration by the draftsman George Roux
Map of the island "New Switzerland" drawn by George Roux

The Second Fatherland is a novel by the French author Jules Verne . The novel was first published as the first part on July 26, 1900 and as part two on November 19, 1900 in the publishing house Pierre-Jules Hetzel under the French title Seconde patrie . The first German-language edition appeared in 1901 under the title The Second Fatherland . The English title of the novel is The Castaways of the Flag (also Second Fatherland ). The novel was first published in English in two parts, Their Island Home and The Castaways of the Flag .

action

In the novel, Verne first recounts the shipwreck of the Zermatt family from Switzerland from the novel The Swiss Robinson by Johann David Wyss and their last years on their island. Meanwhile, the island community has grown to include the shipwrecked Jenny and the British Wolston family, who came to the island with a corvette . The fiancés Jenny and Fritz leave the island with Franz, who is Fritz's brother, on this ship. They plan to return after about a year. Reclamation of the island continues, with Wolston's practical engineering knowledge proving very useful. The return of the visitors to England is a long time coming. The islanders are threatened by natives who are brought to the island of "New Switzerland" with their boats.

Jenny and Fritz get married. They plan to travel back to the island with Franz and some friends. Since the departure of the corvette is delayed by a repair, the travelers decide to travel with another ship . Its crew mutinied, however, and the travelers were abandoned with the captain and some loyal followers in a small dinghy in the middle of the Indian Ocean . After several days of calm, the abandoned landed on the coast of an inhospitable island between cliffs and treeless rocks. The rock belt makes access to the rest of the island impassable for the group. The situation worsened when her boat wrecked on the bank in a storm. The stranded, however, find a way through the rock wall through caves and shortly afterwards realize that they have actually landed at the “most unfriendly” part of the island of “New Switzerland”. They make their way to the settlement full of joy. However, the settlement has been abandoned by the Zermatt and Wolston families, as they had to save themselves from an attack by the natives who landed on the island on an offshore island. Both groups find each other. However, the natives storm the offshore island. All those involved are rescued by the crew of the corvette, which has since arrived and was on the way with goods and the order to take possession of the island of “New Switzerland” for Great Britain. The new British colony is flourishing and after a short time already has over 2000 residents.

background

The novel was written by Verne as a continuation of the novel Der Schweizerische Robinson by Johann David Wyss , a favorite book of his youth. Verne was also inspired by this book for the other Robinsonads Uncle Robinson , an unfinished novel from the period from 1869 to 1870 and his novel The School of the Robinsons from 1882.

literature

  • Heinrich Pleticha (ed.): Jules Verne manual . Deutscher Bücherbund / Bertelsmann, Stuttgart and Munich 1992.
  • Volker Dehs and Ralf Junkerjürgen: Jules Verne . Voices and interpretations of his work. Fantastic Library Wetzlar, Wetzlar 2005.
  • Volker Dehs: Jules Verne . Jules Verne. A critical biography. Artemis & Winkler, Düsseldorf 2005. ISBN 3-538-07208-6

Web links

Commons : Second Fatherland  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files