The Lord of the World (Verne)
The Lord of the World is a novel by the French author Jules Verne . The novel was first published in 1904 by the Pierre-Jules Hetzel publishing houseunder the French title Maître du monde . The first German-language edition appeared in 1905 under the title Herr der Welt . The Lord of the World is the sequel to Robur the Conqueror , in which Robur only plays a supporting role.
action
The action of the novel takes place in the USA . From the summit of the Great Eyry , a mountain less than 600 m high in the Appalachian Mountains in the state of North Carolina , clouds of smoke suddenly rise. The inhabitants of the village of Pleasant-Garden , which lies at the foot of the mountain, are woken up by a violent, supposed earthquake. Flames appear on the summit of Great Eyry. Local residents fear that the Great Eyry is a volcano. Attempting to fly over the mountain in a balloon to find out the cause fails because the wind blows the balloon in the wrong direction.
The inspector John Strock from Washington, DC receives from his superior the police director Ward the order to investigate the mysterious occurrences. Neither of them believe in the volcano theory. Strock travels to Pleasant Garden and tries to climb the Great Eyry on an expedition that includes two guides and the mayor. You will have to turn back below the summit, however, as it will prove inaccessible. You can't climb the overhanging wall that surrounds the summit of the Great Eyry.
Two weeks later, an unidentified vehicle, traveling at an unbelievably high speed of about 150 mph (150 mph) at the time, appeared on the streets of the state of Pennsylvania near Philadelphia . A short time later, the same vehicle took part unannounced in a car race organized by the Milwaukee Automobile Club. It leaves the racetrack, passes the finish line and disappears into Lake Michigan .
A moving object appears multiple times off the New England coast , but disappears before a ship can approach it. Even a naval cruiser cannot overtake the vehicle. A short time later, when there is no wind, whirlpools form in various places on Lake Kirdall in Kansas . The public suspects that they are caused by a sea monster or a submarine.
Inspector Strock is assigned to investigate what happened. In his mailbox he finds one of H. d. W. signed an anonymous letter warning him not to pursue the matter further. He realizes that he is being followed by two unknown men. The unknown inventor of the mysterious vehicle is publicly invited to sell his invention to the United States government. A short time later, an answer from the stranger to the government is found in the mailbox of Washington Police Headquarters. The letter was written on board the mysterious vehicle that bears the name Epouvante . The undersigned, Lord of the World, declares that there is no point in trying to get hold of the vehicle. He refuses to sell his invention to anyone and declares that he wants to rule the world with his indomitable machine.
Next, the Epouvante is sighted on Lake Erie in Black Rock Bay , near Toledo , Ohio . Inspector Strock travels to Toledo and ambushes the Epouvante together with two colleagues in the bay. When the Epouvante appears, two men go ashore, another remains on board the vehicle. The policemen leave their hiding place and identify themselves. The two men flee on board the Epouvante. When the vehicle fled from the bay, the anchor caught in the belt of Inspector Strock's pants. Strock is dragged along and loses consciousness.
Strock regains consciousness on board the Epouvante, which is still floating on Lake Erie. The three men on board ignore his attempts to start a conversation with them. Two warships appear and attack the Epouvante. The Epouvante flees towards Niagara Falls . The warships stop chasing. Just before she plunges down the falls, two wings appear on the Epouvante's hull and the Epouvante flies away. In flight, the Epouvante is propelled by wings flapping like a bird. It also has two turbines, which also provide propulsion in the water.
The Epouvante lands on its base, which is located in the crater of the supposed volcano Great Eyry. There Strock gets to know the commander, the master of the world, who introduces himself to him as Robur the victor . He wants to close his base because he has caused too much attention on the Great Eyry. After the crew faked a volcanic eruption by setting a large pile of grass on fire, the Epouvante continues its flight.
Over the Gulf of Mexico , the megalomaniac Robur steers the Epouvante deliberately into a thunderstorm in which he sees an attack on himself. Robur wants to show God that he has to put up with other gods alongside him. The Epouvante is finally struck by lightning in the center of the storm, which causes the electrical system to explode. The Epouvante falls from a height of 300 m into the sea. Strock is the only survivor of the disaster; he is picked up by a ship, clinging to a wheel.
filming
- The novel was filmed in the USA in 1961 by the director William Witney with Vincent Price as Robur and Charles Bronson as Inspector Strock with the title Robur, the Lord of the Seven Continents . The plot is a combination of Robur the Conqueror and The Lord of the World .
- Furthermore, this novel was made into an animated film in 1976. Director: Leif Gram; , Original title: Master Of The World; Original length: 60 minutes, German VHS: 45 (44) minutes; Manuscript: John Palmer; Camera Jenny Ochse and David McCullough; Line producer: Walter J. Jucker; Director: Leif Gram; Production: AIR PROGRAMS INTERNATIONAL 1976; First broadcast on CBS on October 23, 1976; German adaptation CINESOR, Peter Kölsch
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
- "Lord of the World" as an e-book in HTML on zeno.org
- The Lord of the World in Andreas Fehrmann's Jules Verne Collection