A day in the life of a journalist in 2889
A Day in the Life of a Journalist in 2889 (also In the XXIXth Century - A Day in the Life of an American Journalist in 2889 ) is a short story by the French author Jules Verne . It was heavily changed on January 21, 1891 under the French title La journée d'un journaliste américain en 2889 in the Journal d'Amiens. Monituer de la Somme printed and in November and December 1910 in the anthology Yesterday & Tomorrow (French. Here demain et ) together with other short stories by Jules Verne published in France. It is based on a short story by his son Michel Verne that appeared in the American magazine The Forum in New York in 1889 .
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In the highly industrialized America of the 29th century, Centropolis is the super metropolis and the new capital of the USA. Jules Verne describes revolutionary technological changes such as videophones , underground high-speed trains and various aircraft . The basis of the greatest upheaval was the solution to the energetic problem. New types of accumulators are used to store solar energy .
The heir of the founder of the New York Herald Francis Benett lives in this “wonder world” . This newspaper has been in his family's hands for thirty generations. A media empire has now grown out of it, which is now known as the Earth Herald . He has the monopoly for the electronic distribution of the news, which happens through a phonographic distribution with switching on television channels and the electrical recording of pictures. This gives him such influence that he is completely independent financially. He has so much power that presidents seek his support. While a normal “working day” begins for him, his wife Edith is in Paris, where she is expanding her hat wardrobe. With the videophone, the two of them can get in touch at breakfast, the technology makes it possible optically and acoustically.
After the private contact, Benett devotes himself to his empire. But he doesn't just make money by disseminating information; advertising is another mainstay . During a morning tour of his power center, Benett also visits this department. New technology is used for advertising. Huge projectors are used to project advertising messages from below onto the cloud cover, which can then be read by entire regions.
Since Francis Benett has extensive financial resources, it is not difficult for him to work as a patron of research and development. He thinks of his own advantages. At the same time, the influential media tycoon is also consulted by ambassadors or government representatives. The current division of the world, which is largely determined by great powers, is up for discussion. Benett does not see any threat of a military conflict, especially since he asks himself whether a war is even possible with the existing biological and chemical weapons . Meanwhile, the US has desires to incorporate England as its colony .
A special scientific event is imminent for the evening. A scientist frozen a hundred years ago is about to be thawed again. Benett wants to take part in this public event, and the media should also be there. In the afternoon he checks his daily income, and he does this work in no time with the help of an " electronic calculator ". Evening has finally come. The television cameras are aimed at the frozen scientist. But all attempts with heat, electricity and the most modern elixirs are unsuccessful. Obviously the scientist is dead, and has been for a hundred years. The scientists who wanted to revive their frozen colleague must give up their plans.
When Francis Benett's general practitioner advised to take a bath in the late evening , he let the automatic bathtub slide into his hotel room. Ashamed screams sound from the full tub, his wife is already bathing in it. Only a few minutes ago she came back from her hat shopping through the submarine tunnel connection from Europe . The story ends with Benett's review of a deserving day on which he again earned a large sum of money.
Bibliography (selection)
- Jules Verne: The Eternal Adam . Zurich: Diogenes Verlag, 1977, ISBN 3-257-20411-6
literature
- Heinrich Pleticha (ed.): Jules Verne manual . Deutscher Bücherbund / Bertelsmann, Stuttgart and Munich 1992.
- Volker Dehs , Ralf Junkerjürgen: Jules Verne . Voices and interpretations of his work. Fantastic Library Wetzlar, Wetzlar 2005, DNB 974107530 .
- Volker Dehs : Jules Verne . Jules Verne. A critical biography. Artemis & Winkler, Düsseldorf 2005, ISBN 3-538-07208-6 .
