Around the World in Eighty Days
Around the World in Eighty Days (Le tour du monde en quatre-vingt jours) is a classic adventure novel by Jules Verne, first published in 1872. In the story, English adventurer Phileas Fogg, and his newly employed butler, Passepartout, attempt to circumnavigate the late Victorian world in 80 days on a wager set by the Reform Club.
The technological innovations of the 19th century had opened the possibility of, what then seemed, a most rapid circumnavigation and the prospect fascinated Verne and his readership. In fact, the book may have been inspired by the exploits of George Francis Train, who accomplished the feat in sixty-seven days in 1870.
Plot Summary
The story starts in London on October 2, 1872. Phileas Fogg is a wealthy, solitary man with regular habits, who fires his former butler for getting wrong the temperature of his shaving water by 2 degrees. He hires Passepartout as a replacement. Later that day in the Reform Club, he gets involved in an argument over an article in the Daily Telegraph, stating that with the opening of a new railway section in India, it is now possible to travel around the world in 80 days. The schedule is given as follows:
| London / Suez | rail and steamer | 7 days |
| Suez / Bombay | steamer | 13 days |
| Bombay / Calcutta | rail | 3 days |
| Calcutta / Hong Kong | steamer | 13 days |
| Hong Kong / Yokohama | steamer | 6 days |
| Yokohama / San Francisco | steamer | 22 days |
| San Francisco / New York | rail | 7 days |
| New York / London | steamer | 9 days |
| total | 80 days |
Fogg accepts a wager for 20,000 pounds from his fellow club members, which he will receive if he makes it around the world in 80 days. He sets off immediately, taking his puzzled new butler with him. He leaves London by train at 8.45 p.m. on October 2, and thus is due back at the Reform Club at the same time 80 days later, on December 21.
Fogg and Passepartout reach Suez in time. While disembarking in Egypt, he is watched by a Scotland Yard detective named Fix, who has been despatched from London in search of a bank robber. Because Fogg matches the description of the bank robber, Fix mistakes Fogg to be the criminal. Since he cannot secure a warrant in time, Fix goes on board of the steamer conveying the travelers to Bombay. During the voyage, Fix gets acquainted with Passepartout, without revealing his purpose.
Still in time, Fogg and Passepartout switch to the railway in Bombay, setting off for Calcutta, Fix now following them undercover. As it turns out, the construction of the railway is not totally finished, so they are forced to get over the remaining gap between two stations by riding an elephant, which Phileas Fogg purchases at the prodigious price of 2,000 pounds.
During the ride, they come across a suttee procession, in which a young Indian woman, Aouda, is led to a sanctuary to be sacrificed the next day. Since the young woman is obviously drugged and not going voluntarily, the travelers decide to rescue the her. They follow the procession to the site, where Passepartout secretly takes the place of the girl's deceased husband on the funeral pyre, on which the woman is going to be burned the next morning. During the ceremony, he then rises from the pyre, scaring off the priests, and carries the young woman away.
The travelers then hasten on to catch the train at the next railway station, taking the girl, Aouda, with them. At Calcutta, they finally board a steamer going to Hong Kong. Fix, who had secretly been following them, again failed to obtain a warrant against Fogg in Calcutta and is forced to follow them along to Hong Kong. On board, he shows himself to Passepartout, who is delighted to meet again his traveling companion from the earlier voyage.
In Hong Kong, it turns out that Aouda's distant relative in whose care they had been planning to leave her there, has moved away, so they decide to take her with them to Europe. Meanwhile, still without a warrant, Fix sees Hong Kong as his last chance to arrest Fogg on British soil. He therefore confides in Passepartout, who does not believe a word and remains convinced that his master is not a bank robber. To prevent Passepartout from informing his master about the premature departure of their next vessel, Fix makes Passepartout drunk and drugs him in an opium den. In his dizziness, Passepartout yet manages to catch the steamer to Yokohama, but neglects to inform Fogg.
Fogg, on the next day, discovers that he has missed his connection. He goes on search for a vessel which will take him to Yokohama. He finds a pilot boat which takes him and his companions (Aouda and Fix) to Shanghai, were they catch a steamer to Yokohama. In Yokohama, they go on a search for Passepartout, believing that he may have arrived there with the original connection. They find him in a circus, trying to earn his homeward journey.
Reunited, the four board on a steamer taking them across the Pacific to San Francisco. Fix promises Passepartout that now, having left British soil, he will no longer try to delay Fogg's journey, but rather support him in getting back to Britain as fast as possible (to have him arrested there).
In San Francisco, they get on the train to New York. During that trip, the train is attacked by Indians, who take Passepartout and two other passengers hostage. Fogg is now faced with the dilemma of continuing his tour, or going to rescue Passepartout. He chooses the latter, starting on a rescue mission with some soldiers of a nearby fort, who succeed in freeing the hostages.
To make up for the lost time, Fogg and his companions hire a sledge, which brings them to Omaha, were they arrive just in time to get on a train to New York. However, reaching New York, they learn that the steamer they had been trying to catch has left a short time before.
On the next day, Fogg starts looking for an alternative for the crossing of the Atlantic. He finds a small steam boat, destined for Bordeaux. However, the captain of the boat refuses to take the company to Liverpool, wherupon Fogg accepts to be brought to Bordeaux. On the voyage, he bribes the crew to mutiny and take course for Liverpool. Going on full steam all the time, the boat runs out of fuel after a few days. Fogg buys the boat at a very high price from the captain, soothing him thereby, and has the crew burn all the wooden parts to keep up the steam.
The companions arrive at Liverpool several hours before the deadline, which would easily suffice to get to London by train. However, once on British soil again, Fix produces a warrant and arrests Fogg. A short time later, the misunderstanding is cleared up - the actual bank robber had been caught several days ago. However, Fogg has missed the train and returns to London 5 minutes late, assured that he has lost the wager.
In his London house the next day, he apologizes to Aouda for bringing her with him, since he now has to live in poverty and cannot financially support her. Aouda suddenly confesses that she loves him and asks him to marry her, which he gladly accepts. He calls for Passepartout to notify the reverend. At the reverend's, Passepartout learns that he is mistaken in the date, which he takes to be Sunday but which actually is Saturday due to the fact that the party traveled in Eastern direction, thereby gaining a full day on a journey around the globe.
Passepartout hurries back to Fogg, who immediately sets off for the Reform Club, where he arrives just in time to claim the wager won. Thus ends the journey around the world, which made Phileas Fogg not only a little richer but also the happiest man.
Imitators
Verne's articulation of the challenge proved seminal. There have since been sundry expeditions that emulate Fogg's, fictional, circumnavigation, often within self-imposed constraints.
- 1889 - Nellie Bly undertook to travel around the world in 80 days for her newspaper, the New York World. She managed to do the journey within 72 days.
- 1908 - Harry Bensley, on a wager, set out to circumnavigate the world on foot wearing an iron mask.
- 1988 - Monty Python alumnus Michael Palin took a similar challenge without using aircraft as a part of a television travelogue, also called Around the World in Eighty Days.
- 1993 - Present - The Jules Verne Trophy is held by the boat that sails around the world without stopping, and with no outside assistance in the shortest time. However, to officially hold the trophy, you must pay a membership fee to the Jules Verne Association. The record holders so far have been:
Film adaptations
The book was adapted to film in 1956, a Hollywood fun movie with a huge cast. Many famous performers play bit parts, and part of the pleasure in this movie is playing "spot the star"; the lead roles in the movie were played by David Niven and Cantinflas.
The movie earned five Oscars:
- Best Picture - Michael Todd, producer
- Best Cinematography, Color - Lionel Lindon
- Best Film Editing - Gene Ruggiero and Paul Weatherwax
- Best Music, Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture - Victor Young
- Best Writing, Best Screenplay, Adapted - John Farrow, S. J. Perelman, and James Poe
It was nominated for an additional three Oscars
- Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Color - Ken Adam, Ross Dowd, and James W. Sullivan
- Best Costume Design, Color - Miles White
- Best Director - Michael Anderson
The story was again adapted for the screen in 2004 by Disney. Disney's Around the World in 80 Days stars Jackie Chan and Steve Coogan.
External links
- Online versions of the book, in French, English, Russian and Dutch.
- Full text of Around the World in Eighty Days from Project Gutenberg
- Literary analysis of the novels of Jules Verne