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Audio recording

by Patrick Barker, October 2021, Voices of Today and Audible

 

The Adventures of Captain Hatteras

Translated, with an introduction and notes by William Butcher

OUP 2005

  0-19-280465-8

 

The Adventures of Captain Hatteras

 

 

 

Extracts

Read first part of Introduction

chapters 1-5

notes to chapters 1-5

Hetzel's announcement

 

Selected notes in Polish

 

 

First Mate Shandon receives a mysterious letter asking him to construct a reinforced steamship in Liverpool. As he heads out for Melville Bay and the Arctic labyrinth, a crewman reveals himself as John Hatteras, and his obsession, the Pole. Despite appalling cold and hunger, the captain treks across the frozen wastes in search of fuel. Abandoned by his crew, Hatteras remains without resources at the coldest spot on earth. How can he find food and explore the Polar Sea? And what will he find at the top of the world?

This new translation by the father of Verne Studies brilliantly conveys the hypnotic mood and gripping authenticity of Verne’s second novel. The audio edition includes the introduction and the original, censored ending.

 

Reviews

I’m really enjoying it’, Tad Davis

‘one of the world's most outstanding Verne scholars’, Michael Dirda

'excellent', Ian Thompson, Univ. of Glasgow

'Splendid', Ray Bradbury

'unbelievably convincing ... a continuous joy', Frederick Paul Walter

'Excellent', Arthur B. Evans

'What an excellent edition, I love the notes, the references, and that it includes a deleted scene', David Merchant

'outstanding', Rain Taxi

'vraiment exemplaire', Volker Dehs

'superb', Marie-Hélène Huet