Dick Sands, the Boy Captain

Jules VerneProject Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

3.7

Word count: 297K words
Chapters: 30

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.Dick Sands, the Boy Captain by Jules VerneAuthor: Verne, Jules, 1828-1905,Language: English, Class: PQ: Language and Literatures: Romance literatures: French, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Release Date: Oct 1, 2005

Editor's review

Dick Sands, the Boy Captain is an often underrated adventure novel by Jules Verne. Unlike the spectacular imagination of Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas, this book places its narrative weight on the young captain's responsibility and judgment: a whaling ship loses its senior officers by accident, the young protagonist is forced to take command, and the voyage then brings betrayal and the perils of the African interior. The work combines nautical detail, geographical description and mounting suspense; its pace is relatively measured, and it reads well as an adventure story about growth and responsibility. Verne's depictions of African landscapes, animals and peoples bear clear marks of their era, and today's readers can read it against nineteenth-century colonial imagination, which only adds to the text's value for discussion. The electronic edition comes from Project Gutenberg and is an English public-domain text, easy to search and cite, suitable for classroom selections or independent reading.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Readers who enjoy Verne's adventure novels and want to broaden their reading
Young readers interested in maritime subjects and themes of youthful growth
Teachers and students who need an English public-domain text for reading practice or classroom selection
Literary scholars interested in the African imagination in nineteenth-century European literature

Not a good fit for

Verne readers expecting science-fictional spectacle and fast-paced plotting
Beginners with limited English reading experience who need annotated support
Readers sensitive to colonial-era racial depictions and unwilling to examine them

Reading tips

Read the nautical passages first, sorting out the course and the relationships among characters, then move on to the African interior.
Skim the geographical and natural-history descriptions and focus on the protagonist's decisions.
Compare it with Verne's other sea novels, contrasting narrative emphasis and characterization.
Note how Africa is depicted in the book and reflect on its period limitations after reading.

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

FAQ

Is this book suitable for English beginners to read directly?

Not really. The original is nineteenth-century English with many nautical terms and long sentences, and comprehension is demanding without annotations. A reasonable foundation in English reading is advisable, or read it alongside a Chinese translation or annotated edition.

Is the story science fiction?

It is not typical Verne science fiction. It is closer to a maritime adventure and a coming-of-age novel, with geographical description, shipboard life and perils in the African interior, and only a small element of scientific fantasy.

What are the practical features of the electronic edition?

This edition comes from Project Gutenberg and is an English public-domain electronic text, convenient for full-text search, copying and quotation, and printing. It suits classroom excerpts or self-study, but usually has no modern annotations.

Comments

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About the author

Jules Verne Author · French · 1828–1905

Jules Verne (1828–1905) was a French author born in Nantes and died in Amiens, and is regarded as one of the founders of modern science fiction. He excelled at combining scientific knowledge, geographical exploration, and adventure narratives, drawing readers with precise detail and imaginative journeys. His representative works include Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas, Around the World in Eighty Days, and From the Earth to the Moon, with themes such as submarine voyages and global travel enjoying wide circulation. The library holds 141 of his works, reflecting the sheer volume and reach of his writing. His novels often center on exploring unknown worlds against the backdrop of nineteenth-century scientific progress, and have had a profound influence on later science fiction and adventure literature.