CLOVIS DARDENTOR - FIRST COMPLETE ENGLISH TRANSLATION by Jules Verne (1828-1905) - 2019

Athens, 2019. Edited, translated into English and published by Demetrius Siatras. Digital edition in Epub form.

New English translation accompanied by a short introduction and explanatory notes.

Clovis Dardentor is a late and relatively unknown work by Jules Verne. It was released in 1896 as No. 43 in the famous Voyages extraordinaires series, published by Hetzel (Paris, 1896) and illustrated by the great Léon Benett.

A cheerful travel novel, with characters sometimes extruded to the limits of the burlesque: the story of two young Parisians, Jean and Marcel, moving to Algeria to join the French colonial army. The first part of the novel takes place on board the ship to Algeria where they meet some of their fellow travellers and continue the journey with them.There they meet some of their fellow travellers and continue the journey with them. Among them stands Clovis Dardentor, a very wealthy Pyrenaean bourgeois, exuberant and well-to-do, bachelor,with no heirs; he accompanies the Desirandèlle family to Oran, where they plan to marry their son Agathocles with Louise Elissane. Jean then has an idea: Dardentor could adopt them and immediately become wealthy earners instead of pursuing a miserous military career in the Sahara desert. In their case, the French law would only allow adoption if they succeeded in saving Dardendor from fire, battle or drowning. So, instead of joining the army, they follow him on a journey to the south of Algeria, where various adventures take place. But it's the robust Dardentor who saves Marcel from the flames and Jean from drowning, and it's Louise who saves Dardentor from the lions! The two young men, frustrated, are finally about to join the army; but, Dardentor adopts Louise and marries her with Marcel giving the story a happy end, while the disappointed Desirandèlles return to France.