Verniana — Jules Verne Studies / Etudes Jules Verne — Volume 7 (2014–2015) — 1–16
Éclat: Duality and the Absolute in Voyages et aventures du capitaine Hatteras
This article explores duality as the fundamental structuring principle of Voyages et aventures du capitaine Hatteras. Arguing that duality consistently emerges within the apparent absolutes that dominate the text, thereby relativizing or polarizing them, the article examines this process at the level of the hero and the story, as well as discursive regime. The article focuses on ways that Verne mobilizes the metaphor of the internal fire in relation to both Hatteras, hero of the absolute, and Dr. Clawbonny, hero of knowledge. Its analysis concludes at the Polar volcano, finding that Hatteras’s duality at once constitutes and destabilizes the text.
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