Verne wrote Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea while on board his yacht St.

Michel as close to the underwater world of the Nautilus as possible. This was the book that he always considered with special pride, because it reflected his feelings for the sea, for adventure, and for the possibilities of science, combining all the elements he would use again and again in different novels.

There is, first of all, the journey, a traditional literary device. Verne delighted in creating voyages to remote or dangerous places—a trip down the Jangada river, a journey to Antarctica, a journey to the moon. He is mostly known as a writer of science fiction, but the adventure element is equally prominent in his novels, and in the nineteenth century, most travel still meant adventure. Unlike other writers who use the journey as a metaphor for life, Verne's travels are...