Recess! Media

It’s the birthday this week of the French writer, Jules Verne, who was born in 1828 and who wrote dozens and dozens of novels during the course of his life. He is viewed as one of the inventors of science fiction because of books like From the Earth to the Moon, Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Sea, Journey to the Center of the Earth, and Around the World in Eighty Days. A number of these stories have been translated into movies, and it is through these films that Verne is primarily known today.

Recently, we spoke with Jean-Michel Margot, who lives in Hillsborough, North Carolina, and is one of the leading collectors in the world of everything by and about Jules Verne. Margot is one of those who is hoping to broaden the rather narrow view of Verne that most people have — especially as the 100th anniversary of Verne’s death approaches in 2005. We asked Margot what he found to be so significant about Verne and his work.

Brief sound clip