"A Drama in the Air" (french: "'Un drame dans les airs'") is an adventure
short story
A short story is a piece of prose fiction that typically can be read in one sitting and focuses on a self-contained incident or series of linked incidents, with the intent of evoking a single effect or mood. The short story is one of the oldest ...
by
Jules Verne. The story was first published in August 1851 under the title "Science for families. A Voyage in a Balloon" ("La science en famille. Un voyage en ballon") in ''
Musée des familles
''Musée des familles'' (''"Museum of Families"'') was an illustrated French literary magazine that was published in Paris from 1833 to 1900. It was founded by Émile de Girardin.
Contributors of the magazine included Alexandre Dumas, Théophil ...
'' with five illustrations by
Alexandre de Bar.
In 1874, with six illustrations by
Émile-Antoine Bayard, it was included in ''
Doctor Ox
''Doctor Ox'' (french: Le Docteur Ox) is a collection of short stories by Jules Verne, first published in 1874 by Pierre-Jules Hetzel.
It consists of four varied works by Verne:
*" Une fantaisie du Docteur Ox" ("Dr. Ox's Experiment," 1872), il ...
'', the only collection of Jules Verne's short stories published during Verne's lifetime. An English translation by Anne T. Wilbur, published in May 1852 in ''
Sartain's Union Magazine of Literature'', marked the first time a work by Jules Verne was translated into the English language.
Plot outline
Just as the narrator starts the ascent of his
balloon
A balloon is a flexible bag that can be inflated with a gas, such as helium, hydrogen, nitrous oxide, oxygen, and air. For special tasks, balloons can be filled with smoke, liquid water, granular media (e.g. sand, flour or rice), or light so ...
, a stranger jumps into its car. The unexpected passenger's only intent is to take the balloon as high as it will go, even at the cost of his and pilot's life. The intruder takes advantage of the long journey to recount the history of incidents related to the epic of
lighter-than-air
A lifting gas or lighter-than-air gas is a gas that has a density lower than normal atmospheric gases and rises above them as a result. It is required for aerostats to create buoyancy, particularly in lighter-than-air aircraft, which include fre ...
travel.
This short story foreshadows Verne's first novel, ''
Five Weeks in a Balloon
''Five Weeks in a Balloon, or, A Journey of Discovery by Three Englishmen in Africa'' (french: Cinq semaines en ballon) is an adventure novel by Jules Verne, published in 1863. It is the first novel in which he perfected the "ingredients" of hi ...
''.
English publication
The story has appeared in English translation in the following forms.
As "A Voyage in a Balloon" (translated by Anne T. Wilbur):
*1852 – ''Sartain's Union Magazine of Literature''
As "A Drama in Mid-Air" (translated by Abby L. Alger):
*1874 – ''From the Clouds to the Mountains'', Boston: Gill
As "A Drama in the Air" (translated by George M. Towle):
*1874 – ''Dr. Ox and Other Stories'', Boston: Osgood
*1876 – ''A Winter Amid the Ice, and Other Stories'', London: Sampson Low
*1911 – ''Works of Jules Verne'', Vol.1, New York: Vincent Parke, ed. Charles F. Horne
*1964 – ''Dr. Ox, and Other Stories'', London: Arco/Westport, CT: Associated Booksellers: Fitzroy Edition, ed. I. O. Evans
*1999 – ''The Eternal Adam, and other Stories'', London: Phoenix, ed. Peter Costello
References
External links
Illustrations by Émile-Antoine Bayard
Un drame dans les airs available a
Jules Verne Collection
{{DEFAULTSORT:Drama in the Air, A
1851 short stories
Short stories by Jules Verne
Works originally published in Musée des familles
cs:Doktor Ox#Drama ve vzduchu