''Clovis Dardentor'' is an 1896 fiction novel by French writer

Jules Verne Jules Gabriel Verne (;''Longman Pronunciation Dictionary''. ; 8 February 1828 – 24 March 1905) was a French novelist, poet, and playwright. His collaboration with the publisher Pierre-Jules Hetzel led to the creation of the ''Voyages extraor ...

, written partly as a travel narrative. Compared to other Verne novels, it is a relatively unknown work. Very common throughout ''Clovis Dardentor'' is Verne's usage of a comedic, slightly

burlesque A burlesque is a literary, dramatic or musical work intended to cause laughter by caricaturing the manner or spirit of serious works, or by ludicrous treatment of their subjects.

tone in the narration and in the characters'

dialogue Dialogue (sometimes spelled dialog in American English) is a written or spoken conversational exchange between two or more people, and a literary and theatrical form that depicts such an exchange. As a philosophical or didactic device, it is c ...

s (something which the

narrator Narration is the use of a written or spoken commentary to convey a story to an audience. Narration is conveyed by a narrator: a specific person, or unspecified literary voice, developed by the creator of the story to deliver information to the a ...

confirms at a certain point of the novel). The original illustrations were drawn by designer

Léon Benett Léon Benett (born Hippolyte Léon Benet; 1839–1916) was a French painter and illustrator. He was born in Orange, Provence. He changed his name to "Léon Benett" to differentiate his career in the French administration from his work as a ...

Plot summary

The novel tells the story of two cousins, Jean Taconnat and Marcel Lornans, travelling from Cette,

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

, to

Oran Oran ( ar, وَهران, Wahrān) is a major coastal city located in the north-west of Algeria. It is considered the second most important city of Algeria after the capital Algiers, due to its population and commercial, industrial, and cultural ...

Algeria ) , image_map = Algeria (centered orthographic projection).svg , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Algiers , coordinates = , largest_city = capital , relig ...

, with the purpose of enlisting in the 5th

regiment A regiment is a military unit. Its role and size varies markedly, depending on the country, service and/or a specialisation. In Medieval Europe, the term "regiment" denoted any large body of front-line soldiers, recruited or conscripted ...

of the ''Chasseurs D'Afrique''. Sailing to Oran aboard the ''Argelès'', they meet Clovis Dardentor, a wealthy

industrialist A business magnate, also known as a tycoon, is a person who has achieved immense wealth through the ownership of multiple lines of enterprise. The term characteristically refers to a powerful entrepreneur or investor who controls, through perso ...

. Jean and Marcel, whose desire to travel to Africa arises from their pursuit of financial independence, find out that Clovis —an unmarried man, with no family— has left no heirs to his fortune. Yet Marcel, well-versed in the Law, knows that any person who were to save Clovis' life either from a fight, from drowning, or from a fire, would have to be adopted by Clovis. The cousins come to a plan: They will find a way to save Clovis' life, so that he will indeed be legally required to adopt them. Clovis saves the cousins' lives: Marcel is saved from a fire, and Jean is saved from drowning. Eventually, while Jean continues to look for the opportunity to save Clovis' life, Marcel falls in love with Louise Elissane, the prospective daughter-in-law of one of Clovis' acquaintances, the unpleasant Desirandelle family. Louise becomes a key character in the novel, for it is she who saves Clovis Dardentor's life. In the end, Louise is adopted by Clovis, and marries Marcel.

Publication history

''Clovis Dardentor'' was first published in France in 1896; and, in 1897, the first British edition, fully illustrated, was published by Sampson Low, Marston, and Company. The book was not published in the U.S. until 2008, when the Choptank Press of Saint Michaels, Maryland, re-published the Sampson Low version in a fully illustrated

replica A 1:1 replica is an exact copy of an object, made out of the same raw materials, whether a molecule, a work of art, or a commercial product. The term is also used for copies that closely resemble the original, without claiming to be identical. Al ...

edition as a

Lulu Press Lulu Press, Inc., doing business under trade name Lulu, is an online print-on-demand, self-publishing, and distribution platform. By 2014, it had issued approximately two million titles. The company's founder is Red Hat co-founder Bob Young. ...

book.

Film adaptation

In 2013, three British film-makers were in the development stages of ''Killing Clovis Dardentor'', an adaptation of the book. Writer

Lizzie Hopley Elizabeth Hopley is a British actress and writer. She has appeared in several audio plays based on the BBC science fiction television series ''Doctor Who''. Her first appearance was as the Eighth Doctor’s companion Gemma Griffin in ''Terror F ...

had written the screenplay for the movie.

References

External links

* * 1896 French novels Novels by Jules Verne Novels set in France Novels set in Algeria {{1890s-adventure-novel-stub