Book: Paris in the Twentieth Century

In 1863 during the height of the American Civil War a 35-year old Jules Verne, with one modestly successful novel under his belt, submitted his second novel to his publisher.  His publisher promptly rejected it, as too pessimistic about what life would be like 97 years hence, in the year 1960.

Discouraged, Verne tucked the manuscript away in his safe where it lay undiscovered until 1994.

Quote :

The book's description of the technology of 1960 was in some ways remarkably close to actual 1960s technology. The book described in detail advances such as cars powered by internal combustion engines ("gas-cabs") together with the necessary supporting infrastructure such as gas stations and paved asphalt roads, elevated and underground passenger train systems and high-speed trains powered by magnetism and compressed air, skyscrapers, electric lights that illuminate entire cities at night, fax machines ("picture-telegraphs"), elevators, primitive computers which can send messages to each other as part of a network somewhat resembling the Internet (described as sophisticated electrically powered mechanical calculators which can send information to each other across vast distances), the utilization of wind power, automated security systems, the electric chair, and remotely-controlled weapons systems, as well as weapons destructive enough to make war unthinkable.

The book also predicts the growth of suburbs and mass-produced higher education (the opening scene has Dufrénoy attending a mass graduation of 250,000 students), department stores, and massive hotels. A version of feminism has also arisen in society, with women moving into the workplace and a rise in illegitimate births. It also makes accurate predictions of 20th-century music, predicting the rise of electronic music, and describes a musical instrument similar to a synthesizer, and the replacement of classical music performances with a recorded music industry. In addition, it predicts that the entertainment industry would be dominated by lewd stage plays, often involving nudity and sexually explicit scenes.

Jules Verne, in 1863, wrote:

"Well, my friend, we've reached the point by the force of events; in the last century, a certain Richard Wagner, a sort of messiah who has been insufficiently crucified, invented the Music of the Future,and we're still enduring it; in his day, melody was already being suppressed, and he decided it was appropriate to get rid of harmony as well -- and the house has remained empty ever since."

"But," Michel reflected, "it's as if you were making a painting without drawing or color!"

"Precisely," replied Quinsonnas.

What years were the non-representational artists like Klee and Picasso active?

Jules Verne, in 1863, wrote:

It is easy to imagine how cutting through the isthmuses of Suez and Panama had increased long-distance commercial navigation; maritime operations, delivered from monopolies and from the shackles of ministerial brokers, enormously increased; ships multiplied in all forms.

The Suez Canal was constructed 1859-1869, and the Panama Canal 1881-1914.

Jules Verne, in 1863, wrote:

But where the crowd clustered most thickly, so that it became really difficult to pass through, was on the quays of the largest basin, which could scarcely accommodate the recently docked Leviathan IV.  The ship had thirty masts and fifteen chimneys; of her thirty thousand horsepower, twenty thousand was for the drive wheels and ten thousand for the propeller; railroad tracks made it possible to circulate swiftly from one end of her decks to the other, and in the space between the masts could be admired several squares planted with huge trees, whose shade spread over flowerbeds and lawns; here the elegant passengers could ride horseback down winding bridle paths, soil spread to a depth of three meters over the main deck had produced these floating parks.  The ship was a world, and her crossings achieved prodigious results; she came from New York to Southampton in three days; sixty-one meters wide, her length may be judged by the following fact: when Leviathan IV docked prow foremost at the quay, rear-deck passengers still had to walk a quarter of a league before they reached terra firma.

The Titanic was launched in 1912, and the German ship Leviathan was launched in 1914. The Titanic was 28.2 meters wide and 269.1 meters long.  The Leviathan was 30.6 meters wide and 289.6 meters long.

The largest ship ever constructed, Seawise Giant, (1979) was 68.6 meters wide and 458.45 meters long.

A league, in nautical parlance, is three nautical miles or 5,556 meters.  A quarter of a league is therefore 1,389 meters.

Wikipedia wrote:

The Blue Riband (award) is awarded for the record fastest crossing by transatlantic liner. The current eastbound record was set by the American ocean liner USS United States in July 1952: the ship made the crossing in 3 days, 10 hours, 40 minutes.