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(40) Mirifiques Aventures de Maître Antifer (Captain Antifer, 1894) (2 volumes) 99K words


The 40th Extraordinary Voyage takes us on a treasure hunt around the Middle East, Africa and Europe. The use of coordinates and other geographical clues that the characters are trying to follow is reminiscent of "In Search of the Castaways", although in that case the objective was finding people whose ship had been lost.


First read or reread?: First read for me.


What is it about?: Because of a noble deed committed by his father, Captain Antifer expects to someday receive the legacy of wealthy Egyptian, Kamylk Pasha, who his father helped many years before. To receive this legacy, first Antifer must await receiving the longitude that accompanies the latitude that he already possesses. It arrives in the form of Egyptian notary, Ben Omar (who must be present when the legacy is uncovered) and his "assistant" Nazim. Nazim is actually Saouk, son of Kamylk's treacherous cousin. He feels the legacy is rightly his and he only waits for the right time to steal it all. The Egyptians, along with Antifer, his nephew Juhel (who only desires to marry Antifer's niece Enogate) and family friend Tregomain journey to the Gulf of Oman to uncover the legacy. Unfortunately, the quest turns out to be longer and much more complicated than they had anticipated.


People do not generally think of Verne as a funny writer, but some of his novels have a comical streak or a touch of irony, while still being interesting as adventure stories. Novels like "From the Earth to the Moon", "Tribulations of a Chinaman in China" or "Godfrey Morgan" have that comedy element.

The humor in "Captain Antifer", however, reminded me of "Kéraban the Inflexible", because it's based on the explosive personality of a stubborn, irate, energetic, unreasonable main character. I found Antifer funnier than Kéraban, though, because the supporting cast here plays off against his personality to better effect. We do get the same kind of family members and friends who try to appease the stubborn hero, but we also get a bunch of villains and collaborators/rivals who are the perfect target for Antifer's wrath and biting remarks.

On the adventure side, this novel is less inspired. We get the typical Vernian travels and description of places, and the locations are exotic enough, but it feels as if we never get too far away from civilization, which makes it feel less adventurous. There are two reasons for that: one is that Western-style civilization had indeed grown during Verne's lifetime (he was 66 when he published this), and the other is that the locations visited are always by the sea, which makes them more reachable.

Don't get the idea that there's no adventure, though. There is, including both human obstacles and some typically Vernian unlikely behavior of wild animals. But this one is not among the most inspired Extraordinary Voyages in this sense. Of course, the fact that there is a lot of discussions and interaction between the characters doesn't help make it move faster, although it does make it funnier. I even laughed out loud (which is unusual for me when reading Verne) at the surrealistic meeting between the treasure hunters and the radical anti-wealth priest whose help they needed. Verne, of course, makes fun of both the extremist priest and the greedy treasure seekers.

The novel does feature some interesting twists at the end, including a weird final location which, to my surprise, turns out to be a real place, depicted accurately. Many of Verne's early novels have very nice twist endings, but you don't find them so often his later novels.


Enjoyment factor: I had fun reading this, but possibly it's one I would recommend to people who are already Verne fans, because some readers might get bored at the description of places when it's not accompanied by a fast-moving adventure. Or, at least, not as fast-moving as other Verne novels, which are never very long. I found the treasure hunt aspect rather interesting, though, and was eager to find out how it would all end.


Next up: Propeller Island, aka The Floating Island