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(23) Le Rayon vert (The Green Ray, 1882) (1 volume) 46K words


The 23rd novel of the Voyages Extraordinaries is the second one to take place in Scotland (the first was "The Child of the Cavern").

Since Scotland is not an exotic, unexplored land, both of those novels are rather offbeat as Verne adventures. A lot of "The Child of the Cavern" is set underground, and "The Green Ray" is not exactly an adventure novel. "In Search of the Castaways", a more traditional Verne novel, also starts in Scotland, but most of it takes place in the Southern Hemisphere.

The reason for so much attention to Scotland in his work (he also has a good number of Scottish characters in other novels) is that Verne had an emotional bond with this country. He had travelled there and he considered it downtrodden by the English, linking the history of Scotland to his anti-British imperialist views. He also greatly admired Walter Scott.


First read or reread?: This one is a reread for me. I found it disappointing at the time and it was my least favorite among the Verne novels I read as a kid.


What is it about?: After reading a newspaper article about the Green Ray's elevating effects on the mind and soul, rich heiress Helena Campbell vows to experience it for herself. She refuses to marry the man her well-meaning but clueless uncles, Sam and Sib Melville, have selected for her until she sees it. Therefore, they set off on a attempt to witness the elusive atmospheric event. Their quest takes them to the west coast of the Scottish mainland and the Hebrides. Joining them in the search are two would-be suitors for Helena, one an artist, the other an amateur scientist.


This is the first novel in the series that I wouldn't call an adventure. It's mostly a romance and a travelogue, although you could justify using the term "adventure", since there are a few moments of danger, mainly at the end. It's danger caused by the characters' imprudence, though, more than by the actual danger of their touristic trip.

Let's say it bluntly: by writing a romance novel, Verne was not playing to his strengths. His is the adventure, the exploration, the scientific sense of wonder. But romance? Not so much. I think his characterization is normally adequate for his purposes. He creates sympathetic characters, and can make them funny, energetic, daring or noble as needed, in a Victorian kind of way. However, he is not into creating deep, complex characters nor into describing their internal life, their hopes and dreams, their growth. And a romantic novel fails or succeeds on the strength of its characters. So, no, Verne falls short at that.

The novel, having not much of an adventure plot, lacks tension. Even the romance lacks tension. Sure, Helena's uncles want to marry her to the hilariously awful scientist, Aristobulus Ursiclos, but only because they are too clueless to realize how much a young woman would dislike Mr. Ursiclos as a suitor. However, they are well-meaning, doting uncles, and Helena has them wrapped around her little finger, so there's never any question of them forcing her to do anything she doesn't want to do. And it's clear from the beginning that she is not going to marry Aristobulus. This is reinforced by the fact that Verne makes this scientist a caricature. He is a bore, awkward, conceited, sexist, with bad timing and no ability to read the mood of his interlocutors. This would be fine for a comic relief character, but for one who is part of the love triangle at the center of the novel he is too obviously unsuitable to keep the suspense alive. The artist Oliver Sinclair, who is the other suitor, is of course perfectly appropriate and compatible with Helena. So the interest here is seeing Aristobulus make a fool of himself and the two young lovers be drawn to each other.

The story is not without its positive points. It's rather pleasant as a travelogue and description of the Hebrides and the Firth of Clyde. And the characters are amusing. Because of that, I found it less boring than I had found it as a child. Of course, I remembered not liking it, so I did not have high expectations, and that helped.

The atmospheric phenomenon that gives the novel its name is a MacGuffin, something that provides the characters' motivation but is not important for the story in itself. It's curious, because the green ray, a spot of green light that can sometimes be observed just at sunset, is quite elusive, more than the novel implies, and was not well-known in Verne's time. In fact, this novel helped popularize it and impulse research on it. Wikipedia informs me that the scientific explanation Verne gives in the novel is, in fact, incorrect, probably because the phenomenon was still poorly understood at the time. The green ray is not created by the last ray of the sun going through the water of the ocean at sunset. Instead, the effect is related to the refraction of sunlight into different colors, caused by the atmosphere, not the sea. It's often seen at sea because it requires an unobstructed horizon. So, because of Verne I have believed the false explanation for half my life.

Once thing that shocked me as a kid is that I had an image of Verne as very science-friendly. Here, instead, he goes for the artistic, romantic angle, to the point that the heroes excoriate Aristobulus for rejecting the mythological, romantic explanation of it being caused by fairies and instead offering the scientific explanation. The thing is that as a kid I thought the scientific explanation more interesting and filled with wonder, and I still do (even if it turned out to be inaccurate). Your thing is science, Jules, leave romantic notions and fairy tales to other writers. Not that I was sympathetic to the insufferable Aristobulus, but I was sympathetic to the scientific worldview.

By the way, this is the first novel in the series with a woman as the main character. She is not a "strong female character" in any action-oriented way, but she doesn't need to be, since this is not an adventure. Paulina Barnett, from "The Fur Country" fits that kind of action role much better. But, even if she is not action-oriented, Helena is strong enough to get what she wants. Although she comes across as kind of spoiled.


Enjoyment factor: I enjoyed it more now than I did as a kid, but it's my least favorite novel in the series so far.


Next up: Kéraban the Inflexible