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Jules Verne and Crimea

The depiction of Crimea and the adjacent Ukrainian lands in the works of the French science-fiction writer Jules Verne, particularly in his geographical novel "Kéraban the Inflexible" (1883). The novel describes in detail a journey around the Black Sea, a significant portion of which passes through the territory of modern Ukraine and the Crimean Peninsula.

Overview

In the novel "Kéraban-le-Têtu" ("Kéraban the Inflexible"), Jules Verne sends his heroes on an unusual journey around the Black Sea. The protagonist — a stubborn Turkish tobacco merchant named Kéraban — categorically refuses to pay the new customs duty of 10 coins for crossing the Bosphorus Strait in Istanbul. Instead, he decides to reach the opposite shore (the suburb of Üsküdar) by land, traveling all the way around the Black Sea. The expedition's route runs through Bulgaria, Romania, southern Ukraine, the Crimean Peninsula, the Caucasus, and Asia Minor. The writer meticulously describes the geography, daily life, transport peculiarities, and ethnography of the regions his heroes travel through.

Key Details / Subtopics

  • Route through Ukraine and Crimea: The Ukrainian leg of the journey of Kéraban and his companions (the Dutchman van Mitten, the servants Bruno and Nizib, and his nephew Ahmet) includes the following stops: Kiliia — Maiaky — Odesa — Kobleve — Mykolaiv — Kherson — Oleshky — Velyki Kopani — Kalancak — Perekop — Dzhankoi — Arabat — Kerch — Yenikale. The writer portrays Odesa as an "oasis amid the surrounding steppe," and the village of Kobleve receives one of its first mentions in fiction.
  • Description of northern and steppe Crimea: Passing through Perekop and heading east toward Kerch by the shortest route (roughly along the modern Dzhankoi — Kerch railway), the travelers never see the Southern Coast of Crimea. They describe the steppe landscapes: a deserted and treeless locality, the use of wooden Tatar carts without a single metal part (whose axles were greased with tar), as well as the sincere Tatar hospitality in rural homes.
  • Road adventures and camels in Crimea: For the night, the heroes stop in the town of Arabat, where they dine at an Arabat inn on the local pilaf and katlama (fried flatbreads), the quality of whose dishes Kéraban ironically compares to the deadly poison of Mithridates. In the morning, it turns out that the esteemed Turk Safar has taken all the horses in town for his own needs. With no other options, the travelers harness to their carriage a pair of one-humped camels (dromedaries), which at that time roamed freely in steppe Crimea.
  • Foreshadowing of the Kerch Bridge: In Kerch, the heroes face the absence of a bridge across the Kerch Strait, although the Dutchman van Mitten's guidebook claimed one existed. This episode reflects the dreams of the time and the early projects of connecting Crimea with the Taman Peninsula by a transport crossing.
  • Crimea in Works of Foreign Literature: The Price of Stubbornness — Original article by Valeriy Verkhovskyi in the newspaper "Krymska svitlytsia" (2018, No. 4), which is the primary source of information about Kéraban's Crimean adventures.
  • Kherson — A city on the Dnipro that the travelers pass through before entering Crimea.
  • Arabat Fortress — A historic fortification in the north of the Arabat Spit, near which the novel's plot unfolds.
  • Afanasy Nikitin (Tver traveler, author of "Journey Beyond Three Seas") — Both are articles about foreign travelers who described Crimea (Nikitin via Caffa, Verne via his novel).
  • Beryl Bainbridge — another article from the same "Crimea in Works of Foreign Literature" section about the reflection of Crimea in foreign prose (the novel "Master Georgie").
  • Brian Garfield — an article from the same section about the American writer and his novel "Kolchak's Gold" with a Crimean plot.
  • Harold Lamb — an article from the same section about the American writer and his "Cossack cycle" about the Cossack Khlit (the Crimean Khanate, influence on Robert E. Howard).
  • Jasper Fforde — an article from the same section about the Welsh fantasy writer and the novel "The Jane Case" with an alternative Crimean War.
  • Colleen McCullough — an article from the same section about the Australian writer and the depiction of Mithridates/Bosporus/Panticapaeum in "Masters of Rome".
  • Louis Boussenard — an article from the same section about the French writer of adventure fiction and the novel "The Zouaves of the Malakhov Kurgan" about the Crimean War.
  • Mark Twain — an article from the same section about the American writer who visited Crimea in 1867 and described his impressions in the book "The Innocents Abroad" (a bestseller of 1869).
  • Michael Moorcock — an article from the same section about the British fantasy writer and the "Chronicles of Hawkmoon" cycle (technofantasy) with a Crimean plot (Simferopol, Kerch, "Ukrania").