This is a minor work by Jules Verne, but it entertained me greatly because it’s set in Transylvania, where I have just been hiking and touring. In fact, the main action takes place precisely in the place I was exploring on foot with my friend Isaac White ― the mountains of Hunedoara. Here he places a mysterious castle, and a mad scientist who has invented television. The book was written in 1893, and counts as one of the first fictional speculations on this idea that did not involve the supernatural. However, the story is pedestrian by Verne’s standards, and consists mostly of dissertations on the flora, fauna, geology, and history of the region, in the style that Verne fell back on when he wrote on autopilot.
illustrations by
Léon Benett
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