The Past is a Place

Abstract

In a remarkable number of cases in Verne’s works, time is considered in a topos which neatly counters the form-contents opposition: in the opposite order from that of its normal flow. Typical examples include: the time-scale of the past relived, where characters see their whole lives flashing by; the one implied by the ‘running out’ of time, as in traditional expressions like ‘days being counted’ or ‘having only a few hours to live’; or the one constituted by the countdown (which Verne may have invented), as in the launching of the projectile in Sans Dessus Dessous.¹